Question about adding crush coral

[babyjess210]

Hi
I was reading a thread which said to add crush coral to soft water but may also raise the PH.

Here is what happen
Before the crush coral
PH 8.1
GH 10 drops
KH 5 drops

After crush coral
PH 8.1
GH 10 drops
KH 5 drops

Is there something wrong or something I'm not doing. Should the GH and KH go up? :confused:

I change water 50% daily but when I tend to feed a little more the water quaility goes down and the discus shows stress.

Thanks
Kenny

[Bainbridge Mike]

Adding crushed coral should buffer (i.e. increase hardness) your water. If you are not getting any change in GH, then perhaps you are not using enough, or have not had it in your aquarium for a long enough time? Also, every time you do a water change, you flush out water that may have absorbed some of the calcium and replace it with soft water from your tap. Do you really think you need to increase the hardness of your water?

Mike

[Carol_Roberts]

Your water is not soft - you do NOT need crushed coral. IF your water quality suffers from extra food feed less or do more water changes.

[Sindhu]

Hi Carol,
my well water is really soft pH of 6, Gh 4.0, KH 1.5 and TDS 60 ppm and after aeration it goes up to 6.5. The TDS remains the same. Good for my breeding pairs as they're spawning almost every 2 days but too soft for my fries and they're dying slowly day by day. I have added croal chips to the storage tank for the growouts and in their tanks too. I now change about 30% water twice daily. I still find that the hardness hasn't change that much, still TDs remains the same. What else can I do to increase the hardness? should I crush the coral chips? appreciate any help given. Tks.

Sindhu

[babyjess210]

Thanks Carol and Mike!!

Mike
I think you are right about having it in my tank for a while, It's only been a few days. :o

Carol
I will change more water cuz they are growing very nice with more food.

Kenny

[tarantula]

Try using malawi buffer or Cichlid Buffer

pH buffer and alkalinity or carbonate hardness (KH) adjusting system designed for Malawian and Victorian cichlids. Also works well for many American cichlids whose native waters have high pH's of above 7.8. Provides a stable pH environment.

[Carol_Roberts]

Sindhu:
Your water should be fine for babies as long as you change it frequently. The GH and KH (minerals and buffer) are used by the fish throughout the day during normal metabolic processes. As the minerals and buffer are used the water becomes more acidic and eventually the pH can crash. Adding fresh water adds back minerals and buffers. Your water is fine if stays steady at GH 4, KH 1.5 and pH stays between 6 - 6.5 (You have to be careful - most pH kits do not read below 6, so pH could really be 4.2 and still show 6 on the kit)

If you have a problem with pH dropping do try crushing the coral and placing it in a bag in your filter box so the water is constantly run over it.

[Bainbridge Mike]

Thanks Carol and Mike!!

Mike
I think you are right about having it in my tank for a while, It's only been a few days. :o

Carol
I will change more water cuz they are growing very nice with more food.

Kenny

Hi Kenny:

I have used coral before--but it was when my tap had a GH of about 3 drops (about 54 ppm). If your water is at 10 drops GH (about 180 ppm), it is difficult to make the water much harder with coral. It will take a lot of crushed coral.
hth,
Mike

[Sindhu]

Sindhu:
Your water should be fine for babies as long as you change it frequently. The GH and KH (minerals and buffer) are used by the fish throughout the day during normal metabolic processes. As the minerals and buffer are used the water becomes more acidic and eventually the pH can crash. Adding fresh water adds back minerals and buffers. Your water is fine if stays steady at GH 4, KH 1.5 and pH stays between 6 - 6.5 (You have to be careful - most pH kits do not read below 6, so pH could really be 4.2 and still show 6 on the kit)

If you have a problem with pH dropping do try crushing the coral and placing it in a bag in your filter box so the water is constantly run over it.

Hi Carol,
thanks again for helping out and the tip on the pH kits. never thought of it. Will keep an eye and see if there's any improvement on the new lot of fries and if need to will crush up the coral.

Rgds
Sindhu

[drayman86]

Sindhu:
The GH and KH (minerals and buffer) are used by the fish throughout the day during normal metabolic processes. As the minerals and buffer are used the water becomes more acidic and eventually the pH can crash. Adding fresh water adds back minerals and buffers. Your water is fine if stays steady at GH 4, KH 1.5 and pH stays between 6 - 6.5 (You have to be careful - most pH kits do not read below 6, so pH could really be 4.2 and still show 6 on the kit)

If you have a problem with pH dropping do try crushing the coral and placing it in a bag in your filter box so the water is constantly run over it.


I experienced this problem after adding fish to my system (75 gal w/ fluidized bed & Fluval 304).. Treated already soft water out of the tap w/ peat to get KH = 2, GH = 5-6, pH around 6.6. pH crashed within 24 hrs of fish, measured as low as the high 4's. Large water changes would bring it back to the low 6's, however it still crashed again. Happened nearly daily for about a week. Finally used between 1/4 & 1/3 cup dry weight crushed coral in a Fluval 304 (flow about 230 gal per hour, filters tank about 33 times/hr). pH stabilized in the mid to upper 6's. (tank pH = :bounce: :bouncegre ) Fish pretty tough: ate well & no ill effects observed throughout.