# crushed corral?



## Saldana (Dec 6, 2003)

I was wondering if anyone has tried crushed corral...i was thinking about using it because it looked better but the person at my LFS told me that it would raise the Ph too high...i don't want to sound ignorant but what exactly does Ph mean and what affects will it have, also how much would it probably raise it too in a 55 gallon tank? any help would be appreciated...


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

You want a higher Ph in marine tanks. Or are you talking about using it in a freshwater tank? Some species vary, I dunno why he told ya that. I used it in all my african cichlid tanks. If you wan't it in a piranha tank, then i woulden't reccomend it.


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## tecknik (Jul 18, 2003)

I wouldnt put it in a piranha tank either.


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## Saldana (Dec 6, 2003)

ok, thanks...


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## rbP NUT (Dec 2, 2003)

I wouldnt use in place of gravel, its increase ph (Power of Hydrogen) and kh ((K)carbonate Hardness) ph represents the acidity or alkalinity of your water on a scale of 1 - 14 where 1 is very acidic & 14 very alkaline, 7 being neutral. the piranha fish is an acidic loving fish of about ph 6.5. kh is the amount of (k)carbonate found in the water, this helps stabalize ph in the aquarium. an aquarium with low kh lets say 5oppm will be acidic and subject to rapid fluctuations in ph, where as an aquarium of around 200 kh will be high in ph. an ideal kh for a p tank varies between 80-120ppn, now onto the topic of how to use it in a p tank? well to put it simply i myself use R/O (reverse osmosis) water mix with majority tap to do my water changes, but because R/O water lacks the essential minerals i place crushed coral in one tray of my filter to stabalize ph & kh, eg before i added the C/C my ph was 4, now it is 6.5 on the dot and stable.


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## RhomZilla (Feb 12, 2003)

I have crushed corrals for media in my XP3's. I dont know what the dilly, but my PH seems to always measure low. Ive talked to DonH about how on getting PH to raise without any drastic change, and he said crush corrals is the way to go. Till now I use it to help with water perimeters in my tank.

*Moved to Water Chemistry*


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## StuartDanger (Aug 7, 2003)

it owuld hurt ur p's, crushed coral should only be used in marine set ups


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## Guest (Jan 8, 2004)

RhomZilla said:


> I have crushed corrals for media in my XP3's. I dont know what the dilly, but my PH seems to always measure low. Ive talked to DonH about how on getting PH to raise without any drastic change, and he said crush corrals is the way to go. Till now I use it to help with water perimeters in my tank.


 That's the correct way to employ crushed coral in a freshwater aquarium with a acid or neutral pH. If the crushed coral were used in place of the gravel substrate, the pH would be too high for piranhas and most other Amazon fish.

I'm not sure exactly how it all works. The crushed coral contains Calcium Carbonate which increases your carbonate hardness. The higher carbonate hardness prevents the pH from quickly decreasing (more acid) by taking up some of the free hydrogen ions.


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## DiXoN (Jan 31, 2003)

spiderman2099uk said:


> it owuld hurt ur p's, crushed coral should only be used in marine set ups


 actually cruushed coral is used on many african cichlid tanks it is used widely to get the ph correct for breeding them i had crushed coral in my cichlid breeding fish room not so long back

dixon


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