# Two question about crushed coral and ph



## tiran (Apr 27, 2007)

okay so i put one bag of crushed coral in my filter its been in for two days ph is now at 7.0ppm will it rise more or is it stable now with that one bag?

will my ph rise over 7.0ppm when i do a water change consedering my tap ph is 7.6 or will it automatically buffer to 7.0ppm no matter what?

Please reply


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## NegativeSpin (Aug 1, 2007)

I believe that with enough crushed coral and with enough surface area on it your pH should slowly climb to 8.3. With less crushed coral that has less surface area at some point the rate of dissolution will reach equilibrium with the rate that acids are being produced (from fish respiration and atmospheric CO2) in the tank and it will have a lower steady state pH than the previous case. <-- This is my theory at least why adding one clam shell to my 55 is only keeping the pH at around 6.4 by the time I have to change the water again.

Your tap water will raise the pH.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

tiran said:


> okay so i put one bag of crushed coral in my filter its been in for two days ph is now at 7.0ppm will it rise more or is it stable now with that one bag? *Ph is on a scale between 0 and 14 where 7 is neutral. It is not ppm, it is just the level on the scale.* It may rise more or it may not. It dependis on how low the ph was initially and how much coral you added.
> 
> will my ph rise over 7.0ppm when i do a water change consedering my tap ph is 7.6 or will it automatically buffer to 7.0ppm no matter what?
> *If your tap water is at 7.6 you tank water shouldnt be that much less. There is no need to add coral if you have a ph of mayby 7.0 (if the fish are piranhas- some cichlids can have more). What is your ph in the tank? It will buffer to its max. It just depends on amount, tanksize, original ph... You will have to try it out a couple of times. Remove some coral to acidify the water add more coral if you want it to be basic. Like shanker said a coral sandbed can buff the ph up to about 8.2 so if you want less, you add less coral. There is no real formula or rule to adding it, it is just trial and error untill you get it right. I would add a bit at a time (once a day) untill its at the desired ph. If you just dump it in it will stress the fish.*
> ...


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## tiran (Apr 27, 2007)

the problem was my fish were adding so much waste to the tank it was lowering my ph, the ph in my tank was 6.6 because of the waste the fish were producing i couldnt keep it controlled my tap ph was 7.6 which was a big difference so basically im adding coral to stabalize the ph at atleast 7.0 or 7.6 and keep it from going down when i feed or going up allitle when i do water changes but just keep it stabale, i dont feed often either, every two days and water changes every three days.


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

tiran said:


> the problem was my fish were adding so much waste to the tank it was lowering my ph, the ph in my tank was 6.6 because of the waste the fish were producing i couldnt keep it controlled my tap ph was 7.6 which was a big difference so basically im adding coral to stabalize the ph at atleast 7.0 or 7.6 and keep it from going down when i feed or going up allitle when i do water changes but just keep it stabale, i dont feed often either, every two days and water changes every three days.


Have you tested your waters KH (carbonate hardness)? Soft water will allow your ph to drop due to waste or added driftwood. I have naturally very soft water in my town and use baking soda to increase my waters buffering capacity. I prefer it over crushed coral because it's effect is immediate rather than having to wait for it to leach into the water and it's more easily controlled.

If you're interested, here's a post I made on another forum, I just cut and pasted it here so some of the information won't be relevant but it might give you some ideas. Here's the whole thread if youare interested in that. http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/viewto...p;sk=t&sd=a

"Our water supply is VERY soft with minimal GH and no KH to speak of. The problem is, with the way our town treats our water it can come from the tap at up to 9.0 PH! I've found that letting it age for 48 hours or so, it'll drop down to 7.2 and pretty much stick there. That is, until you start adding driftwood and poop when, since there is no Gh or KH, the PH can just plummet in a heartbeat, going as low as 6.0, which is the bottom of my test kits limit. Definitlely not good for the fish, especially as the PH would yo-yo by doing water changes. 
By experimention, after reading a formula I found on the internet for African cichlids, I've found that by adding 1 TBSP of Epsom salt, 1 TSP of marine salt and 3/4 TSP of baking soda per 5 gallons of water, I can get my GH to about 80 ppm, my KH to about 90ppm and my PH to about 7.2 with no measurable salinity by hydometer."


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