Is crushed coral good for keeping Ph from crashing?

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JDC

AC Members
May 6, 2005
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hey guys,
my tap is exaclty 7ph sometimes a little lower. Ive been using a ph buffer to make sure it doesnt go below 7(wardley's bulllseye 7.0). Would using crushed coral be a better choice in keeping it up and prevent a possible crash?
I have a medium sized oranda so ph of 7.5 is what im shooting for.
 

ashdavid

In Search Of Better Water Quality
Mar 27, 2005
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Whats the pH without the chemical buffers? The best thing to stop pH crash's is to do regular maintenance on your tank, including water changes,cleaning your filter and gravel vacumming. Don't use chemicals in your tank if it is at all possible.
 

JDC

AC Members
May 6, 2005
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its 7. the guy at the Lfs told me that goldfish can "turn water into acid" over night because they produce so much waste and gave me some crushed coral. I had bought some of that Ph buffer but read chemicals arent so good to use. So would using the crushed coral be good as a safety measure against a potential crash or would i be fine with the regular water changes?
 

ashdavid

In Search Of Better Water Quality
Mar 27, 2005
1,268
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Let me explain the buffering system, this example is used quite often. Buffering capacity is the water's ability to keep the pH stable if acids or bases are added, usually refered to as your carbonate system(dKH). The higher the dKH the more buffer is in the water. If the water has sufficient buffering capacity, the buffering capacity will absorb and neutralize the added acid without significantly changing the pH, so think of the buffering capacity as a large sponge, as acid is produced, the sponge' absorbs the acid without changing the pH much. Howver if the sponge's capacity is limited it will not be able to soak up the acids being produced in the water, once the buffering capacity is used up, the pH changes more rapidly, hence pH crashes.
Ok am I right in assuming that your tanks dKH is about 1-2 dKH,assuming that water usually has a Co2 dissolved at about 3-4ppm. Your tank probably does not have what is called a high buffering capacity, but should be fine if you do regular maintenance. For your tanks pH to drop overnght there would have to be a lot of acid being produced by the wastes that your fish are producing and you not replacing the buffers by not doing water changes. Adding crushed coral will increase the buffers and if you feel that you want more buffers by all means do so, but your pH will then rise. Anyway I hope that answers your questions.
And Kas fish wastes have a big effect on pH.
 

JDC

AC Members
May 6, 2005
43
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Thanks guys very useful info. As far as my KH goes i really dont know because i dont have a test kit for that. I guess i need to get one. Ive got ph,ammonia, nitrite and nitrate kits. Aside from this kh test is there anymore kits that you guys recommend?
 
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