In summary, the coral will help to keep the PH higher on average. It won't prevent the PH drop caused by CO2, but may still be useful to keep the PH in the same "range" even after adding C02.
crushed Coral!
- Thread starter kimlynn
- Start date
There is a book, "Ecology of the Planted Tank," which describes a great way of setting up a planted tank and includes a lot of the science behind it.
Here's a link to a summary of the method it describes: http://theaquariumwiki.com/Walstad_method
Here's a link to a summary of the method it describes: http://theaquariumwiki.com/Walstad_method
baking soda guys. crushed coral reacts and your water will not stay the same hardness, rather increase the longer it's left. that could cause a ph drop during water changes. baking soda is easy!
if the gh is too low then use barr's gh booster for that first... then add baking soda to get the ph where you want it.
those two are all you need for your gh/kh/ph relationship in distilled, rain, r/o, tap or any other water source. just mix it in your water before you put it in your tank at water change time and let it increase slowly if fish are already in there.
you can get barr's gh booster from aquariumfertilizer.com it's your cheapest solution for gh most likely too. you don't have to pay for water to be shipped in the bottle.
1 1/2 tsp of barr's will increase your gh by 6 in 5 gallons of water. it's not algorithmic or anything... it's linear so simple math should get you any concentration you want. EXAMPLE: say you are working with 10 gallons and want an increase of 6 for a gh. twice as much water means twice as much barr's. 3 tsp's or 1 tblsp (same thing) will give you that.
.48 or about 1/2 tsp of baking soda increases the same 5 gallons by a kh of 5. math can be done the same way... very simple really. if you can't figure it out call a buddy who's good at math. once you got it it's repetition. anyone can do what they did yesterday so it's easy.
if you don't like ordering online you can pay the extra money for pretty packages and special water shipped all over the country and try seachem instead of barr's... http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Equilibrium.html or http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Replenish.html
all in all don't do anything to your water that's not absolutely necessary. life in general tends to do better in more stable environments (especially fish). the more you change the more likely human error will be a possibility.
good luck.
if the gh is too low then use barr's gh booster for that first... then add baking soda to get the ph where you want it.
those two are all you need for your gh/kh/ph relationship in distilled, rain, r/o, tap or any other water source. just mix it in your water before you put it in your tank at water change time and let it increase slowly if fish are already in there.
you can get barr's gh booster from aquariumfertilizer.com it's your cheapest solution for gh most likely too. you don't have to pay for water to be shipped in the bottle.
1 1/2 tsp of barr's will increase your gh by 6 in 5 gallons of water. it's not algorithmic or anything... it's linear so simple math should get you any concentration you want. EXAMPLE: say you are working with 10 gallons and want an increase of 6 for a gh. twice as much water means twice as much barr's. 3 tsp's or 1 tblsp (same thing) will give you that.
.48 or about 1/2 tsp of baking soda increases the same 5 gallons by a kh of 5. math can be done the same way... very simple really. if you can't figure it out call a buddy who's good at math. once you got it it's repetition. anyone can do what they did yesterday so it's easy.
if you don't like ordering online you can pay the extra money for pretty packages and special water shipped all over the country and try seachem instead of barr's... http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Equilibrium.html or http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Replenish.html
all in all don't do anything to your water that's not absolutely necessary. life in general tends to do better in more stable environments (especially fish). the more you change the more likely human error will be a possibility.
good luck.
also i believe as long as your ph stays above 5.5 you should have no issues really.
karl... is that the magic number? 5.5?
and a special substrate is not necessary. if you have root feeders than root tabs most likely will become necessary regardless what substrate you use. ecology of the planted tank is a good read regardless. it covers a lot!!! if you decide to layer your substrate with soil under it (part of the walstad method) you will definitely want to read it.
karl... is that the magic number? 5.5?
and a special substrate is not necessary. if you have root feeders than root tabs most likely will become necessary regardless what substrate you use. ecology of the planted tank is a good read regardless. it covers a lot!!! if you decide to layer your substrate with soil under it (part of the walstad method) you will definitely want to read it.
There is no magic number 
Fish vary a bit; it gets harder to pull sodium in as pH drops* and many fish succumb at around 4.5; some Corydoras (IIRC) and tetras have mechanisms to cope with this sodium problem. Fish which don't naturally meet low pHs can't cope. Moreover, as pH drops, the bacteria in the filter are inhibited. In a well planted tank this may not matter as the plants may be dealing with all the nitrogen produced, but it's as well to be aware. The plus side is that ammonia is all but harmless in pHs this low.
*This is because the sodium pump pulls a sodium ion in and at the same time pushes a hydrogen ion out (positive ion in, positive ion out). This is harder to do in a low pH with an abundance of hydrogen ions in the water.
Fish vary a bit; it gets harder to pull sodium in as pH drops* and many fish succumb at around 4.5; some Corydoras (IIRC) and tetras have mechanisms to cope with this sodium problem. Fish which don't naturally meet low pHs can't cope. Moreover, as pH drops, the bacteria in the filter are inhibited. In a well planted tank this may not matter as the plants may be dealing with all the nitrogen produced, but it's as well to be aware. The plus side is that ammonia is all but harmless in pHs this low.
*This is because the sodium pump pulls a sodium ion in and at the same time pushes a hydrogen ion out (positive ion in, positive ion out). This is harder to do in a low pH with an abundance of hydrogen ions in the water.
i thought there was a magic number that greatly inhibits production of nitrifying bacteria when you drop below it? i should have been more clear that's what i was referring to.
