crushed coral

[echoofformless]

i am interested in using crushed coral in the filter of my upcoming malawi cichlid tank. however, i am wondering exactly how it works.. does it maintain a consistent pH or continue to raise it based on the amount i put in?

also... how often (if ever) does it need to be replaced to be working its optimum magic?

the tap water here in philadelphia is fairly hard and alkaline to begin with (avg. 7.8-8.2 pH, 150 ppm GH [mmmmm.... liquid calcium!]), and we are using carib-sea african cichlid mix as the substrate.

 

[neoprodigy]

i will use a filter bag... can change it once a month...

 

[wesleydnunder]

Sounds like your water is hard enough and ph high enough out of the tap. You may not need the crushed coral. With weekly water changes I'd imagine your water stays pretty stable. Also With your ph that high I'm not sure you'd get much benefit from it as not much, if any, will dissolve.

Mark

 

[Pufferpoison]

crushed coral doesn't "raise" the ph any, it acts as a buffer to stabalize your current ph. it will keep your ph from dropping down. you need to test your water with a KH (carbanated hardness) to tell how much buffering capacity your water has. the higher the better.

 

[Pufferpoison]

also it doesn't "loose" it magic like carbon, the crushed coral contains calcium carbonate and it slowly dissolves bumping up your kh or buffering capacity.

 

[misopeenut]

i dont think you need the crushed corals. your ph is high enough to begin with.

 

[Pufferpoison]

i dont think you need the crushed corals. your ph is high enough to begin with.

it doesn't raise the ph, only maintain's it.

 

[misopeenut]

im not talking about that..
do water change regularly and you can maintain the pH

 

[Hannys_Papa]

crushed coral doesn't "raise" the ph any, it acts as a buffer to stabalize your current ph....

That is not true.
When crushed coral dissolves it will raise your kH. When you kH goes up so does your pH. They are in direct relation.
This is of course assuming your crushed coral will dissolve at all. With a pH as high as his (and from that assuming a high kH) it probably wont - and there is a limit to how far the kH/pH will go up with crushed coral.

 

[geekrockgirl85]

That is not true.
When crushed coral dissolves it will raise your kH. When you kH goes up so does your pH. They are in direct relation.
This is of course assuming your crushed coral will dissolve at all. With a pH as high as his (and from that assuming a high kH) it probably wont - and there is a limit to how far the kH/pH will go up with crushed coral.

does that mean when my kh and pH go down, the crushed coral "kicks in" until it reaches a certain level, and then stops again?

because that's what we're hoping for - to be able to drop it in and forget it for awhile, just to have a safeguard against the pH/hardness going down with the natural "aging" of the tank.