in a 30 gallon tank does anyone know how much crushed coral would bring the ph up from 7.0 to 7.5?
how much crushed coral do i need?
- Thread starter randalizm
- Start date
Crushed coral is a buffer, and I believe it buffers around 7.8 or so? This means that it will raise the PH to 7.8 (regardless of how much) and then keep it fairly stable there (anywhere from 7.7-7.9 or so). This will prevent wild PH swings and can help a lot. Why are you trying to raise PH? Do you want to keep cichlids or snails? At anyrate, a small filter bag of coral placed in the filter or flow of the filter water usually works. As the coral is used up (it kind of disolves as it buffers) add more.
EMily
EMily
For a tank that size, you may find that a tablespoon or two, in a nylon stocking or filter bag, placed in the filter will boost your KH (carbonate hardness) and pH a bit. It may not take it up to 7.8 or so, if you don't have a lot of coral in the bag. You can control how much pH/KH changes by adjusting the amount in the bag.
My feeling is that the difference between 7.5 and 7.8 or so is negligible; if you're OK with a ph of 7.5, 7.8 should be OK, too.
Jim
My feeling is that the difference between 7.5 and 7.8 or so is negligible; if you're OK with a ph of 7.5, 7.8 should be OK, too.
Jim
thanks for the replies! the water i use for water changes is 7.5 and a 3dKh which is what my tank is. i recently put driftwood in the tank and it brought the ph down to 7.0 (it may even go lower), my goal is to use crushed coral to raise the tank water back to what it was before i put in the driftwood.
To be honest, unless you have fish that absolutely demand a pH of 7.5, I wouldn't bother. A pH of 7 or less is fine.
I tend to agree with reiverix, if your fish absolutly demand a ph of 7.5 I would just leave it as is, besides if your ph was that before you put the drift wood in then is safe to assume that your tap waters ph is higher than 7? If that is so , and if you are doing regular water changes you wont have to worry about ph crashes either. 
my main concern was keeping the dKH to at least 3. i dont want the tank to crash. the wood brought it down to 1-2dKH. my tap is like 8.5-9pH so i mix it with ro water to bring it to 7.5pH & 3dKH. i do water changes once a week, so you think the tank wont crash with such a low dKH reading?
My tap water has a pH of 7.8 with a kH of 4, and I have never experienced a pH crash. As long as the bioload is reasonable and water changes are done regularly then there is really nothing ot worry about. A pH of 7 is fine and is not a sign of crashing.