Buffering question?
- Thread starter ramman
- Start date
There is no set formula due to differences in where coral originates from and the amount of dissolved minerals existing in different tap water. Your best bet is to mix aragonite (fastest) or crushed coral (slowest) to your substrate until you hit the pH you want. Your pH will still have to be monitored, since different organisms absorb the calcium to different degrees, and replacment of the aragonite or crushed coral will need to be done..
Calcite type substrates (crushed coral/shell/dolomite) are not as water soluable as aragonite or oolite so the slower "disolve" rate will buffer your water slower and less.
My experiance with crushed coral and dolomite is that it can't buffer much higher than 7.8 to 8.0 when added to neutral water. To achieve a ph of 8.0 from 7.2 with only the use of crushed coral, I would think you would need to use all crushed coral for your substrate.
If this is not what you want, try adding aragonite substrate in modest doses untill you get where you want it to be. Really hard to answer how much you will need to add though. You'll just need to do trial and error.
Joel
My experiance with crushed coral and dolomite is that it can't buffer much higher than 7.8 to 8.0 when added to neutral water. To achieve a ph of 8.0 from 7.2 with only the use of crushed coral, I would think you would need to use all crushed coral for your substrate.
If this is not what you want, try adding aragonite substrate in modest doses untill you get where you want it to be. Really hard to answer how much you will need to add though. You'll just need to do trial and error.
Joel
Oh yeah, how fast will it buffer....you will see an increase pretty quick, probibly the same day you add the substrate to your aquarium. It may take several days to see the full "affect" it will have on your water because it will need time to get disolved in you water.
IT will also take several days for the affect to be stable again because it needs time to be dissolved in your water. Compair it to adding a teaspoon of ph buffer to your aquarium. It would have an immediate affect on your ph but would not last long where as if you added ph buffer to your aquarium daily, it would eventually become abondent enough to over power the elements in your water wanting to bring your ph back down.
IT will also take several days for the affect to be stable again because it needs time to be dissolved in your water. Compair it to adding a teaspoon of ph buffer to your aquarium. It would have an immediate affect on your ph but would not last long where as if you added ph buffer to your aquarium daily, it would eventually become abondent enough to over power the elements in your water wanting to bring your ph back down.