so i have a 55 setup, and my ph is very low, around 5.5-6. i want to get it higher for a few african cichlids, so i'm going to add some crushed coral. how much should i add? the store near me sells 10 pound bags, and how should i add it? just dump it in or do the mesh bag thing? also, how much? thanks
crushed coral in a 55
- Thread starter ericifish
- Start date
I will tell you this much, you can use it like substrate, but make sure you wash it really well or you will have a cloud in your tank for a month or longer.
Add the 10 pounds first, then check your PH, if its still not at the desired amount, add another 5-10 pounds. You should know what to add or minus if you test it each time.
5-10 pounds in a 55g isn't going to do a whole lot.. maybe a couples of tenths in pH swing. This will be brought back down every time you do a water change, slowly creep back up, repeat.
In a 10g shelldweller tank I had 10 lbs of crushed coral substrate and filtered through it too. It brought up my 7.8 water to 8.4. Get some malawi buffer, or Tanganyika buffer (tang buffer makes it 9, malawi is a little lower). Made by seachem, and a very good buffer (I don't normally recommend buffers, but this is the exception).
just mix it before a water change according to directions. Pretty cheap stuff, will last you a long time. This stuff also won't let you "over buffer". If you add too much, it has a break point where it will floculate and the filter will filter it out.
In a 10g shelldweller tank I had 10 lbs of crushed coral substrate and filtered through it too. It brought up my 7.8 water to 8.4. Get some malawi buffer, or Tanganyika buffer (tang buffer makes it 9, malawi is a little lower). Made by seachem, and a very good buffer (I don't normally recommend buffers, but this is the exception).
just mix it before a water change according to directions. Pretty cheap stuff, will last you a long time. This stuff also won't let you "over buffer". If you add too much, it has a break point where it will floculate and the filter will filter it out.
Have you thought about replacing your substrate with crush coral? That might be better if you're going with African Cichlids
I use crush coral sand as a substrate for my mbuna. You can find it at Home Depot or Lowes. I think it was 25# for $5.00. My ph remains at a nice 7.8 for them.
something that will help a lot more then just the substrate is packing it full of some calciferous rock (like limestone).
Just some food for thought.
Just some food for thought.
Aragonite sand is a little more $4 but works and looks better.I mixed it with black sand in a few tanks and it looks great.