Crushed coral in African tank
- Thread starter ripesteel
- Start date
My 30g has arogonite in it and I love it. I'm planning on a Tang set up and my ph is stable at 8.5.
My other tank has gravel and I've been having trouble with the ph for some time now-its at about 6.8-7.0 and I want it higher. I've thought about buffers, but have now where to buy them here. I think my fish are used to the ph but I want it higher-I think they'll be healthier. I have an undergravel filter in this tank - what do you all think about my mixing some crushed coral into it? Think it will raise the ph?
My other tank has gravel and I've been having trouble with the ph for some time now-its at about 6.8-7.0 and I want it higher. I've thought about buffers, but have now where to buy them here. I think my fish are used to the ph but I want it higher-I think they'll be healthier. I have an undergravel filter in this tank - what do you all think about my mixing some crushed coral into it? Think it will raise the ph?
My 72g has a mixture of crushed coral and natural gravel and my africans love it. Cleaning is no different than having just gravel, assuming you rinse the coral thoroughly before adding it to the tank.
Besides UGFs being pretty much obsolete, they are not good with africans in general. I would not mix the crushed coral since that would eventually disrupt the function of the UGF. Those things often end up with anaerobic bacteria and toxins. If there was no UGF then I would say yes to the mixing.
I knwo UGF are not as good as all the new filters out there but mine works great for my fish, so I figure why change something that's working. I've recently added another powerhead on there so I now have total of 3. Why would adding coral make it any different?
The only problem with a UGF and Malawi's is they don't really mix well together. Most Malawi's are diggers and this exposes the UGF thus rendering it not so effective. Crushed coral together with sand is great.
I just don't understand how it will disrupt the UGF. I have a good amount of gravel in their and I'm moving a lot of water with those powerheads. My fish do dig, but me and my geophagus evenly distribute the gravel regularly. I'll probably get rid of the UGF eventually, but I'm not gonna mess with something that is working so well right now. Everything but the ph anyway. I'd like some more feedback on this one...
I bought some crushed coral at lunch and I'm thinking of mixing it slowly into the tank starting tonight....
I bought some crushed coral at lunch and I'm thinking of mixing it slowly into the tank starting tonight....
you can also put a bag of CC in your canister filter to buffer your water. Its easier that switching out all your substrate.
Good call. I forgot all about the bag trick. Several different ways to do that depending on filtration choices. Now as far as the disrupting the UGF comment, what I meant was that the crushed coral is probably alot finer than your gravel. This will clog the holes/slits in the UGF making it far less effective. Good move with adding the powerheads
If you have the reversible flow type you can alternate directions every week or so and greatly increase the effectiveness and reduce the time before you eventually have to pull up the UGF. I wouldn't go pulling up the UGF either just as one learns/advances one learns pros/cons. I used to have lots of UGFs years ago. I run a few powerheads on top of sponge-filters in case I need to "instant-cylce" any tank.