Crushed Coral not buffering

[merc123]

Been checking on my pH levels and noticed them going down in my Malawi tank.

I retested the tap water and the tap has gone from 7.0 to 6.0 pH. My tank water was at 6.4.

The fish are still breeding every now and again.

I've got about a pound of crushed coral in one of my canister filters, but it doesn't seem to be buffering any more.

I dumped a bunch of new CC I had left over in to my tank refill sump and it brought the pH up to 7.4 almost immediately. I put a small half-handful in a gallon of water and it buffered to about 7.8.

Does the buffering properties of crushed coral wear out over time? I've had it for probably a year now.

 

[Hawkfish3.0]

Something else you may want to try is adding some aeration to the tank. Aeration will force off CO2 and raise your kH (or temporary hardness). This will also help to increase the buffering capacity of your tank and help to stabilize the pH.

 

[merc123]

Ahh, didn't think of that. Guess I need to add a bubble curtain thingy the g/f wants.

 

[jhutch]

I don't bother with using a substrate for buffering. I use epsom salt, rift lake salt, sodium bicarb., and Malawi buffer for my malawisetup and in my frontosa tank I will use all the same except i'll switch to Tanganyika buffer instead. It keeps my malawi tanks consistently around 8.4 and my front tank should stay somewhere around 9.5 to 10ph

 

[mike dunagan]

Also what is your filter? If it is a sub throw a bag of it in there. The water needs to flow through it for it to work!