Crushed coral substrate for African cichlid

[sportsman0806]

I want to use crushed coral for my substrate in my soon to be African cichlid tank. I know this make my ph level high. Will this be ok and if so how many of you use this as your substrate?

Thanks

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

high pH is a good thing if you're keeping Rift Lake Africans.

 

[ziggy2]

First thing you need to know is what is the ph on your tap water. You may not want to raise it any higher.

 

[KABB44423]

what is the top out ph for crushed coral?

 

[bigdee]

i used the cichlid sand.. and its always around 8.0 or 8.2 but some tap water is good enough for cichlids

 

[toehead11183]

crushed coral maxs out at 8.0-8.2. though it looks good and is pretty cheap it has its down side. your water will be milky white for a couple weeks. its sharp so loaches and catfish will not go in this tank without being scared and larger africanc can cut their mouths on it. i removed my CC after my fish started showing this. I suggest you add some CC in a filter bag to one of your filters and use smooth round gravel or pool filter sand. I just added 1 small bag to my canister filter and used pool filter sand it my 150 is around 8.2

 

[KABB44423]

i put some crushed coral in my mag hot and its still not bringing my ph up i even added some ph up also and nothing

 

[toehead11183]

how long did you give it? it may take a few weeks even months.

 

[Wolf3101]

We use crushed coral in all of our tanks to buffer our RO/DI water to a stable 7.6 PH with normal changes. We use a layer of #3 crushed coral (lower the grade number the finer the CC) under a layer of mixed sized gravil and smooth rocks for a natural look and to prevent any damage to the fish.

 

[KABB44423]

o well its just been a few days maybe a week lol ill give it more time thanks for the help