Crushed coral to increase pH levels

[bes2534]

So my aquarium water is extremely acidic and I cannot figure out what the problem is (I have guppies so its better to have a higher pH). Some users suggested to try adding crushed coral in your power filter. I bought some crushed coral today, but was wondering if there if there is a certain way to add it to the tank. Do you add it gradually each day? Or can you just fill up a filter bag and simply place it in the filter? And how long will it take until the pH starts to increase?

I have a 6 gallon tank with a pH at 6.0.

 

[Nic]

take a good handfull and put it in the tank.... you could just use it as a substrate add to filter any way you like.... no set amount really needed...

 

[Bawb2u]

Just be aware that crushed coral doesn't instantly increase ph, it's gradual process. If you get the ph up over 6.0 and than do a water change with 6.0 water your ph will drop again and then climb slowly. The best thing in your case would be to have a holding tank (barrel, bucket, drum) to age the water you want to do changes with to get a more consistent ph.

 

[FSM]

Test the pH of your tap water. If that is low, it won't be very easy to raise it a lot, and if you do water changes with that on a tank that was high pH, it won't be good for the fish.

You can use the crushed coral as a substrate, but putting it in a filter probably works better.

 

[bes2534]

I tested my tap water and it is about 7.0 to 7.2. Even when I do water changes it seems like the pH increases slightly, but within a few hours will be back down to 6.0 or even lower. I keep up with cleaning my tank of debris was waste and dead plant leaves, so I don't know whats going on. I've added a bag of a few tablespoons of crushed coral to the fliter, and even added about a tablespoon to my gravel substrate last night...I'll give it a few days and see if it helps!

 

[cassharper]

The reason your pH goes up when you add water is that there is probably CO2 in your city's water supply and it outgasses when you add it to the tank... no problem.

By the way, guppies can live from >6 to <8 pH, I wouldn't chase it. Guppies are very hardy fish that it takes a lot more than the pH being a few points away from what wild specimens are observed in to hurt them. Unless you got your guppies from a river across the world, they will be fine in your water.

If you wanted to raise pH and hardness with crushed coral efficiently, you would need to filter through it, not just use it as a substrate. Something that will kill guppies faster than having the "wrong" (not wrong, just labeled so) pH, is messing with it.

 

[DiXoN]

if you are going to add crushed coral to your filter in filter bags then i would suggest you use more than one bag with small amounts.
if the ph is raised too much you can always remove a bag as its much easier than messing around with only one large bag.
i once added a kilo of CC to my fx5s but put half kilo bags in each of the fx5s on my tank, i later removed 1 to drop the ph a little as it was too high.

 

[MonsterMinis]

6 gallon tank, personally I'de just go with some good bottled water.