Crushed Coral with Centrals?

[aclockworkorange]

I'm setting up my 125 for Centrals, probably "Vieja" argentea. My ph out of my tap ends up being around 6.0 and soft... Yes I keep pretty much all SA fish in my other tanks now and they love it.
Obviously I what my ph, kh and gh higher with my Centrals and don't want to mess with measuring buffers. Would some crushed coral in my filter do the trick? How quickly does this affect the ph/kh? Would I want to do smaller, more frequent water changes to avoid big ph swings? Should I add a product like seachem American cichlid salt as well?

 

[Otherone]

Crushed corals can leech minerals into the water changing it's profile, however time can, has, or will erode the over-all mineral content. Perhaps an entire substrate
full of corals could raise these levels, they are difficult to clean, thus collecting decomping organics which could lower these levels right backdown. In nature these gravities are governed by complex situations like constant renewable sources or an overabundance of certain material that leech or lack there of. An abundance of fresh water sources or lack their of also play heavily into it. The freshwater sources we use generally govern our specific gravities. Any mineral content that leeches into our aquariums will be deplted over time just by water changes so these sources we use to change these gravities have to be renewable and constant to create stability.

So this thread doesn't get kicked - South American waterways and standing bodies of water are in the general 7.1 - 4.4 PH range I would think so long as the gravities are stable most SA/CA cichlids could adapt and thrieve in a PH value of 6.

 

[buddha1200]

i have kept my ca's in as low as 6 and never had a problem as long as it is stable.

 

[jpmroane]

I have used crushed coral as a substrate for a while and it does tend to cling to fish waste. I have used just enough to cover 70% of the tank base and have seen pH in the low 7s. I think it is a great alternative to adding chemicals. I have also used it mixed with beach sand with good results.

 

[aclockworkorange]

Thanks for the replies so far, but I'm not talking about using it as a substrate, I'm talking about putting a decent amount in my filter. My water is inherently unstable because of the low kh and therefore the lack of a buffering capacity can cause it to bounce all over the place.
I know from experience with African cichlids that crushed coral can and will raise ph and kh, maybe I'm asking the wrong board for advice on specifics.

 

[cichlidfish]

I use crushd corals w/ my CA cichlids. I find it really does help w/ raising ph. my water typically is 6.8-7.0 ph and the crushed coral raises the ph tp 7.6-7.8. I use sand as a substrait which covers most of the coral.

 

[aclockworkorange]

How do you do your water changes?

 

[dlp40]

I use 10 lbs in my 125. tap ph is 7.0 and after about 24 hrs in the crush coral it's 7.6. as for water changes i just fill strait from the tap and it only changes the ph by .3 with a 50% wc, three hours later it's normal again. I love it.

 

[aclockworkorange]

Thanks everyone. So is there a formula of pounds of crushed coral to gallons of water?

 

[skillzizzo]

Thanks everyone. So is there a formula of pounds of crushed coral to gallons of water?

I use crushed coral as a substrate in my jd tank. And i some times get sick of it in the tank so i put it in my sump. In this picture of my sump. I dont know how much it is in it. But having it in it like this keeps the same ph as having 2 inches of it in my tank as substrate hope that gives you some kind of idea. There is some kind of formula for crushed coral per gallon i dont know what it is but have seen it on here before. So im sure some one can chime in and tell