I heard from a friend of mine that spent years keeping africans that he would take a small amount of crushed coral in in media bags in his african tanks. i think he said he put them in the filters, but anyways he said it helps as a buffer to keep ph high. any discussion or suggestions on this? i want to try it but i dont want to buy a whole bag of crushed coral for a few ounces that i would use. Can i crush up some seashells for the same effect?
crushed coral?
- Thread starter swede
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I know the crushed coral works well. You should also be able to buy dry, fossilized coral chunks or Aragonite at your LFS. All of these come in big bags, but I usually go to Petco for small quantities. For some reason, they always have a smaller bag of whatever it is I'm looking for. Maybe some of the Cichlae experts can give you an alternative...
well i have some seashells i can crush. if you look at the bags of that stuff, it has little shells in there. its mainly the calcium carbonate that acts as a buffer in the crushed coral, right? and shells would contain this ....... so i should in theory be fine with that right? they have not been treated with any chemicals like craft shells. I picked them from a reef myself
You may not have enough depending on your tank size.In my 180 I use crushed coral as the substrate.
i don't need a lot cuz the tank is smaller, and also the PH from the tap is 7.6 . I have no driftwood or anything that would lower the PH. I will try adding some crushed shells for now. can't hurt
I used to worry about ph and africans, but later decided it caused more stress than anything. the flucuating ph when you do water changes is the main problem. I would use sand or bare bottom and your tank will stay much cleaner and dont worry about adding anything to the water besides maybe Prime.
You can also get some limestone rock, that will increase the ph and kh of the water.
I use crushed coral and I also have several large pcs of coral in one of my tanks.
As someone mentioned above, Aragonite....that works well too!
I use crushed coral and I also have several large pcs of coral in one of my tanks.
As someone mentioned above, Aragonite....that works well too!
ward1066;3135197; said:
dont you contradict yourself here? i'm looking for advice on a buffer so the ph DOESN'T fluctuate. thats all..... and yes prime should be owned by anyone that cares about their fish even if its only for an emergency
haha thanks for asking, that reminds me..... lemme take my coffee over to the shells and bash em