Crushed Coral

[voilA]

Ive been using crushed coral for a while now in my ten gallon.
The ten gallon currently houses a 1 inch wild oscar, and a 1 inch ebjd.
I recently read that it raises pH quite a bit and feel like a total idiot.
Should I change the substrate or since its been running for a while just leave it?

 

[crawdadsam]

Do you check your ph regularly? Where does it stay? Stability is more important than being at an exact point for specific fish. Don't panic and start trying to make rapid adjustments. That would kill a fish quickly.

 

[voilA]

I haven't checked the pH, and my fish seem to do fine in it. The only thing stopping me from changing it, is the stability of the pH. I figured it would be more important to keep it stable, so I just left it alone.

 

[carsona246]

I would check your ph, I actually keep a bag of crushed coral in all of my tanks to stabilize the ph. I have soft water, and while crushed coral does raise your ph (in my experience not that much) it also keeps it pretty stable, which is the most important part.

 

[skillzizzo]

oscars and ebjd's are both c.a cichlids that thrive in ph between 7-8 which is right were crushed coral usuall keeps the ph in a tank depending on your tap waters ph. My ph stays between 7.4-7.6 in my jd's tank right were i want it. And i keep crushed coral in that tank purposly for that reason. To keep my ph in that range. Keep it in there. Thats what the fish you keep like for ph that the crushed coral gives the tank.

 

[aclockworkorange]

Actually, oscars are south American cichlids, not central. However, almost all oscars are tank bred for many, many generations, and usually do fine at a higher, stable ph.