It's been about 4 or 5 days since I added crushed coral to my canister filters and I still haven't seen any change in my KH (or pH). I initially added about a cup but have since upped that to about 4-5 cups. The tank is 100g. Is that enough? How long does it normally take before you see a change?
how long for crushed coral to start buffering?
- Thread starter the_deeb
- Start date
I guess it would depend on how high your KH was before you started. But I would wait a little more, testing every other day and if no change is noted in a few weeks I would either add some more or crush the coral more and put it back in starting over.
I have room for a little more. I have one large piece of driftwood in there, which I don't want to remove since my whole aquascape is built around it.
How exactly does driftwood alter KH? Is it solely through the release of tannic acid?
How exactly does driftwood alter KH? Is it solely through the release of tannic acid?
The driftwood lowers it, yet the crushed coral is trying to make it go higher.
For crushed coral to work effectively, it should be used as a substrate.
For crushed coral to work effectively, it should be used as a substrate.
Water hardness
Water accumulates many dissolved substances before it reaches our taps. Hardness is a measurement of the concentration of metal ions such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc. Most of these concentrations are acquired as rain water passes over rocks. In most water it consist mainly of calcium and magnesium salts, with trace amounts of other metals.
There are two types of hardness that we need to consider. Permanent hardness and alkalinity (often referred to as carbonate or temporary hardness) (kH). The sum of both types of hardness is called general hardness (gH)
Alkalinity or temporary (carbonate) hardness (kH) refers to the hardness derived mainly from carbonate and bicarbonate ions and directly reflects the buffering capacity of the water. It can be precipitated and removed by boiling the water. This is why lime-scale forms in kettles and shower heads.
Permanent hardness measures ions such as nitrates, sulphates, and chlorides etc, and cannot be removed by boiling.
While there is a connection between water hardness and buffering, hardness is a product of mainly calcium and magnesium ions and buffering is produced by bicarbonate and carbonate ions. As mentioned earlier, hard water is usually well buffered and soft water is usually less buffered. It is possible though, based on different water compositions, to have hard water that is poorly buffered or soft water that is well buffered. The way to establish the makeup of your local water is by using a test kit and test for both gH (general hardness) and kH (temporary hardness).
kH
Carbonate hardness or temporary hardness. Measures the buffering capacity or the ability to absorb and neutralize added acid without major changes to pH. Think of buffering capacity as a big sponge, the higher the buffering, the bigger the sponge. How much buffering does your tank need? The higher the kH (the bigger the sponge), the more resistant to pH changes your water will be. A tank's kH should be high enough to prevent large pH swings over time. If your kH is below roughly 4.5 OdH, you should pay special attention to your tank's pH (e.g., testing periodically) until you get a feel for how stable the pH is.
Buffering is both good and bad. On the good side, the nitrogen cycle in our tanks produces nitric acid (nitrate). If we dont have buffering (kH), the pH will drop over time. Sufficient buffering will keep the Ph stable. On the bad side, hard water almost always has a large buffering capacity and if the pH is to high for your fish, this large buffering capacity will make it more difficult to lower the pH.
Buffering is sometimes referred to as "alkalinity" but should not be confused with "alkaline". Alkalinity refers to buffering and alkaline refers to a solution that is base rather than acid (pH).
Aquariums with a low kH will require more attention to water changes to control the nitrate level reducing the tendency for the pH to drop.
As with pH, there are ways to increase and decrease the buffering capacity of your water.
Ways to increase kH: Ways to lower kH It is not a good idea to use distilled water in your tank. By definition, distilled water has essentially no kH. That means that adding even a little bit of acid will change the pH significantly (stressing fish). Because of its instability, distilled (or any essentially pure water) is never used directly. Tap water or other salts must first be added in order to increase its gH and kH.
Water accumulates many dissolved substances before it reaches our taps. Hardness is a measurement of the concentration of metal ions such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc. Most of these concentrations are acquired as rain water passes over rocks. In most water it consist mainly of calcium and magnesium salts, with trace amounts of other metals.
There are two types of hardness that we need to consider. Permanent hardness and alkalinity (often referred to as carbonate or temporary hardness) (kH). The sum of both types of hardness is called general hardness (gH)
Alkalinity or temporary (carbonate) hardness (kH) refers to the hardness derived mainly from carbonate and bicarbonate ions and directly reflects the buffering capacity of the water. It can be precipitated and removed by boiling the water. This is why lime-scale forms in kettles and shower heads.
Permanent hardness measures ions such as nitrates, sulphates, and chlorides etc, and cannot be removed by boiling.
While there is a connection between water hardness and buffering, hardness is a product of mainly calcium and magnesium ions and buffering is produced by bicarbonate and carbonate ions. As mentioned earlier, hard water is usually well buffered and soft water is usually less buffered. It is possible though, based on different water compositions, to have hard water that is poorly buffered or soft water that is well buffered. The way to establish the makeup of your local water is by using a test kit and test for both gH (general hardness) and kH (temporary hardness).
kH
Carbonate hardness or temporary hardness. Measures the buffering capacity or the ability to absorb and neutralize added acid without major changes to pH. Think of buffering capacity as a big sponge, the higher the buffering, the bigger the sponge. How much buffering does your tank need? The higher the kH (the bigger the sponge), the more resistant to pH changes your water will be. A tank's kH should be high enough to prevent large pH swings over time. If your kH is below roughly 4.5 OdH, you should pay special attention to your tank's pH (e.g., testing periodically) until you get a feel for how stable the pH is.
Buffering is both good and bad. On the good side, the nitrogen cycle in our tanks produces nitric acid (nitrate). If we dont have buffering (kH), the pH will drop over time. Sufficient buffering will keep the Ph stable. On the bad side, hard water almost always has a large buffering capacity and if the pH is to high for your fish, this large buffering capacity will make it more difficult to lower the pH.
Buffering is sometimes referred to as "alkalinity" but should not be confused with "alkaline". Alkalinity refers to buffering and alkaline refers to a solution that is base rather than acid (pH).
Aquariums with a low kH will require more attention to water changes to control the nitrate level reducing the tendency for the pH to drop.
As with pH, there are ways to increase and decrease the buffering capacity of your water.
Ways to increase kH:
· Adding sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). One teaspoon of baking soda added to 50 liters of water can raise the kH of the water by approx 4 OdH without a major affect on pH.
· Adding an air stone to increase surface turbulence driving off carbon dioxide (CO2)
· Adding commercially available products to increase buffering capacity
· Adding an air stone to increase surface turbulence driving off carbon dioxide (CO2)
· Adding commercially available products to increase buffering capacity
· Injecting carbon dioxide (CO2)
· Use reverse osmosis (RO) water. You can mix tap water with reverse osmosis water to achieve the desired kH.
· Adding commercially available products to decrease the buffering capacity.
· Use reverse osmosis (RO) water. You can mix tap water with reverse osmosis water to achieve the desired kH.
· Adding commercially available products to decrease the buffering capacity.