just let your cc lie in your filter, i always have a bit in mine, and it keeps the water hard. I have soft water here, and the crushed coral does freakin wonders in my tank, I basically had the same thing happened to me with a ph crash, and now my tanks are back to normal. One thing to watch out for, depending on how low your ph was, seeing as you can't read it past 6 your bacteria might have died off. It didn't happen to me, but while frantically researching for a solution i read somewhere that at a certain ph your bacteria can die off.
Raising PH HElP
- Thread starter BichirAddict
- Start date
blackghostuk;4045873; said:
Calcium carbonate will raise your pH. I've tried it first hand so I know it works. It's a lot less soluble than sodium bicarbonate so it will do it more slowly.
I think they chemistry would work like this: under acidic conditions CaCO3 will break down into Ca++ and CO3--, which can then pick up H+ from the water to form H2CO3 / HCO3- / Ca(HCO3)2. By buffering H+ from the water you'll lower pH.
To get the pH you want, add a small amount of crushed coral to your filter and measure your pH every day. Don't add any more until pH has stablized otherwise you may overshoot. Repeat this process till you get the pH you want. At that point the buffering capacity of the coral should keep your pH pretty stable. It probably needs to be replaced eventually but will take a long time. Keep in mind that this will also increase your KH and GH.
As mentioned above, while pH 6 might not necessarily kill a fish, it greatly affects the nitrifying bacteria in your filters (may not kill them but will greatly slow down their metabolism). This will prevent them from effectively breaking down ammonia and can result in ammonia spikes when you overfeed or add new fish.
