Substrate Situation

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Venustus

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 17, 2009
26
0
0
North Jersey
Can anyone help me with this? When I first started my tank 2 years ago I chose decoration rock as a substrate. I then decided to add African Cichlids without really knowing anything about them. Since then, I've added a considerable amount of crushed coral in order to raise the ph level to accommodate their needs. Now, there is more substrate than necessary in my tank and the ph level is at about 7.8.

Can I remove the substrate and replace is with only coral or would this be too much of a shock for the fish? If changing substrate isn't a good idea, how else could I raise the ph without using chemicals?

Thanks for the help!! :)
 
Venustus;4396095; said:
Can anyone help me with this? When I first started my tank 2 years ago I chose decoration rock as a substrate. I then decided to add African Cichlids without really knowing anything about them. Since then, I've added a considerable amount of crushed coral in order to raise the ph level to accommodate their needs. Now, there is more substrate than necessary in my tank and the ph level is at about 7.8.

Can I remove the substrate and replace is with only coral or would this be too much of a shock for the fish? If changing substrate isn't a good idea, how else could I raise the ph without using chemicals?

Thanks for the help!! :)
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Have you got a sump? if you do then you could put some crushed coral in the sump. Why do you want to raise the PH ? 7.8 is fine for Africans.

What is the PH of your tap water?
 
I use a mixture of crushed coral and either white pool filter sand or black fine-grade 3M Colourquartz in all my African tanks. Keeps in pH up around 7.8 or so.

With water changes in the basement tanks taking 4-5 hours, not having to doctor the water saves a lot of time. Also, considering there's typically many beers crushed on W/C night, it's one less thing for me to screw up.
 
Ok, so my tap water according to my tank's ph tester says I have between 8.0 and 8.2 (I think, to be honest they color didn't really match anything on the color card. It was too pink to match any colors.) But assuming my tap water is between 8.0 and 8.2, isn't it strange the ph in my tank is 7.8 with crushed coral in it?

The reason I want to push it up a bit is because I thought that 7.8 is alright but cichlids should really be at a 8.2. At least that's what I've found through research.
 
Here's what I was thinking: For the next water change, I'll take out 1/3 or the current substrate and replace it with all crushed coral, hopefully pushing up the ph slowly. Do the same thing the following weeks until the ph is at a higher level.

Good idea, bad idea? Has anyone ever tried this?
 
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