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How much cruched coral will o need to get my ph up to 7.1 It is constantly at around 6.0 because of D/W. I want it at around 7.1 because i am going to be putting DIY C02 in the tank and ive heard it lowers ph levels.

Alex

Edit in advance:the tank is 42gal/160L



Last edited by Alex at 12-Jul-2005 03:17

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

Alex

I used to use a small amount of shell grit (bird food) and tie it into a panty hose toe. If this is what you are refering to it will be a trial & error method. By using the stocking you can remove it easly rather than spreading it over the Substrate.

Keith

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Hi Alex,
There is no "formula" for that procedure. For instance 10
grams of crushed coral will not raise the tank X.X in pH.

Take a small amount, say 1/2 cup and place it in the toe
of some pantyhose, tie it off, and place that in the
output of your filter so that the clean water flows through
it and then back into the aquarium. When you do water
changes do only 10% once a week or so. Test the pH and
GH, KH regularly and keep track of the coral as well.
Over time, the coral will disolve and have to be replaced.

The Driftwood will eventually cease to affect your pH.
Over time the tannins near the surfaces of the chunk of
wood leech out into the tank leaving a depleted area
near the surfaces. Bacteria forms on the wood surfaces
forming a weathering rind and eventually will block any
further leeching.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

If your concerm is pH control then I wouldn't use the crushed coral at all.

Crushed coral is difficult to control and will have a very slow effect. If you do frequent or large water changes the effect become even slower. Coral being a form of calcium will also affect GH as well as KH.

To control Ph levels when adding Co2 the simplest, easiest to control method is by increasing KH. This can be done with baking soda. It's much easier to dose and much faster acting.

Having said all that I've just checked my Co2 chart and to keep your pH at 7.1 and have decent worthwhile volumes of Co2 you'd need a KH of about 11. This is a whole lot higher then I would like.

I would be extremely doubtful your DW is having such a huge impact on your Ph. What's the pH out of the tap ?

Last edited by bensaf at 12-Jul-2005 08:05

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

The ph out of the tap is 8.0 I have been using baking soda but then 5hours after ive used it its gone back to where it started. Ph is my main concern but to up the ph i will have to up the kh which is also extremely low.

Alex

Edit :these piece of D/w are extremely large 1 of them is 3ft long and the other (which i just got today is reasonably large aswell.

Edit: a kh of 11 crap thats high:%)

Last edited by Alex at 12-Jul-2005 18:17

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

The ph out of the tap is 8.0 I have been using baking soda but then 5hours after ive used it its gone back to where it started.

Well baking soda won't do a thing for your pH. What it will do is raise the KH. KH is the buffer that controls the pH shift when Co2 is added. As you know when Co2 is added the pH shifts downwards, to what level is dependent on the KH level. In summary we use co2 to control and adjust pH and baking soda to control KH. Using these two we can retain a certain pH level whilehaving the needed Co2 concentrations of 20-30ppm. Baking soda won't affect pH at all by itself.

A drop of ph from 8 to 6 is huge I wouldn't have thought that driftwood would have such a big affect, even a large piece I'm no expert on this, but I think the dropping of pH effect from DW is caused by the release of tannins, tannic acid in effect making the water more ..well...acidic. Is the wood still leeching tannins ?

If so I'm wondering if soaking the wood in hot water might speed up the release of tannins ( probably difficult with a 3ft piece). With the wood releasing less tannins in the aquarium it should have less impact on the pH If I'm right the wood should gradually have less and less effect on the pH as the tannins wear off.

I know that AC can remove the tannin coloring, but I don't know if carbon actually removes the tannic acid If it does would it be worthwhile running some. As I said I'm no expert on water chemistry, maybe somebody else can shed some light on it ?

Are you using anything else that might be making the water more acidic, softeners or anything?

I'm still shocked that the water from the tap drops by 2 pH in the tank. I would think that finding a reason for and that and a solution would be better long term then adding coral or baking soda.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

I would think starting with 8.0 ph 11kh water and bringing it down to 6.0 with driftwood would give you a very dark tank. With similar water I could barely see in my tank by the time I lowered it less than 1 ph. Right now my tank with 4 watts per gallon looks dim from the driftwood and the ph hasn't budged. Carbon will remove color but it doesn't seem to affect the actual tannic acid. With driftwood and peat calcium and magnesium ions are exchanged for tannins which then uses up your kh to an extent. If the pieces haven't been soaked in water for at least several weeks but preferably a month or more I would definitely remove them and set them up to soak somewhere else. It is possible for tannic acid to drop your ph down around 5.0 as well as lowering your gh and kh. Your going to go through alot of work buffering only to have it all undone by the driftwood.

Your tap water may very well have an actual pH of 6 if you tested water straight out of the tap. I'd let some tap water sit around for a few hours and then test it. I know my pH shifts (but in the opposite direction) so it might be happening to you as well. I'm not sure if it can decrease with time out of the tap or not, but it's worth a shot. At least you will have ruled out one possibility.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

my ph is now 7 after i added just abit less then 1/2 a cup of crushed coral yesterday. Im going to keep a close eye on the ph for a while. None of the fish have had any problems with the sudden ph change. Im obviously pleased about the results but i think something very strange is going on!!!!!!!!

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''