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L# Freshwater Aquaria
 L# General Freshwater
  L# pH controllers
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SubscribepH controllers
mingli
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female usa
What helps to keep pH under control?

driftwood? crushed coral? what?

and then how much to sustain a 29G tank?
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:56Profile PM Edit Report 
jake
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male usa
Ph controllers are instruments used to interrupt power to selenoids on co2 valves. They monitor the ph and then once it gets past whatever you set, it will kick the co2 valve back on , realeasing co2 gas into your tank, which will lower the ph. It is normally used for growing plants in freshwater tanks, and not strictly for controlling the ph of a tank.
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:56Profile PM Edit Report 
mingli
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female usa
so what does crushed coral do?
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:56Profile PM Edit Report 
Fallout
 
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it raises pH and hardness due to the carbonates and other minerals dissolving into the water. Good for certain african cichlids.
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:56Profile Homepage ICQ AIM MSN Yahoo PM Edit Report 
jake
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male usa
Crushed coral, when placed in your filter ( usually inside a mesh bag that is sold for things such as this), will raise the GH, KH, and PH of the water. I run crushed coral in my canister filter since I run pressurized co2. It keeps the kh ( buffering ability) high enough so I don't have ph swings. The co2 lowers the ph so it keeps the crushed coral from raising my ph from 7.0 to 7.8 or something. It makes the water harder as well, which can be good or bad, depending on the fish.

New driftwood releases a chemical that tints the water sort of a light tea color. It lowers the ph . Peat also does this, and softens the water as well. ( not sure if driftwood softens the water or not). Peat can also be placed in a mesh bag and then placed in a filter.
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:56Profile PM Edit Report 
Graphite
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Fingerling
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male usa
Sorry for replying but

Where do I find PH Controllers and how much do they run for?
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:56Profile AIM Yahoo PM Edit Report 
jake
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One of the cheaper ones, but not the most accurate is the one I use, a Milwaukee sms122 . A google search should give you about 10000 hits on it, heh. I've seen on ebay for 80-85 bucks, and a few sites for around the same. ( U.S. dollars). It's only accurate to 0.1 ph, as in 7.2 , 7.5, etc and not 7.21 and 7.43 . It is not an exact instrument...you might have the dial turned to 7.5 but it won't kick on the co2 until the ph is 7.7 or something. It's just a gadget, really, and not horrifically necessary, but it's handy.

Other controllers would be ones like http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19421;category_id=3079, and you will get more accuracy, but notice the price difference, hehe.
Post InfoPosted 26-Jan-2006 11:56Profile PM Edit Report 
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