How much crushed coral per gallon?

[Bfunk89]

Hi all,

I'm setting up my fluval ebi and seem to be having a low ph problem. My other tank is fine because I have sand as substrate and a couple stones in it so I thought I'd turn to crushed coral in the filter in the ebi. Totally guessing I added probably about 1/4 cup in a mesh bag and it raised my ph up to a solid 7, a but too high for my already happy shrimp at 6.6. I took a bunch out and left about a golf ball size amount yesterday and tested again today and it doesn't seem to have changed. I'm going to wait a couple days and test again to see if it changes, but in the meantime I figured I would ask the brains of BC aquaria for advice. =)

How much crushed coral would you suggest per gallon? Or is there another (non chemical) way to up my ph and keep it stable?

Bri

[Tarobot]

fluval ebi comes with substrate that should buffer the ph for you unless your tap water is some super ridiculous PH number, i've tried crush coral but don't find them useful. just let the substrate do the work?

[Bfunk89]

It's not ridiculous I suppose, sitting around 6 without the coral. I'm just nervous about varying too far from my original tanks ph as I will be moving shrimp from there to the ebi when it's ready.

[tang daddy]

I would use alot less than a golf ball size of CC, maybe try a teaspoon for your ebi.... You dont need very much, another thing i use for our soft water is 1/10 a cap of cichlid buffer per 5g bucket of water for my crs tanks and that raises the gh to about 4.

[Bfunk89]

Thanks, I'll take some more out tomorrow and see how that goes. I keep reading that shrimp need hard water for healthy molts and such, but my crystals and blue pearls are in a tank where the gh won't even register and both are molting like crazy and my crystals have bred up a storm!

[BelieveInBlue]

Wouldn't go nuts on the crushed coral; they leach buffers into the water, and it could, theoretically, bring your KH into the double digits and drive your pH well over 7, that's assuming you added too much. Of course, in an Ebi that's not difficult. I'd say lik maybe like a small gumball size to start, and see where that takes you. remember, it's easy enough to add more if you dont have enough, but if you add too much, getting it out and bringing the pH down again will be one hell of a hassel.

[Bfunk89]

Thank you for the info! I'm going to sew an old fishnet and make a smaller bag and take the majority of the coral out and see how that goes.

[2wheelsx2]

I think there is some misconceptions about using buffers and crushed coral especially. Unless you are creating an acidic environment specifically by injecting CO2, or using peat, etc. there is only a small amount of the material that will dissolve. The dissolution rate is dependent on the pH and the amount of cations available in the water. As the pH and KH goes up due to the dissolution of the coral, the solubility decreases, so unless you are injecting CO2 (and even if you are) the amount of coral is irrelevant, if it's in the filter, because you are pushing water past it, and all that will dissolve, will. If it's sitting in the substrate or bagged in the corner, it might make a bit of a difference as you're not moving as much water past it.

For example, in a CO2 injected tank, the amount of coral consumed is the same no matter how much you put in, if it's in the filter, unless you are using other buffers. So putting in more just means you have to replace it less often.

[anessa]

With such a tiny tank I would just use buffers in the water. Kent's PH stable and RO Right. I used to use crushed coral but I've just started using these instead. Vancouver water is just TOO pure.

[Bfunk89]

Tanks guys. I ended up just getting rid of the coral.