Crushed Coral To Raise Kh

[Joinerlavin]

Can I raise my my KH with crushed coral, but use it as a substrate, and do they do it in black, I recently bought eco-complete substrate and it cost me £20 and has nutrients for the plants, or can I buy some of the normal crushed coral and hide it under the black substrate

My tank is a 10 gallon

Currently fishless cycling

Tap water KH = 0


Fish wanted:

Guppies
Honey Gouramis
Pygmy cories


Im currently using baking soda to buffer the ph and keep the KH up. Thanks.

 

[backtotropical]

Hi,

Yes you can raise the kH with crushed coral, and it can be used as a substrate. Unfortunately, I've never heard of it being sold in black.

To help you understand how it works, the crushed coral will buffer the pH and kH by releasing calcium carbonate as it slowly dissolves in the water. As it needs to dissolve to be effective, you can imagine that it needs water flow around it, so burying it under your plant substrate may work, but certainly wouldn't be as effective as it could be.

It would probably be best to have it on top of the eco-complete (maybe hide it behind some plants), or ideally keep a small amount in your filter if that is possible.

Using crushed coral is certainly a long-term solution as opposed to using baking soda, but will also lose effectiveness as it is used up. Crushed coral in your water which has a kH of 0 would probably only be effective for around 1 - 2 years, when it would need to be added to or replaced.

Hope that helps.

BTT

 

[Joinerlavin]

what if I put a few spoon fulls of crushed coral into a small sock tie it and place it inbetween the two filter sponges in my fluval 2 filter, or will that clog the filter up??? how much coral to put in for a 10 gal to keep at 7.6 ph???

 

[waterdrop]

For dissolving the crushed coral, putting it in the sock inside the Fluval 2 would certainly be better than making a little pile in the back of the tank somewhere. I don't know the design of that filter well enough to know whether it would clog the filter. If that space currently has nothing but water, you could use common sense and not block it completely I'd say as a guess, but maybe someone will come along who knows that filter really well.

The options where you use a mesh bag or sock type of arrangement to hold the crushed coral are much better for two reasons: Periodically you need to rinse/clean it to get bacteria and debris off of it so that it will continue to slowly dissolve efficiently and secondly, having a bag lets you remove all of it entirely if you no longer want to use it, which is always a good safety to have with things that actively change your water chemistry.

As far as amount, we usually say to start with a small palmful (not a complete palmful) no matter what size tank (well assuming its not a huge tank) and then monitor your KH and pH (it might take 2-3 weeks to see an effect or it might be sooner, I've heard both) and just add more eventually if you feel you need to. This method of raising KH/pH is very slow and generally only used after you have fish.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Joinerlavin]

well i bought some from the internet store today should arrive before friday, eco-carib sea crushed coral (i think), Went to the fish shop and when I asked them did they sell it they looked quite shocked at me lol and said no!! I will try and put some in a tiny sock and try squeeze it in the filter sponges and maybe sprinkle some on top of the substrate.

 

[tunerhead24]

well i bought some from the internet store today should arrive before friday, eco-carib sea crushed coral (i think), Went to the fish shop and when I asked them did they sell it they looked quite shocked at me lol and said no!! I will try and put some in a tiny sock and try squeeze it in the filter sponges and maybe sprinkle some on top of the substrate.

hey im actually in the same situation as u, i found media bags for the crushed coral at petsolutions. com i think it will work better than a sock....

 

[petertr]

Instead of a sock, use tights - it works really well.


There is a gap between the sponges in your Fluval 2 by design - for the carbon or floss filter - so make it a long thin sheet or crushed coral, and you're laughing.

 

[jimmyringo]

Hi,I have crushed coral in my filter,in an ankle stocking(about £2 in tescos for 3 pairs).Works great

 

[waterdrop]

Hi,I have crushed coral in my filter,in an ankle stocking(about £2 in tescos for 3 pairs).Works great

Hi jimmy, any chance you can describe for the thread any delay in seeing results you had and any change in numbers you saw for KH and/or pH? Thanks!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[jimmyringo]

Waterdrop,

As was well documented on this forum,my pH dropped mysteriously to 6(possibly lower) and no matter what i did i couldn't find what the cause was.I virtually stripped the tank.
Eventually i gave up looking for the cause,and went with crushed coral in the filter.A small fistful raised the pH to 6.8 within a few days,and within a week it had raised to 7.2,where it has remained for the last few months

 

[Joinerlavin]

Hi,I have crushed coral in my filter,in an ankle stocking(about £2 in tescos for 3 pairs).Works great

what kind of filter do you have, and is it the ankle stocking same as sport socks

 

[jimmyringo]

I have an Eheim filter.

And no,ankle stockings are like tights.they are a lot thinner than socks so the water flows through a lot easier.

 

[loachman]

I have an Eheim filter.

And no,ankle stockings are like tights.they are a lot thinner than socks so the water flows through a lot easier.

Get some ladies stockings, nylons, etc.

They also sell what is essentially the same thing in some fish stores to hold filter media. I forget what they call them though.

 

[Joinerlavin]

is the Eheim filter similar to the fluval 2, internal??? thanks

 

[drobbyb]

I have crushed coral in my filters. I just used tuxedo nylon socks filled with the rinsed crushed coral. You can custom size the socks so that you can place a bag in almost any filter type with media options. I have it in my canister and in my HOB type filters. The sock is just the right size and the excess can be safely cut away (plus they are cheap! Only about $3 for 2.)