Kh Help

[JALouis]

I have a newly cycled 55 gallon freshwater tank (thanks to the help I received on here). Throughout the cycle I had issues with PH crashes which stalled the cycle at one point and had to add baking soda almost once a day. I added the first group of fish today. I finally found a KH test at one of my local fish store. I tested my KH and found it to be 3. I'm concerned with the pH crashing again as it did during the fishless cycle. I did purchase a small bag of crushed coral. Should I use it based on what I'm finding with the KH? If so, do I place some in a bag and bury it under the gravel or do I put it in the filter? If I put it in the filter where do I put it? I have a canister filter? Would it go with the carbon?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jennifer

 

[fatheadminnow]

Personally I would just wait and see.

You are going to be doing at least 1 water change a week, which will help replenish the pH.

I dont know that much about KH, so hopefully someone can help you out more.

But, personally I would just wait and see, and say in a month without having a pH crash, I wouldn't worry about it them.

Just my 2 cents.

-FHM

 

[JALouis]

That makes sense. I just want to be ready should the need arise. I tested the pH this morning and so far it's holding steady. Hopefully it continues to do so.

Jennifer

 

[Joinerlavin]

I have a small 10 gal tank, and my water is very soft from the tap (0kh), I placed a bag of crushed coral, only a few tea spoons into a womens ankle sock (tights) into my fluval internal filter between the sponges. This got my kh up to 3kh and stays at that even with a weekly waterchange of 25% never have any problems with a ph crash. Crushed coral is useless under the gravel as it needs water passing through it to dissolve the minerals.

 

[OldMan47]

Your concern is well founded JALoius. Your low KH can lead to rapid large changes in pH. What you do about it depends largely on the fish that you keep. If you have fish that prefer soft water like yours, all you really want to do is perform enough water changes to keep the pH somewhat stable. If you have fish that prefer harder water with a high pH, the crushed coral in the filter will stabilize the pH and raise the KH gradually. You can even use some baking soda in an emergency but I would try to avoid it because it has a dramatic and almost immediate impact on the tank's chemistry.

 

[JALouis]

Thanks everyone. I tested the water this morning and the pH seems to be staying stable (so far but it's only been about 24 hours, but this is an improvement compared to during fishless cycle). I'm going to go with the wait and see and see with small weekly water changes will keep the pH stable.

I'm not sure if I have sponges in my filter but I do have filter floss. I'm not sure a small bag of crushed coral would fit there. Would putting in with the carbon be an issue? That's really the only area with room for additional media.

Thanks.

 

[OldMan47]

If you have some carbon in a bag, the crushed coral could be put into the same space. I would not mix the two because you will want to be able to manipulate the two separate aspects of the filter separately. Carbon is used to remove odors and colors and is quickly exhausted where the crushed coral keeps working until it is pretty much dissolved away. If you use any medications, they will often advise to remove any carbon. When treating for disease would be a terrible time to have a pH crash so I would not put them in the same bag.

 

[JALouis]

Thanks OldMan47. The carbon is in it's own bags so it wouldn't get mixed in. If the pH starts dropping I will go with the crushed coral.

It's a 55 gallon tank, any idea how much crushed coral I would need to use to stabilize the pH? I saw somewhere it could be only a tablespoon or two.

Thanks.

 

[OldMan47]

I have naturally very hard water so have no experience trying to push the hardness up with coral. As you have said, it shouldn't take more than a little. You will be trying to strike a balance between how much carbonate you remove with water changes and how quickly the coral is dissolving in the water if you go that way. It should be self limiting because as the KH increases the pH, the coral will dissolve slower. My own guess would be no more than an ounce or two would be needed to add some stability to your tank. You are not going to try to get the water way up to where my liquid rock is anyway.

 

[Bobtastic]

I seem to have a similar problem with my water, low pH(6) and pretty low KH(4-5). I've added a bag of CC into my tank which seems to be bringing the pH up slowly (currently 6.9ish) but I have also added a pH buffer (7) which has risen the KH up to about 9. I'm hoping that the CC will replace the pH buffer as the buffer is pretty expensive and also, as I understand, adds to the osmotic pressure which adds stress to the fish...

 

[waterdrop]

The above recommendations correspond with all the info I've read too. A small palmful, which would be just a few ounces I'd think, seems to be a good starting point, raising things slowly.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[JALouis]

Here's an update. So far so good with the pH. It's remained stable so I'm holding off on the crushed coral until I start to see an issue.