Ph Levels A Challenge...sea Coral Okay?

[Eviltoon]

I live in Vancouver BC, where we have extremely soft water and naturally low PH levels (6.0 is my guess). I have a store bought large piece of coral and two limestone (I think) rocks with holes in it for the fish to swim through...but I got these pieces mainly to raise the ph levels naturally. I do not think it is enough though as I can only seem to raise it to 7.0 this way. I have begun using a chemical PH raise solution to get it up to 8.0 but I do not want to become dependent on this method (too much fluctuation).

Question: my inlaws brought back a good bit of coral from the beaches when they were in the Philippines. It has been sitting on a shelf for about a year now...if I soak this in boiling water for about 10 minutes do you think this would be okay to add to the tank? Would it be safe and beneficial??? I understand coral raises PH levels.

Thanks in advance.

 

[kj23502]

I live in Vancouver BC, where we have extremely soft water and naturally low PH levels (6.0 is my guess). I have a store bought large piece of coral and two limestone (I think) rocks with holes in it for the fish to swim through...but I got these pieces mainly to raise the ph levels naturally. I do not think it is enough though as I can only seem to raise it to 7.0 this way. I have begun using a chemical PH raise solution to get it up to 8.0 but I do not want to become dependent on this method (too much fluctuation).

Question: my inlaws brought back a good bit of coral from the beaches when they were in the Philippines. It has been sitting on a shelf for about a year now...if I soak this in boiling water for about 10 minutes do you think this would be okay to add to the tank? Would it be safe and beneficial??? I understand coral raises PH levels.

Thanks in advance.

here's something for ya: Conversation on collecting coral from nature
Ph conversation

PH conversation

I'm not an expert, yet! But I do hope this helps a bit!

 

[darrel69]

I live in Vancouver BC, where we have extremely soft water and naturally low PH levels (6.0 is my guess). I have a store bought large piece of coral and two limestone (I think) rocks with holes in it for the fish to swim through...but I got these pieces mainly to raise the ph levels naturally. I do not think it is enough though as I can only seem to raise it to 7.0 this way. I have begun using a chemical PH raise solution to get it up to 8.0 but I do not want to become dependent on this method (too much fluctuation).

Question: my inlaws brought back a good bit of coral from the beaches when they were in the Philippines. It has been sitting on a shelf for about a year now...if I soak this in boiling water for about 10 minutes do you think this would be okay to add to the tank? Would it be safe and beneficial??? I understand coral raises PH levels.

Thanks in advance.

I may be wrong, but i think adding limestone/coral will only raise your ph to 7.6 and no further. But 7.6 is fine.... If you want to raise your ph further, use bicarbonate soda (baking soda). It'll raise your ph to 8.2 and no further, no matter how much you use. It'll also raise your kh. This is what i use and when i do my weekly waterchange, i just add a couple of teaspoons and thats it. My ph has been 8.2 ever since, with no fluctuations....

If you decide to use this method, use only Baking soda (also known as bicarbonate of soda), and not baking powder which is simular but has cooking additives in it. Start of by using one teaspoon per 10gallon and see what results you get. Remember when testing to use declorinated water.

Also, stay away from ph adjusters. They dont work well for long and will have you ph up and down like a yo-yo!!

 

[Eviltoon]

bicarbonate soda...that sounds easy enough...weird , well I'll give it a go?

Thanks.

 

[darrel69]

bicarbonate soda...that sounds easy enough...weird , well I'll give it a go?

Thanks.

Yea it does sound weird lol, but its quite a common method. Its easy to use, works just as well (if not better) than any other method and costs next to nothing. You should beable to pick a tub up from your grocery store.