Wood In Brackish Tanks?

[crackmonkey]

It's unlikely that crushed coral or coral sand are going to raise the pH above 8.5. Even in marine tanks the pH stays at about this level (in fact the problem is usually a drop in pH).

I'm not sure the bit about CaribSea’s Florida Crushed Coral is good science. All corals are made of aragonite, in contrast to most (but not all) molluscs that have shells made of calcite. So why their coral sand is better than other coral sands eludes me. What I'm guessing is being cofused is corals and coralline algae. Coralline algae have calcite, not aragonite, in their 'skeletons', so sands rich in broken up coralline algae may be relatively aragonite poor.

Aragonite and calcite are 'morphs' if you like of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), and both will dissolve gradually in sea water, and the dissolved CaCO3 that buffers the water. What aragonite has going for it is that it is less stable than calcite, i.e., it dissolved more quickly. But the dissolution rate is variable with acidity, so if there's a pH drop, the calcite will dissolve more quickly than normal. While the dissolution rates may be critical in marine reef tanks, where you need very stable conditions, in a brackish water tank I can't imagine it'll make any difference what brand of coral sand you use.

Really all you need to do is check the pH periodically, and provided you do regular water changes, it's unlikely the bogwood is going to make any difference. It will colour the water, yes, but it's unlikely to take the pH below 7.5 provided you maintain a specific gravity of 1.005 or more and change 10 to 20% of the water once or twice a week. Brackish water fish are amazingly tolerant of changes in water chemistry, especially if you at least give them the right salinity.

Cheers,

Neale

unlikely to take the pH below 7.5 assuming that im using something to buffer the Ph up like crushed coral? Because my tap water is 7.0 and the tank water is around 6.8. Which crushed coral would you suggest to take the Ph up to a steady 8.0 which could go into my external filter, and how much of it?

 

[nmonks]

Hello,

Doesn't work that way. Ask a chemist for the details, but the whole point of buffering is that it prevents chemical changes in either direction. I could be wrong about this, but my understanding is you could fill your aquarium with crushed coral, and the pH won't go to 9, 10, or all the way to 14.

Dissolved calcium carbonate produces a weak base ("alkali"). Once the acid in the water has bound up with some of alkaline calcium carbonate, the ambient dissolution constant of the calcium carbonate is so low only a little bit will dissolve. After that amount has dissolved, the remained is effectively insoluble. Or something like that, anyway.

Cheers,

Neale

unlikely to take the pH below 7.5 assuming that im using something to buffer the Ph up like crushed coral? Because my tap water is 7.0 and the tank water is around 6.8. Which crushed coral would you suggest to take the Ph up to a steady 8.0 which could go into my external filter, and how much of it?

 

[crackmonkey]

could a figure eight live in a ph of 6.8 - 7.0? since i cant raise the ph

 

[Dave Legacy]

I use a huge piece of driftwood and 2 small pieces of driftwood in my Mangrove Swamp tank. My pH reads 7.8 which suits my Archers just fine. In my opinion I think that wood is far more natural looking than rocks for brackish tanks. Take a look at some underwater mangrove swamp pics... where's all the rock?

 

[plecoguy]

Im guessing the 50% water change is a little over the top? People said you should do 50% weekly for my discus tank but i dont and they have been fine for a year with great water quality, i do it about every 1 1/2 weeksto 2 weeks. I have the Eheim Professional 2028 in my 50 Gallon Discus tank along with the internal Juwel filter.

hmm...looking at your pic of your discus...im not so sure i agree with your thinking. When i was rasing discus, it was 50% waterchange a few times a week at least, and when breeding 100% everyday. And if you look at my picture you can see a big difference. This fish in the picture was my male blue diamond that was just around a year in age. From head to tip of the tail he as about 6.5 inches at least, and very very thick... ask any big time breeder..and they too will tell you the difference between your fish and theirs. just cause the fish is alive..doesnt mean that it isnt to its fullest potential. many discus are stunted and very thin becasue of lack of waterchanges. To me it doesnt look like your fish have good shape, and they look small for their age and kinda thin...but thats just me

and trust me...this pics do not do this fish justice..at all