crushed coral to raise pH

Victor, we'd really need to know what your pH and KH (carbonate hardness) are in a sample of tap water that has sat out overnight in a shallow bowl. Knowing that, we can give you better advice on how to get to 7.0.

Jim
 
That article has some wide holes in it - the author seems unsure about the difference in GH and KH (GH has no effect on pH), neglects to mention RO water, saying that the TWP is the only effective means of reducing buffering, and finally the suggestion of fixed and very large amounts of crushed coral to undefined pH/KH water to buffer to pH 7.6 is absurd IMHO & IME. No thanks, not for me.
 
JSchmidt said:
Victor, we'd really need to know what your pH and KH (carbonate hardness) are in a sample of tap water that has sat out overnight in a shallow bowl. Knowing that, we can give you better advice on how to get to 7.0.

Jim
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hahaha hardness?! In OUR tap water? That's actually completely unheard of... :laugh:
 
RTR said:
There is no water other than RODI or WFI without measurable hardness. The ppm maybe low, but it can be measured. Being funny is fine, but not at the cost of info.
Click to expand...

If there is any hardness it's not detectable, because so far nobody out here has been able to detect any...
At this time of the year the water is VERY soft, other times it can be around 2ppm GH and 1KH or even higher of around 2ppm GH and 4ppm KH.

Edit: I have water with a ph of 6.4 coming out of my tap right now...
 
The article is an excellent source of info on rasing yur pH. Contray to what you say, Both general hardness GH and carbonate hardness KH has direct / indirect relation to your pH.
Can you be more specific when you said, "the author seems unsure about the difference in GH and KH ".
The authot didn't mentioned RO, because RO deosn't help in lowering or raising your pH. RO water is just water it is, reverse osmosis water, which all the dissolved minerals taken out, just altering KH, GH and pH. But RO doesn't help in raising pH level of an existing aquarium that uses regular water, unless you add RO during water changes. Then you run into the problem of rapid fluctuation pH level that can kill your fish.
Please go to my personal website and read on how to evaluate a website for accuracy.

Rohn

PS That wasn't written by me or anyone else I personally know. But would recomend it anyone.
 
To answer the original question, in a 115 gallon tank, with soft acidic water, I'd start with 1/2 -3/4 cup of crushed coral in a filter bag or a nylon stocking. I'd place that coral in a filter where water is sure to flow over/through it. As the acidic water dissolves the coral, pH and KH will slowly begin to increase. If too much coral is present, the pH will go up to 7.6 or so; you can adjust how high pH rises by removing (or adding) some of the crushed coral to the bag, until you find a point at which it stabilizes.

The nice thing about this approach is that it works fairly slowly, giving you time to adjust the amount of coral to suit your needs.

HTH,
Jim
 
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