I have tank water that hovers around a pH of 6.6-6.9 and a low KH. Some people have suggested that I use crushed coral to stabalize the perams, so I'm going to buy some today. I was just wondering what the best way to add it would be? I'm going to put some in a media bag and place it in my aquaclear, but will it cause a sudden pH change?

Chrissy

I put mine in an aquaclear bag a little bit at a time, adding more each day over maybe 3 days. I tested every time before I added more. pH went up 0.8 total, with maybe 2/3 cup of crushed coral in my filter.

The trick with doing it a bit at a time is that you have to rinse it in tank water to get the coral dust out. I got lazy the last time, and had little coral bits coming out of my filter. I was worried but it didn't seem to cause any ill effects. I think it was sucked back up by the filter and then rinsed out with the sponge the next time I cleaned.

Thanks, that sounds like a good plan. I got mine from a marine tank (they guy who runs the store gave it to me for free ) So I'm going to give it a really good rinse and add it a bit at a time.

Chrissy

I have mine in mesh media bags(very tiny mesh so that the coral cannot escape). I didnt add a little at a time, maybe I should have, but it brought my pH from 6.6 to 7.2. I have it on the top layer in my filters media basket.

I just tore the mesh from an old net I had and put the coral in that, then popped it in my aquaclear. There isn't much so I ended up adding most of it at once, hopefully it'll work out ok!

Also, I had to take out some of the biomedia from my aquaclear to make room - the little ceramic (?) cylinders. I didn't want them to go to waste, so I stuffed them down inside my penguine! I just wedged them between the back of the filter and the carbon insert, think this is ok? I know it'll be a pain at cleaning time with them kicking around in there, but I think I can cope.


Chrissy

I would take out the carbon and replace the ceramic pieces. Those are the best for harboring the good bacteria.

I'm with Erin, the ceramic noodles are the best surface you've got for the biobugs, -to take some of them out, you are reducing the capacity of your biological filtration. -The carbon is only really useful when you are getting rid of meds during treatments and is near useless after it's completely adsorbed (after about 2 weeks) and although it can be a surface for your biobugs, the ceramic noodles are much more space efficient, with much more surface area than the carbon.

Thanks everyone. I managed to stuff them all in with the carbon, but I was wondering how important the carbon was..that's good to know. Too bad I just ordered a bunch of carbon online

Chrissy