Would putting cuttlebone in the filters help with KH? If so, I wonder how many per gallonage?

Yep, a lot more porous than coral or shell so it will be dissolved more quickly and less messy. I use it with my snail and cat fish tank.

I have a handful of crushed shell in the cannister and it has lasted 12mths so far and still going. I put a medium size cuttlebone in the tank so the snails can eat if if they need calcium, at this rate I doubt it will last more than 4-6mths, the plecos like to suck on it as well.

I cannot give you a guide except I use a handful of crushed shell to raise the KH in the 20 gallon and that is sufficient to prevent pH falls. Say a medium cuttlebone would give you the same in a 20 gallon. I don't know my kh or gh levels as I don't have tests for that, but I know it's working because of the steady pH, which even rises over a period of time.

Oh wow, maybe you've solved the kH issues that have been going on here lately! Cuttlebone is sooooo much easier for me to get than crushed coral. I'm going to the bulk store today (for gingerbread house ingredients, hahaha) and they sell cuttlebone by the pound, I'm going to get some for my filter (and my snail tank)

Ok, the cuttlebone is sitting next to my tank, I'm afraid! LOL
Should I break it up and pop it in the filter?? I need reassurance here people

Last paragraph on this page:

http://www.aquariaplants.com/waterchemistry.htm

That's a good link, lola fish.

Chrissy Bee, your funny. First of all, before you do anything else boil your cuttlebone for at least 5 minutes to kill any bacteria, etc and also to get it waterlogged to make it sink. If you don't boil it then it will float.

For your tank with snails you can put it in the tank so they can eat it.

For any other tank place it in the filter or near a water outlet for faster dissolving, or just put it in the tank. No need to break it up into little pieces, only break it for convenience if it doesn't fit.

I would try a guide of medium sized piece for a 20gallon, a large piece for a 30 gallon, etc.

is cuttlebone the ones that birds eat ????

Yep, same stuff. I use the type sold for birds.

Thanks! I stuck a piece in with my snail yesterday for him to munch on and I'm going to put the rest in my filter today. I have a media bag of old crushed coral in there now, so I think I'll just toss that and replace it with the cuttle bone. I hope this does the job, it's a pretty easy/cheap way to keep my kH up.

I'm getting some tomorrow. We'll have to update our findings!

Chrissy, why toss the crushed coral? It will keep on dissolving until you can't see it anymore. Just add the cuttlebone as well. If it doesn't all fit in the filter you could vege clip the cuttlebone near the filter outflow.

Crushed coral, or shell, or cuttlebone will all do the same thing, just that the cuttlebone is more porous so it dissolve more quickly and therefore doesn't last as long either. But it gives you more dissolved calcium in a shorter period of time.

Someone told me the crushed coral would lose its effectiveness, which I thought it had. Maybe my water has just become a lot softer and it hasn't been able to 'cope'. ..Interesting

Smart idea! What a genius! I'm gonna do that.

Gees, maybe it does, I'm not 100% sure otherwise. If you have found a drop in hardness over time that would be a good indicator. I am using crushed shell, which just seems to keep on going, perhaps it is different?

I think it may be. Sorry but I can't find the thread where I was told that, but I think a few people actually said it to me. My coral was in there for about 9 months and the kH had fallen recently.

I put the cuttlebone in yesterday, I'm going to check the perams today..updates to come

I picked up the cuttlebone today, as I ran out of time yesterday on the way home from work due to a bad accident en route. (not me!)

Anyway, I purchased 4 of the 6.5" sizes, boiled them about 15-20 minutes, and because my Emperor compartments were big enough, I dropped one in each of the 4 spaces.

Tomorrow, maybe there will be a difference. I imagine it should start working pretty quickly. My KH is 89 tonight.

I checked my kH today (I dropped a 6' piece of cuttlebone in the penguine yesterday). So far it's still around 30-40, I'm hoping to see a gradual increase this week.

I had no KH change this morning, but my PH went up .1

Still no change in my tank either. I'm wondering if it would have been better to break it up and create more surface area?

An update for me...still no changes in KH, although the cuttlebone is very slowly dissolving. I am still having to use buffers.

Same here, the kH isn't improving. I think tomorrow I'm going to break the cuttlebone up and put it in a media bag, to see if that works.