pH altered by crushed coral

[frog girl]

I put limestone rocks in my tank & eventually had to get rid of them because they kept my pH at about 8 all the time.

The other thing that might help is putting a temporary [acronym:47af248a7b="Do it yourself"]DIY[/acronym:47af248a7b] [acronym:47af248a7b="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:47af248a7b] rig in there. The [acronym:47af248a7b="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:47af248a7b] will initially decrease your pH because it forms carbonic acid but the acid will dissolve the calcium carbonate from your coral (for it to work the fastest I would put the coral near the [acronym:47af248a7b="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:47af248a7b] reservoir). When you take the [acronym:47af248a7b="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:47af248a7b] rig out all the extra [acronym:47af248a7b="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:47af248a7b] will come out of the water and you will get a higher pH. This would just speed up the process a bit. If you don't have live plants or are worried about stressing out your fish you could easily do the [acronym:47af248a7b="Do it yourself"]DIY[/acronym:47af248a7b] [acronym:47af248a7b="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:47af248a7b] with coral in a bucket & it would give you a solution with high dissolved calcium carbonate that you could add at water change time.

Also increasing the surface area of the coral would help if it is in big chunks (i.e. break it up in a pillowcase with a hammer).

[Fishyfanatic]

It's already crushed coral, no need to break it up. I have a bag in the filtration unit, not on the surface of the tank. I'm going to hold off at upping the pH for a few weeks until I move the parrots.

So a piece of limestone will increase my pH enough to bring it to 7.8 or 8.0?

[frog girl]

Well I had a bunch of limestone rocks - like maybe 30 pnds (or more) of them and after a while I just couldn't get my pH down at all. The [acronym:23a370e866="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:23a370e866] was up at like 22 which is ridiculous but my pH was at 8.0. I think the process takes a while unless you have the [acronym:23a370e866="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:23a370e866] rig running. Without it I think I achieved 8.0 in 6 months or so and that was with starting with almost pure [acronym:23a370e866="Reverse osmosis"]RO[/acronym:23a370e866] water over a clay substrate.

Limestone is readily available at a lot of nurseries for much cheaper than you will get it at a fish store. I made a sort of tower of stacked limestone in the corner of my aquarium which the fish loved to hid in & chase through. It was like making caves.

For found rocks you can test if they are limestone by washing them really well & partially submerging them in vinegar. If they bubble then they are limestone. Bubbles will take a while to form sometimes depending on the density of your limestone so give it a good 8 hrs.

I think your area was pretty heavily glaciated depending on where in Illinois you live so limestone might be hard to find out in nature.

[Fishyfanatic]

We have a LOT of limestone around here. Actually, my grandfather used to have a rock quary in his woods full of limestone. It's still there, it's just not a quary anymore. I've just always been scared to put anything into the tank that could harm the fish because I'm not sure what would harm them.

[frog girl]

As long as you boil the rock first you will be sure that limestone isn't going to bring anything extra (algae or bacteria) into the tank.

I don't usually boil my rocks just wash them well under hot tap water but if you want to be sure boiling water should do it.

I'm not sure why the african rift lakes have such high [acronym:3587c0b192="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:3587c0b192] but I would guess there is some limestone involved.

I would say go for it. It won't happen really fast but that should be better for the fish (less stress).

[Fishyfanatic]

I'm trying to find a way to raise the pH so I don't have to worry about it anymore. The crushed coral only raised it to 7.4 and I'd like to put something into the tank that will make it permanetly go up to 8.0. I'd rather it go slowly (limestone) because I need time to get my parrots out of the tank and into their new home. I am just dredding the thought of moving. My lease comes up in July and we are moving to a bigger place but just the thought of moving 4 tanks then setting up a 5th when we get their AUGH!

Quick question on the topic of moving. I know that you're not supposed to move tanks when they have water in them. When we move we were going to take out the water, fill up probably 6 buckets of water (5 [acronym:c690c69467="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:c690c69467] each) and put the fish in individual bags like when you buy them from the [acronym:c690c69467="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:c690c69467]. My question is, can I just leave the sand in the tank or do I need to remove that also?

[frog girl]

I have moved terrariums for snakes without removing the sand substrate & it makes them really heavy. I also don't know how the extra pressure would affect tank integrity. You wouldn't have to get it all out just most of it. I think one of those vacuum hoses that you hook up to a faucet would take it out pretty easily. Just be sure you have a bucket under the outflow so you don't get sand down your sink. Or better yet hook it to an outside faucet through a window. Thats how I do mine (even for cleanings).