librarygirl
Look It Up
The thing with baking soda is that it can fluctuate PH wildly and you need to keep adding it. Crushed coral is an easier option and doesn't cause dramatic swings like using baking soda would. My GH is 3 and my KH is 2 and my tank''s PH is 7.2. I keep a small amount of crushed coral in a media bag in my filter. Every few months (when I remember) I change it out for fresh coral. It helps keep the PH stable due to the softness of the water (particularly when I add driftwood) and I don't need to rely on other things that could cause dramatic fluctuations.
For the pre-filter (they do get nasty) you can just take it out during a water change and swish it around in old tank water to get the debris off. I did that for a while on mine but it got too gross for me after a while, so now I just use netting (I bought a fish net, cut the net off and tied it around the intake with a black plastic strip tie that came with something I bought for the tank, not sure what lol). Debris still gets stuck to it of course and it needs to be cleaned off but it's not as gunky as the pre-filter.
Wash the sponge in old tank water, I don't think it'll harm much. Once a month I clean all of my media this way and never had problems (my tank is pretty established though but I wouldn't think swishing a sponge in old tank water would cause much of an issue).
For the pre-filter (they do get nasty) you can just take it out during a water change and swish it around in old tank water to get the debris off. I did that for a while on mine but it got too gross for me after a while, so now I just use netting (I bought a fish net, cut the net off and tied it around the intake with a black plastic strip tie that came with something I bought for the tank, not sure what lol). Debris still gets stuck to it of course and it needs to be cleaned off but it's not as gunky as the pre-filter.
Wash the sponge in old tank water, I don't think it'll harm much. Once a month I clean all of my media this way and never had problems (my tank is pretty established though but I wouldn't think swishing a sponge in old tank water would cause much of an issue).