help lowering ph (crushed corral)

[tfast500]

I had changed my gravel to crushed corral which I believe ended up killing my fish due to stress, high pH, and ich that developed shortly after.

Anyhow I have one fish left, my loach, he is a champ!

I have been doing frequent water changes, cleaning the tank and testing water, however i can not get my ph to lower anymore. It was off the chart now i have it down to 8.2 i need some advice to lower it more so i can finally stock some new fish.

[Convict2161]

Why did you go with crushed coral? Many use crushed coral to raise pH.

I use it in my 75g African Cichlid tank to help maintain a pH of 8.2

Sorry about your fish...

[tfast500]

Honestly I liked the salt water look to it and the gal at the local fish store said that crushed coral was fine for freshwater just not to buy their live sand.... however I should have done my research. I love the current look of my tank so now I'd rather keep it as long as I can still lower my pH..

[Convict2161]

Originally Posted by tfast500

Honestly I liked the salt water look to it and the gal at the local fish store said that crushed coral was fine for freshwater just not to buy their live sand.... however I should have did my research. I love the current look of my tank so now I'd rather keep it as long as I can still lower my pH..

How much did you use? In time I'm sure it will wear down a bit. You may have to do a lot of water changes to keep it down.

They have chemicals to help lower pH but I don't like to recommend chemicals unless absolutely necessary.

Crushed coral is sometimes used to buffer water to help keep pH up.

[tfast500]

I believe I used a little less then 10lb for my 10gal setup, I was thinking of trying chemicals but didn't know if it would only be a temp fix?

[Convict2161]

Originally Posted by tfast500

I believe I used a little less then 10lb for my 10gal setup, I was thinking of trying chemicals but didn't know if it would only be a temp fix?

Since you have one fish left and again I'm sorry you lost your fish buddies I know it stinks. I would try and do it naturally. Do massive water changes and keep testing. Eventually the effects of the crushed coral level out. I replace my CC in my media bag every month.

You should be ok.

[Rivercats]

Peat and DW will help lower ph but the best way to lower ph and counter the crushed coral is to do water changes using RO water. You need to have a KH and GH test kit (API makes a dual test kit for these) so you can see how high your KH/GH/PH all are. I don't know how long the crushed coral will keep the ph high but using RO and monitoring should be enough to get to a reasonable level. You might also want to go with fish, if you restock, that prefer a higher ph and harder water.

[M1k3y_gumi]

Opposite of what coral does is tannin. Dw and pray work. Also decaf teabags help too. Some of my tetras like the lower oh so I throw in a teabag for a few hours after pwc.

[butterfly_koi]

Hmmm.... I feel an old familiar conversation popping up here..
I'm very sorry about your fish, is there any way you could just replace the sand with something else?

[julielover]

The best fishes for a tank with a crushed coral sub-strat are Rift Valley Cichlids, Livebearers, Brackishwater fishes and some Rainbows. It wil kill any fish whose original home was a tropical Rainforest (Tetras, Rasboras, Corys, West African and South American Cichids).