Crushed Coral, raising PH

[Heatheratl11]

Hi again.

I broke down and ordered a true aqaurium water test kit as you guys told me I needed to quit using the strips.

I have been having trouble keeping my livebearers alive and I now think I know why.

My PH is very low.. between 6.4 and 6.6.

I've read that you can use crushed coral to help raise the PH of a tank.

I have LOTS of white coral bits that I collect every time my husband and I go to the Carribean. Will this be sufficent or should I get something else? if this is okay, how much do I add? Do I boil it first?

Outside of the low PH, all the other levels tested perfectly.

Thanks again for your help.

Heather

 

[mfdrookie516]

if your ph is stable, i dont really see a need to raise it. if its not stable and not around the same number as your tap water, then you will need to buffer it with something like cc... i would just buy a bag of cc and either mix it in with your substrate or put it in a mesh bag in your filter. The thing you have to watch with buffering your water is that if you tap ph is lower than your tank ph, when you do a water change, you have to treat the water before adding it to the tank with baking soda or something similar to get it up close to your tanks ph so you dont shock the fish

 

[Heatheratl11]

Okay so I just tested my tap water PH and it is the same as my aquarium PH; low (around 6.4-6.6).

Not doing anything is not working. My mollies seem fine for the first few days after I get them and gradually go down hill. I have not understood why until I did more research and learned they thrive in a higher PH. Actually I think my PH is relatively low for all the fish I keep according to most of the info I've found online.

So what should I do? To treat or not to treat?

Thanks again..

 

[mfdrookie516]

if its stable, i wouldnt treat personally... anything between 6-9 is fine for most any fish. maybe the lfs has a higher ph and you're not acclimating them long enough to your parameters?

 

[Heatheratl11]

Yah.. thought about that today as well. I saw on another thread that Petsmart has a tendency to put a high concentration of salt in their tanks. It is very possible that the mollies that I am buying are acclimated to a much higher salt content. I bought 2 Dalmatian mollies.. within days, both died. Apparently she gave birth though as I recently found a whole ONE dalmatian molly fry in the tank. He seems to be doing great though. Maybe that is my problem? So if I am buying fish and "shocking" them by putting them in my tank, what is the solution?

How long does it take to acclimate fish from one environment to another?

 

[mfdrookie516]

i drip acclimate my fish for at least an hour. i've also heard that petsmart and some of the other chains will salt their tanks to keep sicknesses at bay, or at least conceal them. you may want to do more like an hour and a half or two so they have plenty of time to acclimate to your water conditions