question on coral chips

[boxedfish]

how often do i need to replace coral chips in my tank to maintain a higher PH? do i wait until they disintegrate or change to new ones maybe like 1 to 2 months?

[xaine]

you can leave the coral chips in there for eternity (until it disintegrate), it will only bring you pH until a certain reading and maintain it there, if you need to increase pH, you need to look for other alternatives.
What pH are you targetting ?

[boxedfish]

you can leave the coral chips in there for eternity (until it disintegrate), it will only bring you pH until a certain reading and maintain it there, if you need to increase pH, you need to look for other alternatives.
What pH are you targetting ?

i am targeting PH8 to 8.5 but after added coral chips, it's still 7.5. What other alternatives do i have other than those PH UP powder sold in aquariums? Or i just add more coral chips?

[xaine]

coral chips should in the long run be able to reach about 8.
what do you have in your tank that is acidic ? soil ? wood ? co2 ?
You can use baking soda, *but* ensure this is only done at small quantity (preferbably your water ageing tank), pH shock to fishes aren't a nice thing to do.

[bossteck]

I don't think adding more coral chips would help.

There should be a point where your pH stabilizes and can't be raise any further even if you add more. I don't know what value the pH is at the peak, but you could hasten the process of raising your pH by placing the coral chips in your filter (as opposed to in your tank).

May I know what you're keeping?

[boxedfish]

tank is using inert sand, no co2 but got wood and coral chips inside my HOF. i'll try adding baking soda aged water method then. Thanks xaine and bossteck for your replies.

[jasmine_yeo]

I heard that coral chips don't work as well in filters, as compared to putting it in the tank itself - how true is that?

[stormhawk]

Have you thought about using marine salt instead? However, I do not know if your snails can tolerate the salt. Finding a small limestone rock might help too, in increasing the pH of the tank.

[bossteck]

I heard that coral chips don't work as well in filters, as compared to putting it in the tank itself - how true is that?

If we're talking about same amount of coral chips, then i would venture that placing them in the filter would be more effective.

[boxedfish]

Have you thought about using marine salt instead? However, I do not know if your snails can tolerate the salt. Finding a small limestone rock might help too, in increasing the pH of the tank.

i wouldn't want to take my chances with marine salt. Limestone rock sounds like a good idea! now where can i find those?

[Shaihulud]

Putting coral chips definitely increases the ph from my experience.

[boxedfish]

Putting coral chips definitely increases the ph from my experience.

yes it can increase, but it cant seem to increase to PH 8 - 8.5

[stormhawk]

Perhaps you can try a marine LFS and look for aragonite sand, which is basically calcium carbonate. There's several additives too for cichlid tanks, which might work for you.

[boxedfish]

Perhaps you can try a marine LFS and look for aragonite sand, which is basically calcium carbonate. There's several additives too for cichlid tanks, which might work for you.

thanks for your suggestions. adding addictives is out, or can i just use crushed egg shells?

[stormhawk]

They take quite a while to break down, where egg shells are concerned. I think you can just stick with your coral chips in a filter bag for now. Increase the amount and monitor for the time being. If there's no change after 1 week, then you can probably consider using the aragonite stuff I mentioned.

However, if your snails are doing great and reproducing in current conditions, perhaps it's best to not change anything.

[boxedfish]

They take quite a while to break down, where egg shells are concerned. I think you can just stick with your coral chips in a filter bag for now. Increase the amount and monitor for the time being. If there's no change after 1 week, then you can probably consider using the aragonite stuff I mentioned.

However, if your snails are doing great and reproducing in current conditions, perhaps it's best to not change anything.

Thanks for your feedback stormhawk. Well i do agree that currently they looked ok, but i did lose some snail babies recently and am trying to see if PH is the issue.

[stormhawk]

Might be something else altogether, maybe nitrates? I had a tank once where the pH was alkaline, but my snails would die no matter what I did. These were normal Ramshorn and MTS and they died too. I never bothered to check, but later on when I tore down that tank and tested the water, the nitrate level was pretty high.

[boxedfish]

maybe nitrate, but i never check. But i did water change 20-30% a week though. i thought this would be enough to keep nitrate level low. I do measure my ammonia, which is 0 throughout. Anyway, i have upgraded to a bigger tank and also added some frogbits to keep the nitrate in check. See how it goes.

[stormhawk]

Always worth a check. It could even be temperature related.

[boxedfish]

thanks for the suggestions!