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mm.... any reason why want to increase pH to 8? just curious because all the plant that I tried before doing very well at low pH, as low as 5.5
Just to ask is there any bro here has experience of using Aragonite to mantain your planted tank's pH? I want to raise my 3ft pH to 8.0 but not very successful with Coral Chips.
mm.... any reason why want to increase pH to 8? just curious because all the plant that I tried before doing very well at low pH, as low as 5.5
Never create what you can't control
3 feet? You will need loads of coral chips to cover the entire base of the tank to be able to achieve that.
I'm planning to try on Sulawesi shrimps since the price is dropping =). I put a bag of coral chip into one basket of my Ehiem 2026. Will it be sufficient?
The pH I measure today is 7.4. After On CO2 is 7.1. That's why I'm considering to use Aragonite to buffer my tank as well as find a place to buy also
Never create what you can't control
Hmm... not sure, perhaps it's not enough. Is there any difference between pH buffering for aragonite and coral chips?
If you were to look at African Rift Lake cichlid or marine setups, what they fill the entire base of the tank with (few inches thick) is coral chip or coral sand (which can be aragonite origin). That is a lot of coral chip/sand/aragonite and it sets up the tank to be of alkaline pH, which is probably close to the reading of 8(?).
I think you will be better off setting up a new tank for them, or rescape the current 3 feet tank entirely as new.
from what i read online, Aragonite is a purer form of calcium carbonate then crushed coral. It will dissovle into the water faster when pH is lower than 8.2.
isn't aragonite what some marine keepers use as substrate to keep the ph high? i vaguely remember reading something about it in one of the issues of PFK (might have been an advert actually)
Never create what you can't control
illumnae, you meant this, http://www.naturesocean.com/marine_substrates.htm
catohcat, regardless, you would still need the amount that can cover the base of your tank for 2 inches (or so) to achieve a pH close to 8.0.
Furthermore, not sure what kind of setup (e.g. soil, fertiliser) you currently have for the planted tank, but it can be a recipe for disaster when not managed well if one thing does something and the other does the opposite (e.g. ADA Aquasoil/peat vs. aragonite).
FYI, the biotope of Malili lakes, where most of the Sulawesi shrimps came from, is mainly rocky and has little or no plants.
http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/substrates.html
this was the one i think
thx for your advise. I did a bit of research for Sula shrimps. So I'm using Ocean Free base substrate (the orange color substrate) which is completely neutral in pH. THe 3ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft tank now only has a few pieces of drift wood with mosses. Lighting is 39x2 T5HO, on 8 hrs/day. CO2 is at 2bps when the light is on.
I understand that a base of coral chips is required. But I'm trying to find another option which I dont need to dig out every single pieces of coral chip if I change to another shrimp in the future--> 100% water change
Last edited by catohcat; 26th Jun 2008 at 01:22.
Never create what you can't control
Uhm, not sure if I haven't been clear, so let me just clarify in case you misunderstood.
What I meant is that you need the amount (equalling 2 inches of the base of your tank) of coral chip/sand/aragonite, which can be placed in your filter tray, in order to achieve pH 8.0.
Looks like your current setup is pretty simple. In that case, it should be workable, but maybe stop the CO2 injection and go with a low tech setup.
Don't bother trying liquid based water modifiers, the parameters aren't stable.
thanks for the clear explaination.. uhm I'm sure that the entire Eheim 2026 baskets can't store that amount of coral chips... I'll try with Baking Soda then.
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