Crushed Coral and pH questions

fish_4_all

Ok, I know that crushed coral raises your pH. I also know that Argonite sand will do the same. My pH has been slowly dropping over the past couple months even though I add crushed coral by the tablespoon weekly. 3 months ago it 7.8-8, now it barely stays above 7.4.

Would it be better to just put a whole bunch of crushed coral in the bottom, basically replacing the existing gravel? Would this keep the pH higher and also keep the GH higher?

Also, I know I want a high pH for my snails and mine is still staying above 7.4 but what can I do to prevent pH and GH swings with every water change until the crushed coral can stabilize it? Do I actually need to do anything? I will still dose Calcium every other day but I wonder if my pH and GH swings are what is causing my less than prize specimens. Only one of my mysteries is suffering but the softness of it's shell makes me worry thta I could do harm to the others also. (The shell is getting harder now but I have actually dosed double the amount of calcium I normally do and also started adding Magnesium in the mix.)

herefishy

If you have an external power filter(ala Marineland 350 or Emperor 400) filter over coral by adding coral as a media in the filter bag. In my larger tanks, I filter over coral in my Magnum 350's.

GThiele113

In my 125gallon everyso often a grind eggshells and sprinkle them over the tank for calcium. Also I have 5 pounds of florida coral, you can pick it up at construction sites for $.75 a pound. It also looks pretty cool, really holey and can provide some good hiding spots. I also saw a product called PH+ up. I have never used it but you could give it a try.

Falina

Can't help with kh and gh but in terms of ph...

I used crushed cporal in my substrate. Half gravel half coral type of thing. It was an 8g tank and there was about 1kg coral. My ph went from 6.0 - 7.5 within a few days and has remained there since.

Hope this helps a bt.