How much crushed coral?

snickle · Post by **snickle** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:13 pm

I am adding crushed coral to my sump to raise KH and GH. If my system is 100G, how much should I add? I was figuring 2 cups of well rinsed in a filter bag.

Thoughts

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:49 pm

Can I asked what your base GH and KH are? Generally plants prefer it softer rather than harder.

snickle · Post by **snickle** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 3:11 pm

My KH is reading 0ppm, my GH is really low also, I don't remember off-hand I think about 1-2ppm (I will test that one tonight)

My KH used to be about 2 but has decreased over time, so I was hoping to raise them both slightly.

What would be a good target?

SCMurphy · Post by **SCMurphy** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 3:30 pm

Are you using CO2?

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 3:32 pm

Don't go higher than about 3 KH and 6 GH and you should be able to grow the widest variety of plants.

Have you been topping water off or doing water changes? If I top things off continuously without doing changes the water in the tank slowly gets softer.

Ghazanfar Ghori · Post by **Ghazanfar Ghori** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 3:44 pm

I'd use something like Seachem Equilibrium - much easier to control the params
than to simply use crushed coral.

Jeff120 · Post by **Jeff120** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:54 pm

We have the same water, figure out what is buffering you water before you do anything. Instead of crushed coral add a little epsom salt at water change. Maybe 1/2-3/4 tsp. to start

RTRJR · Post by **RTRJR** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:37 pm

Epsom salts is magnesium sulfate, used alone you may have calcium problems with the plants. It does nothing for the KH at all.

Equilibrium is great for providing needed cations in RO or too-soft water, but is sulfate salts as well, so does nothing for KH again (no carbonates or bicarbonates).

snickle · Post by **snickle** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:51 pm

I have pressurized CO2, I had not worried about my KH or GH too much until my drop checker went blue, then I started testing tings and notice my KH had dropped to 0 from 2 and my GH stays right around 3.

I top off weekly and do a 25% WC every 2-3 weeks.

I dose PPS-Pro daily.

I put two cups of crushed coral in a filter bag in my sump yesterday. I will test daily and see how it is working.

My tank was running around 6.4 ph prior to starting CO2.

Jeff120 · Post by **Jeff120** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:31 pm

HMMM..... what water are you using in the drop checker? Tap, tank, distilled?

Something is buffering your water for sure. Our water out of the tap and gassed out is about 7.4-7.6 if I rem. correctly.

Robert, I was always under the assumption that most tap water sources(around this area at least) contain a sufficient amount of calcium. I do occasionally add a little CaCl2, mainly just because, I dont see any signs of a deficiency

How much crushed coral?

How much crushed coral?

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