anyone have problems with Crushed Coral substrate?

Re: anyone have problems with Crushed Coral substr

Wow. you know it has been 2 months with cal over 575 and alk at 5.
Good to hear. Just needed something to soak up the calcium I guess.

 

Re: anyone have problems with Crushed Coral substr

Other than doing the Mag test and slowly adjusting it if necessary I think the best course of action for now is to do nothing


John

 

Re: anyone have problems with Crushed Coral substr

well i did remove half of my substrate last week.  i was gonna do a water cahnge but amonia is still same at .25 using my cheap O test.  has been there for weeks so i am assuming its not accurate.  0 trate and 0 trite.  i wont touch tank for at least another week as long as no trates appear then replace only 5 gals.  but things looking good.  even one of the shrooms that had been cut off by hermit crab has attatched to another live rock.  looks like ill have a colony there soon too.  

and those readings were using the Lamotte kit for alk and calc. they were very solid results too. not just seing a hint and being close. colors were strong. so i would say a bigger improvement since before the second i thought i saw blue i woudl call it good around 575PPM. now it was strong results..

 

Re: anyone have problems with Crushed Coral substr

I need you to still do somethings....
keep testings as this should still go down. 525 is still high.
We waited 2 months so far. I really think you kept the tank from a cycle with water changes you were doing before. looks like it is settling now.
Removal of the CC helped the Nitrates go down and thats a big plus.

Lets keep testing and topping with ro water.
Have you thought about getting a ro unit?

 

Re: anyone have problems with Crushed Coral substr

yea i thought about a RO unit for about 3 secs. then i remebered the cost of my water bill now and dont want the hassle of the waste water. i can get 5 gals at Walmart for 1.66. so that is what i have been toppin with.

i will continue testing, but will do it every other day. one question i have is. How could i have prevented a cycle with water changed when we just did 3x17gals.? I thought that a 5 gal change every week was common.

 

Re: anyone have problems with Crushed Coral substr

Didn't you say once you were changing water every other day?
If this was true and you did this since the beginning then the cycle never completed and you were adding new water with mix with tap, making ammonia pop up which was in the middle of converting to nitrites when you changed the water again so again interrupting the first cycle.
Have you ever seen 0-0-0 on your tests?

 

Re: anyone have problems with Crushed Coral substr

Ohh.. yea i see what you mean. umm there was a while that i didnt change water all the time like 5 gals every other week. so i know the tank originally cycled. but when i went with coral and began testing i noticed it was high was was changeing all the time that was when you came to the rescue. i must say tho.. my shrooms hav bounced back nicely!!!! they are HUGE!!!!i see one new polyp now too. and i put a half that was on the bottome of my tank and put it on a LR and in one day it has attached andnow growing.. i think things are comming around for the better now. looks like i might have a nice tank soon after all.

and as far as 0-0-0. no. i always seem to have .25 amonia no matter what. that is why i dont like the tests i have.

 

Re: anyone have problems with Crushed Coral substr

No one ever gets completely zero as it is impossible to get 0-0-0.

 

Re: anyone have problems with Crushed Coral substr

I didn't read all the posts, so bear with me.

First, I saw these some where;

Newie don't put air into the power head that is in the main tank. Not good for the fish.

It has no effect on fish and will actually/may increase the pH has it drives off the CO2 and increase the O2. I think someone is thinkin' on the lines of "gas bubble disease". You will not find this in a seawater aquarium. The disease is cause by N2 gas getting into the tissues, and the solubility of N2 gas in seawater is very low. Second, there is no difference between this and a venturi skimmer. The powerhead is using venturi action to pull in outside air, just like a venturi skimmer. Gas bubble disease is usually caused by pumps going through excess cavitation

That was the reason I asked you to aerate some water over night and then test the PH.  If I am correct then the water ( now fully saturated with Oxygen ) should have a lower PH

O2 has nothing to do with pH at all, be it night or day. The pH will be higher not lower, as you will drive of the CO2

and


Measuring the PH of suitably aerated water is a simple way of checking the oxygen saturation levels in the water.  My initial thoughts were that the O2 levels were being reduced at night and causing the PH to change which in turn was consuming the Alkalinity which allowed the Calcium levels to be so high ( phew )  

O2 levels are being reduced at night because the plants are consuming O2 at night and giving it off during the day. The reason behind the low pH at night is because the plants are giving off CO2 and not using it for photosynthesi, as they are during the day. Increased CO2 drives the pH down. Alk has absolutely no effect on CO2 and CO2 has no effect on Alk. If the CO2 increases or decreases there is no change in the CO2. If the Alk goes up or down the same thing. However, when you ***add a buffer***, like Baking Soda,  its reactions generate CO2.  For each equivalent of Baking Soda there will be a 1 equivalent increase in the Alk and 1 equivalent increase in the CO2 concentration. If it was Washing Soda there will be a 1 equivalent change in the CO2 but a 2 equivalent change in the Alk, as Washing Soda is a double negated ion, CO3 -- . HCO3, form the Baking Soda, is a single negated ion HCO3- thus CO3 -- is twice  powerful / say, just like Sulfuric Acid is twice as powerful and Hydrochloric Acid. H2SO4 vs. HCl. The sulfuric has 2 H+ instead of 1H+



also

One can drive more carbon dioxide into the water through better aeration.

Nope, you will drive more O2 into the water and drive of the CO2 through aeration. The only real exception is if you have high room air CO2 or a somewhat pressurized reactor

I don't know what his problem is but after a year, if his readings are real, something is wrong. It could be the substrate is leaching out organics and lowering the pH around the media, dissolving it and increasing the pH Alk and Ca, just like a Ca Reactor. If the tank has a low Ca  demand the Ca and Alk will reach a peak and then stop. I just answered some question on our chem forum on CC media and how it can change levels, usually lowering the pH down to 7.8


Randy

Calcium carbonate will dissolve as the pH is lowered to the mid 7's and lower, and low pH often exists in sand beds where the oxidiation of buried organics can reduce the pH. That is not usually enough to sustain a reef aquarium, but if the demand is low, of the amount of organics entering the sand is high, or both, perhaps it can for a while.

Also, low alkalinity will encourage CaCO3 to dissolve. Have you measured the alkalinity in both aquaria?

Finally, there may be an initial stage where magnesium (from the salt mix) is replacing calcium in the surface regions of the substrate, and that may temporarily raise claicum.

and Boomer

Lowered the pH of the test tank........hang on a second I'll go get the report to be sure  Ok, I'm, back

SeaScope Vol 3., Spring 1986
Effects of Filter Material on pH, by Tom Frakes and Ed Mowka, Jr.


NO BIOLOAD

Crushed Coral = 7.94

Bahaman Coral Sand =8.00

Dolomitic Limestone = 8..22

Philippine Coral Sand =8.24

Puka Shells = 8.32

Quartz Gravel = 8.37

Control 8.27

Initial pH was 8.44, results after 3 weeks, using IO salt mix

However, even though Oysters are not in the table they are given in the text, dropping to 7.85, but this was more than 3 weeks. The only calcareous material that held good was Puka Shells. Another part of this study was over 90 days, with tanks that had a normal bioload. They dropped even more, with the silica sand going down to a pH of 7. Most of the calcareous materials didn't go below 7.75. Some of us have known for some time that Puka Shells are the best, as far as keeping the pH more normal than other materials but this too will stop after 90 days or so when dealing with a bioload

Also

Regarding initial PH, decreases reported here have been confirmed by many hobbyists and shop owners who consistently encounter pH levels of 7.8-8.0 in new aquariums using coral materials

And all of this is only part of the complicated story. There is what is called "surface-poisons" or "surface overgrowths, where at normal pH, Alk and salinity Hi-Mg Calcites precip onto the material. How much and how soluble it becomes later is base on the material and its composition

 

Re: anyone have problems with Crushed Coral substr

Dang it was a long read but very interesting.
So with his current test readings why is the Calcium and alk still high and have been for so long?