hardness/buffer query

[sophie]

I hope the cross-post is ok, if not I apologise.

I've posted to r.a.f.m a couple of times with water hardness queries and
am slowly working out all the chemistry I've forgotten since school. In
brief, I've got very soft, pretty alkaline water, which isn't the
world's best combination.
I would like to buffer the water by adding hardness - this would also be
good for my fairly unhappy MTS. So far I've got a few sea-shells in the
tank, but this obviously isn't a solution.
queries:
crushed coral - does this hold pH at around 8, or have I misunderstood?
As hardness is basically a measure of calcium - and as this is also what
the snails need - would adding chalk be a useful thing to do? (not
blackboard chalk, obviously; there are coastal chalk cliffs by my
parents home which are eroding pretty rapidly and picking up a lump or
two of chalk and then sterilising them would not be a problem.
The tank is coldwater, with goldfish, white clouds and weather loach.
and snails.
many thanks for any clarification,
--
sophie

[Peter Ashby]

sophie > wrote:

> I hope the cross-post is ok, if not I apologise.
>
> I've posted to r.a.f.m a couple of times with water hardness queries and
> am slowly working out all the chemistry I've forgotten since school. In
> brief, I've got very soft, pretty alkaline water, which isn't the
> world's best combination.
> I would like to buffer the water by adding hardness - this would also be
> good for my fairly unhappy MTS. So far I've got a few sea-shells in the
> tank, but this obviously isn't a solution.
> queries:
> crushed coral - does this hold pH at around 8, or have I misunderstood?
> As hardness is basically a measure of calcium - and as this is also what
> the snails need - would adding chalk be a useful thing to do? (not
> blackboard chalk, obviously; there are coastal chalk cliffs by my
> parents home which are eroding pretty rapidly and picking up a lump or
> two of chalk and then sterilising them would not be a problem.
> The tank is coldwater, with goldfish, white clouds and weather loach.
> and snails.
> many thanks for any clarification,

Chalk is simply old seashells, so it is more of the same. So yes.

Peter

--
Add my middle initial to email me. It has become attached to a country

[sophie]

In message >, Peter Ashby
> writes
>sophie > wrote:
>
>> I hope the cross-post is ok, if not I apologise.
>>
>> I've posted to r.a.f.m a couple of times with water hardness queries and
>> am slowly working out all the chemistry I've forgotten since school. In
>> brief, I've got very soft, pretty alkaline water, which isn't the
>> world's best combination.
>> I would like to buffer the water by adding hardness - this would also be
>> good for my fairly unhappy MTS. So far I've got a few sea-shells in the
>> tank, but this obviously isn't a solution.
>> queries:
>> crushed coral - does this hold pH at around 8, or have I misunderstood?
>> As hardness is basically a measure of calcium - and as this is also what
>> the snails need - would adding chalk be a useful thing to do? (not
>> blackboard chalk, obviously; there are coastal chalk cliffs by my
>> parents home which are eroding pretty rapidly and picking up a lump or
>> two of chalk and then sterilising them would not be a problem.
>> The tank is coldwater, with goldfish, white clouds and weather loach.
>> and snails.
>> many thanks for any clarification,
>
>Chalk is simply old seashells, so it is more of the same. So yes.

thank you, Peter! (I think you missed out a "very" before that "old"...)

--
sophie

[Joe Crowder]

"sophie" > wrote in message
...
> In message >, Peter Ashby
> > writes
> >sophie > wrote:
> >
> >> I hope the cross-post is ok, if not I apologise.
> >>
> >> I've posted to r.a.f.m a couple of times with water hardness queries
and
> >> am slowly working out all the chemistry I've forgotten since school. In
> >> brief, I've got very soft, pretty alkaline water, which isn't the
> >> world's best combination.
> >> I would like to buffer the water by adding hardness - this would also
be
> >> good for my fairly unhappy MTS. So far I've got a few sea-shells in the
> >> tank, but this obviously isn't a solution.
> >> queries:
> >> crushed coral - does this hold pH at around 8, or have I misunderstood?
> >> As hardness is basically a measure of calcium - and as this is also
what
> >> the snails need - would adding chalk be a useful thing to do? (not
> >> blackboard chalk, obviously; there are coastal chalk cliffs by my
> >> parents home which are eroding pretty rapidly and picking up a lump or
> >> two of chalk and then sterilising them would not be a problem.
> >> The tank is coldwater, with goldfish, white clouds and weather loach.
> >> and snails.
> >> many thanks for any clarification,
> >
> >Chalk is simply old seashells, so it is more of the same. So yes.
>
> thank you, Peter! (I think you missed out a "very" before that "old"...)
>
> --
> sophie

I throw a handful of crushed coral into my tanks to bring the hardness up,
and bring the pH up a little. Mine settle at about 6.8 - 7.0 pH, and 10 -
12 dGh, up from 5.5 pH and 1 dGh. The trick is to add "some", but not a
whole lot. If you really load up the tank with crushed coral, it will
eventually bring your pH up to 8.0, but a small amount will not be able to
overwhelm your tank like that.

"Some" worked out to a little more than a handful in my ten gallon tank, and
a small handfull in the filter of my 55 gallon tank. Everyone says I'll
need to change out the crushed coral on regular basis (monthly? yearly?). I
haven't had a problem yet, but it's only been about 3 months.

Joe