[drexel187]

Hello,

I have a 125 gallon malawi setup with about 12 lbs of reef rock mixed into the rest of my rockwork. My PH is currently constant at 7.8 and I would like to get it up to 8.2. Will adding more reef rock continue to increase my ph or is it topping out at 7.8 regardless of the amount I add? I'm hoping at 8.2 my fish will show optimum coloration.

Thanks very much!

 

[bearwithfish]

i have read (and will soon be using) that aragonite and crushed coral in your sand and or sump will help buffer your water up and hold it there....

 

[benny71]

I would say it all depends on how calcareous the rock is.

You could always try filling up a bucket of water, test it, add the rocks and test it a couple days...

Also, if you are looking for optimum coloration in your fish, it could be as simple as looking at your stocking list and/or removing a dominant male.

 

[Cyclesafety]

I think that substrate / rocks can make acidic water a tiny bit less so, but expecting them to make basic water even more so, especially since you'll be changing the water, is not realistic. If you want to try pH 8.2, you'd best get there with a non-phosphate buffer like what Seachem offers. You can get there with baking soda, but you'd have to use (comparatively) quite a lot.

Also, the 0.4 pH units your're talking about are not far from the daily pH range your tank experiences between "lights on" and "lights off". My tank varies by 0.2 pH units. I don't think that this difference will have much of a physiological effect on your fish. But what the heck, prudent experimentation is one aspect of what makes this hobby fun!

 

[Number6]

reef rock will raise the pH and add calcium carbonate to a tank. The ceiling is around 7.8 or so.
It does lose it's efficiency over time though as enough biolfilm on the rock can slow down the disolving that adds buffers to the water.

With that said, I agree with the above posters who say that 7.8 vs 8.2 is insignificant. As cyclesaftey points out, you won't see any improvement in your fish, especially if there was nothing lacking in your water prior to adding any additional buffers. Fish cannot sense, nor do they react to pH... pH is simply the cheap and easy thing we measure to guess at what is going on in the environment we've created for our wet pets to then worry about the things that do matter. My advice: stay at 7.8 and be happy. :thumb:

 

[drexel187]

Thanks Folks !!