The Puffer Forum

O.K. I have tried searching on this subject, but no luck. What is the difference between using crushed coral instead of aragonite as a substrate for my Ceylon puffers? My water comes out at only 7.2-7.5(ph).In my freshwater tank we used sand for the substrate but it can be difficult to vacuum without losing some. The only aragonite I can find locally is very fine. Would crushed coral provide the same benefit of buffering pH or not, and would it be easier to keep clean. I also would like to use driftwood as decorations for the tank but the LFS said it would lower pH, true or false
Thanks for your help
Glen

I use CC in my F8 tank, I do think it would be easier to vacuum w/my Python.

driftwood brackish water = no no

It will decompose rather quickly and leech tannins into the water. Best kept in freshwater.

Crap, thnx for reminding me about that. I was going to buy sandblasted grapevine for my figure 8's new setup (just changing tank decor around.)

If you can find mangroves they can suffice as 'living' driftwood.

Where would a person find mangrove and what exactly is it. Uh.....yeah.....I'm a newbie..
Thanks

Some LFS can order it in. Its basically a brackish water tree in a sense. The roots look really cool in setups. Go to Google Images and search for 'Mangrove' (sorry, I'm multi tasking at the moment or I would link you to some pics.)

crushed coral and argonite both buffer the ph and help keep it level, however that does not mean that the ph will be kept at 8.1-8.3 if you keep adding lower ph water. the substrate can only buffer so much.

Chemical buffers (ex: ph 8.0 ) will make up for that though.

Okay so I have looked at the Mangrove images and have another question for you all. Can you use the Mangrove wood as well as the root or would the wood decompose too quickly like the driftwood?

I never, ever, under any circumstances, use commercial buffers in any of my fish tanks, period. Not In My Fish Tanks. There are too many good ways of supporting natural buffering to invest in commercial mixes which as often as not are ineffective, short-lived, and/or actively injurious to your tank's micro-ecology.

puffrluvr wrote:Okay so I have looked at the Mangrove images and have another question for you all. Can you use the Mangrove wood as well as the root or would the wood decompose too quickly like the driftwood?

I would go for the Live mangrove because it wont rot like dead wood.

Mangroves are interesting, but they eat light (I used 4x40W NO over mine and it needed more), require open-topped tanks (bad for puffers), and are poor nitrate-eaters. Been there, done that, do not want the T-shirt, and would never suggest their use in a puffer tank.

JMHO & IME, YMMV.