The Puffer Forum

Hi, i am trying to raise my kh and my ph as they are both too low. I have been advised on using aragonite so i have bought some today. I have replaced a 1/4 of my sand with aragonite and i am going to see what effect this has on my levels. Is this the correct way of doing it? Could i overshoot the target of a ph of 8 if i added to much? I have an internal filter so i can not run it through that.

Salinity. .005
PH. 6.6
KH. <3d

What are those levels in your tap water? Yes, this should be an effective way of raising your levels & keeping them more stable.

Thanks, It comes out of the tap at 6.8 and somwhere around 3-4. Can i over do it by adding too much?

So long as your substrate bed is not too deep to manage you should not be able to overdo it as such. Many people use arognite solely as their substrate without complications.

bertie 83 wrote:So long as your substrate bed is not too deep to manage you should not be able to overdo it as such. Many people use arognite solely as their substrate without complications.

I use 100% crushed coral with no problem and +1 to berties comment

Fish rather have stability in regards to water parameters, as long as youre not fluctuating your ph by adding or removing substrate than 100% aragonite would be fine too

I used to use CC as a substrate but it has been found to be too much of a detritus trap.

Pufferpunk wrote:I used to use CC as a substrate but it has been found to be too much of a detritus trap.

Oh god, the packaging said no rinsing necessary...what a load of crap. I believed them and was up to my neck with fury as soon as i put in the water. No matter how many 100% wc I did, and I did over a dozen, the water turned white as soon as I placed new water in with no signs of settling. I had to remove all the crushed coral and rinse it for 20 minutes in my bath tub....what a pain it was for it to only be a 20g tank! I have never used arognite sand but wished i did.

Aragonite needs good rinsing, too.

I did a 75-25 blend of aragonite and crushed coral when I converted my 55G to saltwater. The GSP's like to chew on the tiny bits of sea shell fragments mixed in with the sand. lol

Thanks for all the advice! I will replace the rest over the next few days and post my results!

Mixing aragonite and crushed coral is extremely poor practice, as the aragonite is generally smaller in particle size. This wold have the CC on top of and blocking the effect of the aragonite. That is a poor combo IME. If aragonite is mixed with any other substrate,the aragonite needs to be the largest grain size used.

HTH