# Anyone ever use crushed coral to raise KH



## Rickie Briana (Dec 6, 2016)

I have a KH of 0.5ppm and I want to increase it a little , I think it's really bad for my mollys and platies , I was gonna use baking soda but I heard it's risky, I have some legit coral, should I crush it up and add a couple tablespoons? Where do I put it?Will this even work ?

I inject CO2 also


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

I would do both. 

Using just calcium bicarbonate (crushed coral), your KH will slowly rise as it dissolves. When you perform a water change, you could be dramatically lowering your KH, and then you'd have to wait for the coral to do its thing. Using sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) mixed into your water change water will allow you to maintain a more stable KH. 

Baking soda is totally safe, but if you have some fast growing plants, you could end up bottoming out your KH before your next water change.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk


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## fishman922 (Oct 26, 2016)

What @natemcnutty said but just to add a little:
I would put the coral into the filter if possible. The mollys might try to eat it if its small enough, they often pick through substrate and eat small bits of things in it.
Are they showing any signs of poor health? Keeping water at special parameters can be painful, especially if they are drastically different. If your problems of poor health are else where (food, new fish, disease, picked on, nitrites, nitrates etc) then raising the KH will not solve anything and just be (potentially) a large hassle.
Could we get some more about the issues you are having?


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## Rickie Briana (Dec 6, 2016)

I have had my tank up and running since February, ever since, the majority of my money on this tank has been spent on medicine. It started out with iCh, couple months later came dropsy, then velvet, and now into deseases that I don't even know are treatable. I recently lost my angel at about 1 year old, lost about 6 mollies in the past couple of months, and now some of my fish are not eating/losing color. I thought it was my rainbow shark because he was bullying fish so I got rid of him, but I continued to lose fish. I also thought this whole time I had perfect water quality, all my parameters were in check until someone on this forum was telling me mollies and platies(the majority of what I have) are more hard water fish than what my KH levels were st 0.5ppm. I looked into it and I can't believe I didn't know this, in an attempt to save the rest of my fish I thought I would try to higher the KH. First off would be baking soda/coral for now, but I figured if this works I would get some limestone rocks. Sorry for telling u my life story but I COULD RESLLY USE THE HELP, IM DESPERATE


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

kH doesn't affect your issues. Try adding rock/aquarium salt, about 1 teaspoon/gallon. Your live bearers will enjoy it.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Rickie Briana said:


> I have had my tank up and running since February, ever since, the majority of my money on this tank has been spent on medicine. It started out with iCh, couple months later came dropsy, then velvet, and now into deseases that I don't even know are treatable. I recently lost my angel at about 1 year old, lost about 6 mollies in the past couple of months, and now some of my fish are not eating/losing color. I thought it was my rainbow shark because he was bullying fish so I got rid of him, but I continued to lose fish. I also thought this whole time I had perfect water quality, all my parameters were in check until someone on this forum was telling me mollies and platies(the majority of what I have) are more hard water fish than what my KH levels were st 0.5ppm. I looked into it and I can't believe I didn't know this, in an attempt to save the rest of my fish I thought I would try to higher the KH. First off would be baking soda/coral for now, but I figured if this works I would get some limestone rocks. Sorry for telling u my life story but I COULD RESLLY USE THE HELP, IM DESPERATE


Hi Rickie Briana,

First of all I agree with adding salt for livebearers, 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons should not effect most species of plants. The salt will help harden the water and act as a disease deterrent.

Second, where are your purchasing your fish? If Petsmart or Petco are the only choices where you live then I would consider ordering quality online or plan trips to areas that have full service pet stores and aquarium shops.


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## Rickie Briana (Dec 6, 2016)

Yes all my fish come from petsmart petco etc, no real fish stores around here. I was thinking about ordering online but do you think this is safe during the winter months ? Im in new england it might be very dangerous for the fish


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## fishman922 (Oct 26, 2016)

Rickie Briana said:


> Yes all my fish come from petsmart petco etc, no real fish stores around here. I was thinking about ordering online but do you think this is safe during the winter months ? Im in new england it might be very dangerous for the fish


If you buy from a reputable source then you should be fine. I ordered in the middle of winter in Colorado, although it was to this day the most expensive shipping cost I have ever paid. They are heat packs that last 24+hrs and most people ship overnight, it worked for me, it might work for you.

The salt comments are really true. Some live-bearers do okay without it, others really need it. It helps with Mollys quite a bit. Anytime I tried to bring the salt level down back came the ick. I had really really hard water at that house. 
The salt itself is a treatment for ich so that's an added bonus.

What is your PH?
If you don't have many dissolved minerals in the water your PH could swing by adding the salt. With a low KH your PH can more easily swing.
Are you running CO2?
A moving PH would certainly cause diseases to be an issue.


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## Rickie Briana (Dec 6, 2016)

Yes I run Co2, my ph is around 7.2 before the co2 turns on, and around 6.7 at the end of the day. My kh is really low, i thought this was the cause of them getting sick. I may give back my 2 mollies and 3 platies to my local fish store and get fish that will be more suitable in these conditions. My GH is also very low, dont know if their is any correlation


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Clean up your tank before adding new fish. The diseases in there must be many. I'd drain the tank and hydrogen peroxide bomb everything (substrate, decor, filters etc...)

For soft water fish, tannins keep away the diseases. Your water might be a little brown but the fish will be healthy. A little salt might be ok for them too like .5 teaspoon/Gallon if you don't want tannins.


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## fishman922 (Oct 26, 2016)

Rickie Briana said:


> Yes I run Co2, my ph is around 7.2 before the co2 turns on, and around 6.7 at the end of the day. My kh is really low, i thought this was the cause of them getting sick. I may give back my 2 mollies and 3 platies to my local fish store and get fish that will be more suitable in these conditions. My GH is also very low, dont know if their is any correlation


From my understanding that kind of PH swing on a constant basis will be bad for any fish. If I am wrong someone please correct me on this. From my understanding fish shouldn't go through more than a .3max daily PH variance. I would figure out how to get the PH more stable and I would also sterilize that tank. You might consider a UV sterilizer light too. I have a friend with Saltwater (and a freshwater for a while) tanks and he has less disease issues than anyone I know. His main difference is those UV sterilizer lights. For what it's worth they really seem to work! I just have had to many other tank expenses to get one, but I also don't have any disease problems that would warrant one...

Here is a pretty good article on PH,KH, and GH in relationship to each other: Beginner FAQ: Water Chemistry 
Note: I am NOT related to that website at all nor do I have any financial interest in any UV sterilizer lights. It's all just my 2cents and google searching!
If the fish are actively sick the LFS probably won't take them, and honestly I hope they wouldn't. That would explain a lot of your issues if they do!
I hope some of this is helpful!


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

I would just keep soft water species rather than altering my water, but that' just me.
Would almost kill for softer water than comes from my tap.


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## Rickie Briana (Dec 6, 2016)

My PH swing is not the problem, it is normal to have up to a 1 point difference when dosing co2. My fish have been getting sick long before this

Bump:


mistergreen said:


> Clean up your tank before adding new fish. The diseases in there must be many. I'd drain the tank and hydrogen peroxide bomb everything (substrate, decor, filters etc...)
> 
> For soft water fish, tannins keep away the diseases. Your water might be a little brown but the fish will be healthy. A little salt might be ok for them too like .5 teaspoon/Gallon if you don't want tannins.


Will this ruin my cycle?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Rickie Briana said:


> Will this ruin my cycle?


yes, you'll have to cycle again.


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## micheljq (Oct 24, 2012)

A GH of at least 10 should be better for platys, even higher for mollys.

A KH of at least 3, but i suppose it could be of 5, even a little more for those fishes.

Sodium bicarbonate will add salt (sodium), maybe not the best, in the long run, it could lead to problems if it accumulates. Potassium bicarbonate would do better.

Coral should upgrade both KH and GH, but it will add some salts.

Some rocks would upgrade KH and GH, like limestone, an easy way, just test the water make sure it does not upgrades too high.

There are products as well, like Seachem Alkaline Buffer for KH. Some substrates like Seachem Onyx sand for KH.

Michel.


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