How to add crushed coral to existing tank?

[Sandra the fish rookie]

Per the advise I received on another post, I need to add some crushed coral to my tanks. I have a 20 G tall and a 40 Gallon breeder. One has pea gravel substrate and the other has smaller gravel substrate (both have eco complete underneath for plants)

How do I add coral? I have HOB filters so I am not sure I will have enough space to add anything else in there. If I have to add it to the substrate, how do I do that? do I just add it on top? Mix it in? If I mix it in, I am "guessing" I have to do it when I do a water change so I can clean the mess that the gravel will stir up during the process. 

Any suggestions/recommendations is appreciated. 

[lefty o]

if you have lighter colored gravel or dont mind the white coral on top, just add it in.  you could also mix it in, or make a hole in your gravel, put in the coral, and then cover it back up. if the coral is in the water, it will do its thing, so the asthetics are your main concern.

[Sandra the fish rookie]

@lefty o Thanks!! 

Aesthetics is not a big deal. I have A LOT of plants so I don't want to uproot anything during the process. If its under the gravel, I am guessing I will rely on my chemistry (PH KH parameters) to determine if and when it needs replaced? 

[Sandra the fish rookie]

Based on my tanks, I will need 4 pounds for the 40G and 2 pounds for the 20G? The mail man is going to HATE ME!! LOL 

[Schmorty]

What I did is put the crushed coral in filter bags and tucked them in behind plants and decorations. The attached photo is a side view of my 40 Breeder that I breed for profit out of. I've found that the Aquarium Co-op small filter bag holds about 2/3s of a pound of crushed coral. The bags pictured I got from a LFS and I didn't measure how much went in

[lefty o]

5 minutes ago, Sandra the fish rookie said:

Based on my tanks, I will need 4 pounds for the 40G and 2 pounds for the 20G? The mail man is going to HATE ME!! LOL 

how much you need really depends on your water. in my 120 i have about a pound of coral mixed in, and in my 55 maybe a quarter pound, and that pushes my tank water to the hard side. how hard does your water test at?

[Sandra the fish rookie]

@lefty o My KH for the 20G and 40G = 4 (drops per the API test). My 5 G used to NEVER register KH and now has a KH= 3 which is an improvement due to 1/2 pound of Coral that I added May 29th. The GH for all the tanks is 28 (per the API kit) and 300 per the ACO multi test strips. All tanks are planted and have wood. 

That is my concern, my water is already super hard so I don't know if this will push it too far. I have wonder shells in the 40 and 20 but it does not seem to help much.. The 5 Gallon has just the coral. 

[Sandra the fish rookie]

@lefty o I have been watching my chemistry on my 5 G. It appears that my PH and KH (although a bit better) is drooping again. I have crushed coral in the filter drawer (less than half a pound). June 4th I did a check and the KH was 4 and today low.. (yellow on the test strip) and on the API test I did yesterday it read 3.  I also noted that my Nitrates were low usually reading 10 and it was a very light pink on the strip today. 

I don't think enough is getting to the actual inside of the tank. I did a water change today (removed dead snail shells he is a pea puffer) and decided to add a little bit to the sand substrate. I will keep check of the parameters. My water is VERY hard (300). 

I hope I did the right thing. I am seeing that now that my plants in all my tanks are growing, my PH and KH are dropping. The 20G fish population is much larger due to guppy fry. Not sure if between the fish and plants if this is causing my PH and KH to start to drop. It was always steady at 7.4... now its gradually dropping to sometimes 6.8-6.9

[lefty o]

it probably wouldnt hurt to add some more then. im certainly no expert on using it to really move numbers, but i cant see any harm on add a bit, see what happens, and repeat as needed.

[KBOzzie59]

44 minutes ago, Sandra the fish rookie said:

removed dead snail shells

I don't think enough is getting to the actual inside of the tank

I'd leave them and let them dissolve.  Unless they are unsightly or something.

Unless your pH is super low like a strong acid it will take time for the coral to dissolve.  I recall one of my tanks taking about 4 weeks to show a stable improvement.

 

Edit:  Yes I probably should keep notes on some of these things.

Edited June 9, 2021 by KBOzzie59

[Martin]

I purchased a few small mesh bags and basically filled them full of coral and placed them behind things like rocks and such to hide them out of the way.  Alternatively, I also used Wonder Shells to great effect.

EDIT:  Sorry I read and gave input on your original post, not realizing how much your conversation had changed.  I had a similar issue with my pH, but didn't want to push the GH too much as the Wonder Shell had already done it's job.  I ended up just using a SeaChem pH regulator (sorry they have so many products I always forget the names) only as needed to push the pH back up if it was dipping lower than I would like.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Martin