Aragonite Not Working?

[adaytoolong]

Hello. I set up a new tank over a month ago with approximately 1.5" of CaribSea aragonite as the substrate. I intend to put cichilds in the tank once it's ready, but right now it has a few zebra danios.

I'm a bit confused, however, because the pH still seems to be in the mid 7s and the water still reads "soft" when I test it. How quickly does the aragonite act? I thought (from the CaribSea site) it would dissolve whenever the pH was beow 8.2 and make my water harder.

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[drobbyb]

The maximum that it can raise your pH is approximately 1 full point. If you are starting at pH 6.5 then you would end up in the mid 7's. Try dosing your aquarium with common baking soda according to this link: http/dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/calKH.asp

That will bring you right where you want to be.

 

[Pleccy]

Hi,

Aragonite will cause the pH to rise to a high level, however it depends on the hardness of your water, this is measured in GH/KH degrees. If you have a hardness of less than 4 degrees it will be quite difficult to raise the pH and maintain it at a certain level, however if it is quite high (over 6 degrees) then the pH will be easier to maintain.

 

[adaytoolong]

Thanks for the replies. I have a related question (I think).

I have a brackish tank I've had for a few years. It's at 1.005 sg. It has an aragonite and tahitian sand substrate with large chunks of shells in the mix. The cichlid tank I've set up has sugar-sized and slightly larger aragonite. I use the same tap water in both tanks. My test strips, however, show "Very Hard" for the bracksih tank but "Soft" for the new one. The pH is similar on both.

I'm confused about why the hardness is so different. Is it the salt? Is it the shells? I need to raise the hardness in my cichlid tank so before I boost the pH, right?

Thanks.

 

[drobbyb]

On some hardness test kits the salt is detected. It could be that there is more calcium rich substrate between the sand and the shells in the brackish tank. However my money is on the dissolved salt.