Raising Ph Gently For Redclaw Crayfish

[Drevil]

I have had a redclaw crayfish (Ed) for around five weeks. He is a great pet and seems happy enough. The only thing is, my tap water is acidic with a ph of 6.5. I feed Ed clams from time to time and leave the shells in, hoping they will leach out calcium and increase ph. I also boil empty seashells and stuff them with food for him to pick out but, even leaving all these shell sin the tank, there is no improvement in the ph. I thought about using mineral water which has a ph of 7.7 but I don't know if this is a good idea. Any advice please.

Ed moulted about two weeks ago so I want his new shell to be nice and strong.

 

[three-fingers]

My tap-water is the same, and when i used crushed coral sand as substrate it went up to 7.8(not that i even wanted that ) Try adding a handful of the stuff to the filter of your tank it should help .

It only cost around £2 a bag from the Aquatic Rooms if your in Edinburgh, im sure you can get it from any lfs though.

 

[littleme1969]

Another good way of upping your PH is ocean rock. I have a lot of bogwood in my tanks due to breeding plecs and found this reduced the PH. I tried th crushed coral, but i think its only good enough if you replace your whole or at least 50% of your substrate with it. But ocean rock does a far better job. Its used as reef bones or for scaping chichlid tanks. I found a huge improvment overnight when using it.
You can pick up 5kg on e.bay for £6 plus P&P which will be plenty for a small to medium tank. My fish love it and even my crabs get a kick out of it as the extra calcium is great for their shells and also its full of crab sized holes to hide in