Still Struggling With Ammonia

[PDSimon]

Can't you just buy it online - It'll probably be cheaper too?

 

[AKGrown]

Can't you just buy it online - It'll probably be cheaper too?

I dont have anything secure to buy with online, i'll see if my dad will help me out with that Thanks for all of the good advice!!

 

[drobbyb]

It doesn't have to be crushed coral specifically, you can use coral sand, aragonite, marine substrate, etc.

 

[OldMan47]

Try going to the local fish shop and looking at the material they sell for a salt water tank's substrate. It is almost always made up of broken and crushed shells. That stuff in the filter's main water flow path will give you some mineral content and help a lot with holding the pH higher than it might otherwise be. Doing a search for crushed shell or crushed coral will almost always come up with no source available. That is even from the people that have a bag of it sitting on the shelf to sell to the next salty person that walks through the door. Sales people seldom know the content s of the bags they sell, in my experience. Instead they seem to know what it says on the outside of the bag. In this case it will say something like "for use in salt water tanks only".

 

[AKGrown]

okay thanks guys will do! do i put it in the filter system or?

 

[OldMan47]

Your best bet to get some benefit from crushed shell is to use something that resembles a carbon bag. Instead of carbon, use the crushed shell or crushed coral. Where you want to end up is with a package of calcium carbonate, the chemical composition of crushed shell, in your main filter's flow path. With the CaCo3 in that location, you can expect to have a higher pH and a higher carbonate hardness, KH, than you had before. That means you will need to worry less about having the buffering capacity of your tank water depleted. The end result should be a more stable tank water chemistry and lower ammonia and nitrites than otherwise. In this position, I expect the buffering provided by the Calcium carbonate to prevent my tank water chemistry from wandering.

 

[AKGrown]

Your best bet tom get some benefit from crushed shell id to use something that6 resembles a carbon bag. Instead of carbon, use the crushed shell or crushed coral. Where you want to end up is with a package of calcium carbonate, the chemical composition of crushed shell, in your main filter's flow path. With the CaCo3 in that location, you can expect to have a higher pH and a higher carbonate hardness, KH, than you had before. That means you will need to worry less about having the buffering capacity of your tank water depleted. The end result should be a more stable tank water chemistry and lower ammonia and nitrites than otherwise. In this position, I expect the buffering provided by the Calcium carbonate to prevent my tank water chemistry from wandering.

I will give it a shot ill try to locate some in town tomorrow Thanks for all of your help! I will keep updating.