Egg shells used as a buffer?

Does this work? and if so do you hard boil the egg and then take the shell or just use the shell uncooked?

 

I used unboiled egg shell to buffer calcium levels in the tank. Worked great with snails.

 

That's good to known. Do you know anything about them buffering pH?

 

Not a clue. I wonder if they don't affect the actual hardness of the water(something I rarley test). If you need a PH buffer your looking at tanins.

 

I need to buff it up. As I recall, tanins lower pH.

 

OHHHH I seeee. I know that coral and certain substrates will buff up your PH, any particular reason?

 

I use oyster shell in bag in filter to up ph, compensates for large driftwood.Its cheaper to buy here coral.Not sure if that applies in other countries.When ph has risen I usually take it back out,let is dry and then add it back in if ph drops too much again.It builts up ph slowly so not drastic change for fish.

 

My pH is so low that it is halting my cycle. For a few months now lol.

 

the methods mentioned will work, It just takes a little time from addition.

 

there are certain rocks you may be intrested in using. Ill go do some research

 

I had mentioned those "cichlid" rocks in one of his other threads, for the life of me I can't remember what there called lol

 

Lol, I'm trying to find it. They make a great slow release PH buffer.

 

Limestone and lava rock right? Lol I don't know where to get those. :[

 

HawaiI

 

LOl.

 

Below I put 2 great articles. I use clam shells, NovAqua Plus water conditioner that has a buffering agent in my largest tank and added a cichlid substrate that's a mix of fine gravel and crushed coral. I only added enough for half of the tank which raised my pH to 7.4. Before my pH would drop down to 6.0 or below.

 

That was very helpful Alyeska! Thanks. I guess buying crushed coral is the best way.

 

Your welcome!

 

So...no hawaii?

 

Sorry

 

My ph keeps dipping kn my shrimp tank. I have 1-2 on Kh test. How many baked skinless eggshells should I add? A pinch, a whole egg?

I'm not trying to alter the ph at wc, just stablize it.

Another question: shrimp tank has dropped to 6.4......should I do a PWC or wait on shells to work? No one is acting odd, haven't had one die.

Starting with a pinch of shell for now.

Ph was pretty stable at 7.0 the last 3wks, will it naturally rise as the kh does, or do I need to do something to it further?

 

Do you have driftwood lowering PH levels?I add crushed oyster shell.I put small amount in bag my filter which is in tank lid with light?If PH starts getting high I just take it out.

 

Oyster shell worked for ph changes, but my low kh is causing the flux even with the shell in there still.

I peeled and skinned the egg shell and baked it at 350 for maybe 30min. Any more suggestions?

Ph is still really low 2hrs after adding egg shell to filter. Should I change some water to help? Kh turns yellow on first drop. Would fresh water help with balancing?

 

Usually adding things like egg shell or crushed coral takes at least a week to start seeing an increase in KH and pH.

I'm in the same area... absolutely hate the low KH and I have added crushed coral to both aquariums. I now have 4-5 dKH because of the crushed coral.

 

How low is really low?

 

Was 7.0 two days ago and between 6.4 and 6.0 today......not as green as 6.4 but not just light yellow.

Would excel temp help my oh?

 

Ph was pretty stable at 7.0 the last 3wks, will it naturally rise as the kh does, or do I need to do something to it further?

pH will naturally rise as KH does.

And Moneypenny1967 has a good point on taking some of the shells out when the pH gets too high. I should do that with my own tank (last test was at 8.0).

 

Do you have anything in the tank, like a ton of driftwood that may be causing it to drop?

 

A piece of drift wood and a medium size oyster shell. When my kh was 3 my ph was 7.0/7.2 I measured this 2 wks ago. I hadn't tested kh since. Ive been watching ph with my ammonia cycle, had a minI cycle when I added a mystery snail. Wanted to make sure everything was back to good. Ph dropped since I last checked 2-3 days ago. Ammo and nitrite were 0, nitrate 5ish. I immediately checked kh trying to explain the drop with no excess in either step of nitrification. Kh test turnded yellow with first drop.

My guess is silly snail devoured my avail calcium in water, hence kh crash leading to ph crash. Ive got about an egg or so of shell in the filter now, deskinned and baked. How long can I wait for this to equalize? I really don't want to hurt my shrimp.

 

Good morning,

To my knowledge, egg shells are not going to increase your pH levels. However, it will provide a good source of calcium for your snails.

A link you may find helpful concerning pH and ways to alter it naturally:


What is the pH level from your tap? If the tap pH is higher than what is in the tank, then I would suggest increasing your water change schedule. Either the frequency or the amount of water that you change or both. pH is going to naturally drop over time. Increasing the water changes will help to maintain your levels.

Ken

Merged threads.

PM sent.

Ken

 

Just add baking soda to raise KH (above 4) and say goodbye to the dropping PH. If you keep trying to raise PH without fixing KH you'll always come back to the same problem.

 

Tap ph is 7.2 or so.

How much baking soda for a 10g. Yellow on first drop of kh test, hoping for 3-5to stablize ph

 

Maybe start with half tsp. and measure about an hour or two after just to stabilize. You can probably add more or less 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. to raise 1 dkh per day so as not to shock your fish.

This calculator will help.


Please remember Baking Soda not Baking Powder.

 

I cook, huge difference between those 2.......time fore some Arm and hammer .

I think I'm going to err on the side of caution and add enough for 1/2 a kh change a day. I do still have the egg shells in the filter and don't want to over do it.

Good news: not enough egg shells dissolved since yesterday to adjust the kh to 2 drops to yellow, but the ph is back up to 6.8 today.its working nice slow. I really don't want to hurt my berried girls.......ive been waiting too impatiently as is to start over.

 

A wise precaution. But if the ph still drops too quickly I suggest that you hasten raising the kh a bit. You need to raise kh enough that it stabilizes the ph. KH depletes over time and you may have to add more baking soda if it drops again. You may have to test your tap if it doesn't have enough kh hence the ph drop. FYI, water hardness or GH has no correlation with KH.

 

Tap kh is 2-4 (varies from day to day.......usually 2) and they really don't corrolate. I I'm a little scared what else is adjusting the gh its been at 6 regularly.

Here goes, a light 1/4 tsp of baking soda.....ill post the new test results in a few hours. Kh now is yellow on drop 2, but drop one was almost clear blue

 

Looks like you have very soft tap water with the low kh and gh. In the future, you can raise both GH and KH with a product called Kent R/O Right. It will replenish GH, KH, as well as essential trace minerals.

 

So treated snail tank with same problem at same time, both now have yellow on the second drop with solid blue on the first. Ph in shrimp tank is 7.0/7.2, ph in snail tank is now 7.4...... should I add another tiny bit tomw or wait another day?

My 29 is on the same water source with kh of 5, is the difference the snails? Both tanks with low kh have snails. Would a cuttle bone piece in each help solve this issue?

 

As long as you don't change ph too much in one day. Adding things made of calcium carbonate like cuttlebone or crushed coral or oyster shells may help initially but will have a diminishing effect long term. If they constantly have a significant effect you'd see them melt or disappear over time but they don't.