how do you clean coral rock so its ok to put in a fresh water tank?

Question

how do i cure it, and what do i do so it dosent buffer my tank and harm my fresh watter fish

what about the buffer action of the calcium how do i stop that from affecting my tank

Answer 1

There is nothing you can do to prevent coral from buffering your water. It will cause the hardness and pH to rise. and combined with regular water changes cause a roller coaster ride of hardness and pH that will be quite stressful and harmful to your fish. I would strongly suggest you not use coral in a freshwater tank unless you are keeping hard water, high pH fish.

MM

Answer 2

Most substrate will make the water cloudy when first setting up a tank. It usually goes away on it's own. You can try doing some partial water changes (around 15%) every other day or so. Also remember that new fish tanks need to "cycle" meaning they need to create the "good" bacteria that lives in the water and filters. This process usually takes up to 6 weeks. You should keep a low number of fish in the aquarium to give it time to stabilize. After it's cycled you can then start adding more fish. Also you can try adding aragonite along with the crushed coral. It will help stabilize the water more than coral alone. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

First off live rock or coral rock unless it is already dead should not be placed into a fresh water tank. this can be done with experience, distilled water and cureing.

To actually cure the rock, you need to use a 1/4 cup bleach and 3/4 cup water solution and soak the coral (if dead) for 24 hours. Remove and rinse. Use your dechlor for the tank and place it into a bucket of water with your rock and let it sit for a few hours. (This removes the bleach that you used to kill all life on the rock).

Just know shells, rock etc taken from the ocean will increase your ph (at a slow rate of course) but it will increase it. There is no way to maintain a stable PH even using the distilled water will only hold a temperary PH and will have to be monitored. Depending on your desired PH, adding bog woods will counter act the increase in PH of the coral. If it is a small coral, it will not increase it that much anyway and will remain stable.

Prior to adding this piece, you need to know where your ph is now. Most fish can live happily in a higher PH ph even an 8.3.

It will not harm your fish it will increase the ph slowly over the next few weeks.

Answer 4

I lived in Fl. 4 awhile. I always brought home stuff from the beack 4 my tanks. First gently boil the coral,then stick it in a few gallons of water with a little bleach for a day. Then in fresh water for a day. after that rinse and put it in your tank.
It seems like a lot of work ,but its worth it!

Answer 5

Coral should only be used in marine tanks if live. You can use it in a freshwater tank if you're keeping African cichlids if it's not live.
The idea is that the water will get hard for your African cichlids. Is that what you're keeping?
Otherwise, it's a BIG no-no. It will increase the calcium levels, pH, etc and can actually cause your tank to cloud and your fish to die.

Answer 6

soak for twenty four hours in bleach water, then soak for another twenty four in plain water. Rinse and install. May be overkill but worth it.