MTS Capping with Crushed Coral

Crushed coral will raise the pH, not lower it, since it is calcium carbonate. Dolomite is calcium magnesium carbonate, having the same effect. If you use crushed coral as a substrate the water will very soon have a high GH and high KH, which may be a problem for some fish, if you plan to have any. If you bury the crushed coral under a thick substrate, it will be much, much slower in affecting the water.

Right, sorry if I said that wrong. Im worried about the MTS lowering the ph. Like an adverse effect with the crushed coral. Because I'm shooting for a ph of 8.3ish. But I had no idea that it would affect the GH and KH on a large scale. I guess I need to rethink this plan. Im going to need to keep GH and KH on the lower side. Thank you Hoppy!

I don't know off hand how you can keep a low GH and KH and also have a pH of around 8.3. I think however you could do that would be a bad idea. I'm sure others have opinions on this.

i have mts capped with crushed coral. before i started adding a marine mix, my ph was about 7.8. i never did test the gh/kh. i guess i should should do that, lol. all i know is that my puffers are happy and the plants are growing.

i think the mts lowered my ph by about .2

Bump. I'm being told on another forum that Crushed Coral doesn't effect KH but only slightly on GH. So confused lol.

Coral is calcium carbonate, so if it dissolves, the water will have more carbonates in it, thus raising the KH. Who ever posted differently is incorrect. But, it doesn't dissolve fast at all. It just slowly and continuously raises the KH and GH. Routine water changes will limit how high it can raise either hardness.

Regarding the plants, my Tylos like to eat about any I try to put in the tank aside from Java ferns.
Sags, E. tenellus, Hygros, they especially love floaters

I would concentrate more on getting parameters right for your Sulawesi inverts than I would on plants... Some Tylos like rocks more, some sand (they do like to bury some).

Maybe rethink the MTS as it won't do much if the snails eat the plants anyways.

Also listen to Hoppy, he knows what he's talking about.:icon_smil

Yes I will listen to Hoppy! Thanks Hoppy!

These Tylo's will not eat any of my plants. I hope they would, so at least i know they are eating. But know that you said that, I realize they have flame moss, crypts and hygro. The MTS was going to be for crypts.