Dropping PH (GH results)
The level of KH, and with its resultant effect on GH, your partially- related GH’s level as well — and the amount of crushed coral to be used to maintain this KH (as previously stated) — will both be dependant upon the factors/components of your water which will be counteracting this buffering capacity. One of these factors is the natural process of acidification as the end result of your nitrogen cycle, which has the normal influence of decreasing the pH (yet ANOTHER reason for performing PWC’s). This factor is directly dependant on you bioload, so there’s no way to determine anyone’s exact need for buffering capacity.
To ensure the prevention of a pH crash under average conditions, it is generally recommended that your KH be at least 4 dKH. This is not written in stone only as it also depends on one’s regimen in aquarium maintenance, part of which I touched on above. There are breeders of Discus and other soft-water-loving fish which keep their KH at lower levels, but these hobbyists generally have enough experience to have a better understanding of their water chemistry and what is required of their particular water. The GH is at least loosely tied to the KH, and one can usually expect this level to be at least equal to, if not exceeding that of their KH — as generally, the KH will be having an ADDED influence on it. Still, if one wants to succeed at breeding such soft-water-loving fish as Discus, the combined KH and GH (TDS) should exceed by much what would test out to be about 90 microseimens. You will not need to stick with this level of TDS though, nor be concerned with this in general fish maintenance.
The 2 Tbs of crushed coral you added to your 46 gallon tank obviously can’t be expected to have done much to increase your KH. I did mention that you might try adding 6 Tbs of crushed coral to start with; that would come out to be 1.3 Tbs per 10 gallons, far less than the recommended 16 Tbs (1 cup) of crushed coral for a 10 gallon tank - - but this was before I checked back just now to find your tank’s capacity. You may instead try starting off with 8 Tbs (1/2 cup) of crushed coral for the 46 gallons, which is still far less than what’s normally recommended (76.8 Tbs total would be normally recommended for a 46 gallon tank), but without yet knowing its effects and how quickly it may change your parameters, its always best to cautiously start off slowly. At least you know how much you can increase it to, but do so slowly and keep checking the results; you may not need near what’s normally recommended as that figure is dependant on many variables — including the desired end pH.
No you don’t need to replace the crushed coral over time. Crushed coral is composed primarily of calcium and will continue to dissolve this calcium as long as it exists. A great 2009 to you also, Ray
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