Raising pH

[Munakgirl]

So I setup my tank last week. It's a 5gl tank.
It has some black aquarium sand (from petsmart) 2 lace rocks, a random white rock, and a piece of fake coral (all bought at an aquairum specialty shop)
An a few lil rocks n shells that I had.

The salinity is 1.011. I also added 10 trumpet snails.
I had the water tested and all readings are good so far besides the pH is a bit too low, at around 6.5

So I figure I need to add something... Maybe some crushed coral, but I don't want to buy a huge bag of crushed coral only to use a handful...

Any other suggestions for raising ph, or where I could buy a small amount of coral?

::edited out the lil bit about mini market ideas::

Ps.... how's my tank setup looking?

[Varanus]

You could look into getting a small piece of holey rock if you can find any at a pet store, they're decorative white rocks made of limestone that could raise the PH (they also provide hiding places for the shrimp), but I am no expert in raising PH. It also looks like you may already have such a rock in there, so perhaps it just needs time to buffer the water more?

The main site also says adding some egg shells could work.

[JennyPenny]

You are right, a ph of 6.5 is much too low. You probably already know this, but you are aiming for around 8.0. Just to confirm, you used distilled water and Instant Ocean? If so, it is very strange that the ph is so low. I wonder if there is a rock in your tank that is affecting the ph. I thought limestone rocks raised ph, but I'm not aware of rocks that lower ph.
Varanus, she mentioned that the coral is artificial.
You definitely need something in there to help buffer the water. Some have used eggshells, but I think some crushed coral, aragonite substrate, or coral skeletons would be very helpful.

[Varanus]

Varanus, she mentioned that the coral is artificial.

Yes but the "random white rock" behind the fake coral looks like it could be holey rock/limestone, but regardless it seems it isn't doing the job.

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Hmmmm, what kind of tester did you use? If it was test strip you might want to retest just in case the previous one was faulty.

[JennyPenny]

I didn't know that might be limestone. Thanks for the info Varanus! You can test by dripping vinegar on it and seeing if it fizzes and bubbles.

But it's strange that the ph is low. Test using a liquid test kit, or call local fish stores to see if they can check for you.

[Munakgirl]

Thanks all.

Yeah I don't know what limestone looks like... but the girl at the fish store did say she thought it was one that leached calcium and helped buffer ph. But I am going to take it out and do the vinager test. And ask if the fish store does water tests. Because I had it tested at petsmart and they used a strip test.

I will prolly get a new master kit test next month. (I miss my old one... it came with 6 different tests, I can't find any that include all the same tests it had)

[Mustafa]

I don't know...the vinegar test never worked for me. I have some verified limestone here and I drop some vinegar on it and it does nothing. I actually just tried it again. It may work on some more reactive limestone like crushed coral. Household Vinegar is just too weak of an acid to be reliable.

Having said that, it does look like you have limestone there. I'd just wait. Alternatively, you can get some crushed coral and sprinkle it lightly on you substrate...will give it a salt and pepper type of look though obviously.