I might try the crushed coral in a mesh bag buried in the substrate in my current 55gal setup. When I'm able to upgrade to a bigger tank I hope to invest in the cichlid substrate. Then it should be a non-issue. I think I'm probably overthinking this. While a very small amount might not buffer the tank enough, it seems as though there is no such thing as too much crushed coral. Many I'll just put as large an amount as is practical for the space and see what happens.

Anyone ever used baking soda to keep the ph up? I hear you can't find it commonly as pure sodium bicarbonate and that it always has an additive to prevent clumping that you wouldn't want in your tank.