Im soooooooo confused

[farmchick]

Hi all

I am wanting to try my hand at Malawis but have heard so many different opinions regarding the PH level.

One fish shop told me they would be fine at a PH of 7 which I know is wrong, while another told me 8.5 :-?

What is the ideal PH level and what is the easiest way to maintain it? We are on tankwater which is a guarenteed 7.5 (unless something has died in the watertank EWWWW). :oops:

Thanks in advance

[farmchick]

Oh and someone else said I cant use carbon in my filter..........

[herefishiefishie]

You can use carbon in your tank. Just remember it has a limited shelf life, about 1 month. Once a tank is set up & running there isn't a need for it.

As for ph, if everyone is on a certain ph then i wouldn't worry to much about that. 7.5 will be fine for Malawis. It is more a case of stable ph because you are using tank water, I would be more worried about your gh & kh. Use something as a substract as in limestone....or when you do water changes you can add some bicarb soda & epsom salts to your water.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/buffer_recipe.php

Frenchy

[JoandWilly]

ideal ph is around 8ish but all the malawi's we have will tolerate down to 7 and breed in 7, our display tank is sitting at 7.5 at the mo and cant seem to get it any higher (without using chemicals) and all the fish are fine and breeding in that.

[Caryl]

A lot depends on what pH the fish are used to. In their natural habitat it is way over 8 but mine were bred by a breeder in the local water which was a p of 7 and the fish have never known any different. Mine are kept at 7 - 7.4pH and are happily breeding.

Carbon is not needed in a filter.

[farmchick]

thanks everyone.

I have got rid of everyone out of the community tank and will be using this for my malawi adventure. Its a 180ltr deep 3ft with a fluval 204. How many wee fishies could happily live in here?

As it has been running for a while now as a community tank, do I take the carbon out or is it ok to stay in the filter basket? I changed it about 2 weeks ago.

[jim r]

I think Paul Talbot has a dvd on cichlids including malawi's available from any decent shop.

cheers Jim.

[ryanjury]

You can put a few fish in your tank probably start with electric yellows, and maybe a pair of peacocks or something, then maybe mix one species of zebra in there. Maybe 8-10 adults max (start of with more and thin out any ugly ones or excess males to get the ratio you require) Stay away from more aggressive or larger fish like giraffes johanni auratus etc.

And I dont think carbon is needed in any tank I certainly dont use it in any of our tanks (unless im removing anything) and haven't had any problems. As for PH I guess it pays to keep it above 7 but as long as the fish are happy growing and breeding I guess it doesn't matter. I had the PH drop on a tank once with africans and they all sat around not happy at all until I raised the PH again and they were sweet. All of our tanks have coral sand in them either as substrate or in a stocking in the tank or filter just to buffer the water so the PH doesn't change too much.

Good luck alot of people seem to be changing to africans so its good

[farmchick]

thanks heaps Ryan . Just waiting on the last of the tetras and the RTB shark to go to their new homes and the adventures will begin!!! :lol: :lol:

[JoandWilly]

probably the more important thing with africans is to give them stable water conditions so try use something to keep the hardness up so you dont have any pH swings and then just try get your pH above 7

[farmchick]

so above 7.5 and stable should make for happy campers?

I have some bottles of the PH up and PH down but have never had to use them. Are they any good?

[JoandWilly]

yeah thats it, in my opinion i would try avoid those sorts of chemicals, try putting oyster shells(bird grit) or crushed coral in your filter or something or make up your own ph buffer using this website

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/buffer_recipe.php

[Damiana]

Throw them out. Seriously. Right now. That stuff is a disaster in a bottle. A couple of drops too many and you'll yank your ph around hardcore. Not to mention that whenever you do water changes you'll have to fiddle with it again, leaving more opportunity for things to get mucked up.

What I suggest doing (and do myself) is put shells in the filter like Joandwilly mentioned earlier. Buffers the water nicely, is no muss no fuss, and will raise your ph. Fresh water from a change cycles through the shell and is automatically taken care of without having to worry about dosing.

My ph sits around 7.8 and they seem fairly happy with it.

[herefishiefishie]

Ph up is only bicarb soda. It would take a serious overdose to kill the fish. {Fact} I use the buffer mainly because I have some sensitive Tangy's.

Tank water can be very soft, I would get your gh & kh tested first before thinking about anything else. The most important thing is ph stability. If the carbonate hardness is low that will give you major problems.

If you want to just use shells, limestone...as it is the easier option. Test run the tank first for a couple of weeks before adding anything expensive fish wise. Just incase the tank isn't buffered enough.

I don't know about the quality of your tank water, so it is hard to comment on the need for carbon. You will be the best judge of that. If animals like to drown in the water then its something for you to look at. Carbon removes impurities out of the water, that about it.

Frenchy

[farmchick]

thanks heaps guys. I went to Muriwai beach yesterday and pinched, oops I mean collected a few shells. Does it matter that they come from a black sand beach?

And what is the best substrate to use?

Sorry for all the dumb questions :oops:

[JoandWilly]

We use aroganite in our tanks, bit expensive though, $45 for a 25kg sack, about the same with the coral sand. You can use calcite gravel from stone and water world which is like $20 for a 25kg sack not sure on its buffering and pH capabilitys though

[craig]

calcite works like argonite,keeps ph up and hardness.

magnesium content that does all the work.same as for limestone and dolomite rock.

can't write it down in words,you have to be a chemist/scientist to understand it all,in chemical breakdown.

if ya set tank up right,calcite/argonite.limestone/dolomite you can't go wrong. always remembering that alkaline water is dangerous water,to much food and waste leads to ammonia spikes.

ph buffers can be very dangerous,if relied on totally to keep water right,once again there is a chemical compound in sodium bicarb that doesn't break down,and eventually hits toxic overload,may take 6mths or 12mths but it will happen.better to do it naturally, soft water-peat/wood etc. hard water--shell/calcite/argonite/limestone/dolomite.

african's best kept 7.5-8.4. hardness 18-21.

shell.

[meesheelly]

so im getting some limestone chips for my substrate, will this be enough? I want to use shist for my rocks but if i need more akalinity i will try and find other stuff.

[herefishiefishie]

As I said earlier, you will know for sure when you get your water tested. Ph, gh & kh. Your lfs should be able to do that for you.

ph buffers can be very dangerous,if relied on totally to keep water right,once again there is a chemical compound in sodium bicarb that doesn't break down,and eventually hits toxic overload,may take 6mths or 12mths but it will happen

Don't tell me fish that, they should of died years ago :lol:

Just to clarify, the same could be said for salt too. The important thing here is to follow a set recipe. When you take water out, you only add the chemicals for that specific amount of water that is replaced. If you are adding more water back in because of evaporation, then don't add chemicals for that amount. Pretty simple really. I have been doing this for 6 years or so now, no mass deaths..... So the comment above is wrong, unless you go stupid with the chemicals all the time.

Frenchy

[Cyberfin]

Looks like you've got good advide about setting the water. I just have a question for anyone ....

You can put a few fish in your tank probably start with electric yellows, and maybe a pair of peacocks or something

Aren't peacocks too timid to be kept with most/many african cichlids?

[bulldogod]

Hi, can someone tell me what colour calcite gravel is?? Im looking for something for my tank but want something white.

[malawi_man]

can someone tell me what colour calcite gravel is??

Calcite gravel is white.

Aren't peacocks too timid to be kept with most/many african cichlids?

I keep my electric blue ahli (Scaenochromis ahli) in with electric yellows and other malawis and I have had no problems although in some peoples' opinions they may not be classified as a peacock.

[Oscar]

To get ph up to 8 I did the salt,bicarb and epsom thing once.Then a couple of weeks latter added a couple of chunks of coral(which fish love)and ph has stayed at 8 even with water changes.

[herefishiefishie]

I keep my electric blue ahli (Scaenochromis ahli) in with electric yellows and other malawis and I have had no problems although in some peoples' opinions they may not be classified as a peacock

.

Make that most if not all opinions. An elecric blue is part of the Haplochromis group & an Electric Yellow is part of the mbuna group. A peacock is part of the Aulonocara group.

The Aulonocara group are probably the most timid of the Malawi cichlids but can be housed comfortably with electric yellows, some docile mbuna species, eg;acei's & some Lake Tangy cichlids.

If you want to keep peacocks, start them first then add others once the peacocks are bigger.

Frenchy