nudge Posted December 16, 2012 Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 Never bothered buffering my water for malawis but now with trophs and tangs, should I. KH and GH are low. KH is 107.4 ppm and gh is 125.3 ppm on my API kit. Ph is mid 7's in the tank and outta the tap. Coral in both filters and aragonite substrate. Now low KH means unstable PH, correct?. This can mean Ph swings during wc's which is bad, am i on the right track? Now with the coral and aragonite helping to buffer the water where it's at now would it be ok to leave it alone, or would you guys start buffering. I change 50%, 150ish L on the mon then about 20% on fri. Hose connected to shower and dechlor as it fills. How do i go about adding the buffer? and what is a good recipe for my KH and GH readings. Can i add it as the tank fills, I'm guessing it would need to be lifted slowly on every mon wc over a few weeks to bring the KH up slowly. Any recommendations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted December 16, 2012 Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 leave it how it is the end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nudge Posted December 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 how did i know you were gonna say that smidey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted December 16, 2012 Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 because i have had great success with "NOT MESSING WITH THINGS" set up to the best you can to suit them and leave it, if you start adjusting stuff that much you will have a failure at some point. Your conditions are not prefect for the fish compared to their wild environment but is likely to be the same or very similar to what they have lived in all their lives and who has perfect conditions, no one i suspect. keep it consistent and they will adjust and be fine, big changes will mean they will struggle. I recommend the crushed marble that you have, the limestone rocks you also have and if you want to, throw shells into the tank and or filters but you are asking for trouble dosing the tank with buffers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nudge Posted December 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 Thats what i was kinda thinking. If they were WC/F1 I can see why people buffer but if they are tank raised on similar cond to mine why mess with it. Its just that seems to go against pretty much all the troph sites which generally say to buffer the water to have a high KH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted December 16, 2012 Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 why do they do it? what does it achieve? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nudge Posted December 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 Thats what i want to know, does it create a healthier more colourful fish if you replicate lake cond? I mean these guys have never set foot in the lake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted December 16, 2012 Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 all i know is i have had no health issues, the breed regularly and show good colour. i'll stick to the way i do things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tropheus Posted December 17, 2012 Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 I secound Smidy. Dont mess about trying to recreate wild conditions. Just ends up stressing you out and more importantly the fish. I have never checked my water conditions. Even now I dont know what the exact PH is. But I do know that with my gravel and limestone rocks that the PH is well over 7. My Tangs, Tropheus & Alto's, wont stop breeding so all must be good. Just dont do more then 20% water changes for the Tangs. Malawis will handle more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted December 17, 2012 Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 Just dont do more then 20% water changes for the Tangs. Malawis will handle more. that's interesting, i have always done at least 30% weekly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tropheus Posted December 17, 2012 Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 I notice my Tropheus can handle more but the Alto's seem a little more sinsitive. I guess each in their own :cr8: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted December 17, 2012 Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 i'm interested to hear your experience on it, do you think it's temp related? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 17, 2012 Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 that's interesting, i have always done at least 30% weekly. I do around 30-40% every two weeks... looks good. :cr10: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nudge Posted December 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 I do 50% mon and 20% on fri worked for the malawis. Now I'm confused as most sites say trophs are more picky about clean water than malawis. I take it there is more chance of ph swings with larger wc's with the water parameters i have, which would make sense to buffer the water when doin large water changes. I don't have the luxury of changing water when i want these are my wc days. The misses runs a tight ship. Would i be better doing 2x30% wc a week than 1 big 1 then a smaller 1? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted December 17, 2012 Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 save your self some time and water and just do one wc a week of 30%, more than enough i have found. Then you'll have more time to give the mrs a good listening to :sage: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nudge Posted December 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 I'm happy with my wc i feel bad enough keeping them in a glass box least i can do is give them good water. But, if 2 smaller wc is gonna be better than 1 big and 1 small, as far as keeping the water conditions stable then i will start doing that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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