Acid tank water

[mrrick]

HI.

Today I bought a flasher (and more specific) pH test kit.

Turns out my tank water is nearly at pH 6. Obviously my cichlids won't appreciate regular water changes.

I have put limestone and coral in the tank to try and raise the pH (pH today is about 7.6).

Does anyone suggest something else,(like what chemical to add when doing a water change?, to stop the pH swinging too much? or will the fishes cope with minor swings?

(I have access to chemicals so am not only limited to LFS products)

[livingart]

(I have access to chemicals so am not only limited to LFS products)

that has probably been noted on some spy agency programme somewhere in the states :smln:

[calculator]

pH of 6 doesnt seem too bad, what fish are in your tank?

[Godly3vil]

What is the hardness of your water? You shouldn't need to use any chemicals if your using coral and limestone.

On a side note I have been reading a bit lately that says fish are much more tolerant of ph changes then what we believe, as most fish in nature experience massive ph changes quite regularly. Also my ph swings a full point or more daily with co2 usage and none of my fish have died from ph shock or show signs of distress.

[mrrick]

Have done a hardness test, do not know how.. please enlighten !!

I have a range of cichlids in there, and most I do not know (apologies.. I collect fish from a range of places)

Kribensis

Electric yellows,

Taiwanese reef?

some yellow and blue spotty ones

Some pale peach (almost see through)

I've tried to find them out, but can't nail them down.

[calculator]

The way I read it is that they are mostly africans, in that case adding a bit of limestone, or crushed oyster shell(what I use) wont hurt, as it raises your pH, and increases your hardness (so the pH is less likely to swing).

[nudge]

hardness refers to carbonate hardness or kh. From what i understand the kh is what will keep your ph stable. To test how hard your water is you need a kh test kit. Low kh will usually give you a low ph the higer the kh the higher your ph will be and the ph will be more stable.

There are pre made kh buffers on the market but they are expensive over here. You can also make your own buffer with baking soda i think. This will increase your kh but i have read a lot of conflicting opinions, some swear by the homemade and others say they can cause ph fluctuations.

I'm looking into buying some buffers from aus at the moment as i am moving house soon and the new place is on tank water so the water is really soft, will let you know prices if you are interested

[mrrick]

That would be awesome, thanks !

[blueether]

I would stick with the crushed limestone/shell/coral etc should work well enough.

[Hamstar99]

The use of limestone works to certain degree and i have a tank full of it but i use home made buffers as well. My Ph is rock solid and i cant see why it wouldnt be as long as you keep adding them with your water changes.

I use a combo of baking soda, epsom salts and rock salt per 20l of water change.

theres some good articles here http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/c ... y_list.php

[nudge]

i agree with hamster, i run my tank with aragonite substrate and 2 canisters with coral rock in the basket and to be honest my ph in the tank is the same as what comes out of my tap and the kh is the same so in think the limestone/coral/aragonite do buffer to a small degree but it seems to me that they do little to buffer water that is already around 7.6-7.8 ph.

How have you found your homemade buffer hamster, i see heaps of conflicting info? is your ph/kh the same from each water change or have u had any fluctuations am interested to know as the expensive pre made buffers are basically the same as what you are using plus a few more bits and bobs. Even with the aragonite etc.. in my tank i find my ph and kh start to drop a bit by the time i am due a wc ( i dont use any buffers at the moment).

[David R]

If by "tank water" you are talking about a rain water tank (not fish tank), then the pH will be the least of your concerns with regards to keeping rift lake cichlids. The lack of mineral content/hardness is what you should be trying to measure, as nudge suggested. You could chuck some limestone/shell/coral/aragonite in and hope for the best, or buy yourself a GH/KH test kit and TDS meter and actually keep track of how much of what you need to add to the water to keep it in the ideal range for your fish.

I am also on rain water, and a small amount of beach sand (crushed shell) keeps my pH neutral to slightly acidic, despite having a large quantity of driftwood in my tank, without pushing the hardness/TDS up above where my Amazonian fish prefer it. I'm certain with a bit less wood and a little more shell I could get the pH up around high 7s and have people tell me the water is fine for Lake Malawi cichlids, when in reality if you measured the hardness and TDS you would find it somewhat soft and lacking in hardness compared to the lake.

This article was posted here a while ago, and if you're going to start messing around with your water I'd say it is well worth a read.

http://www.tbas1.com/Exchange/The%20New ... d%2011.pdf

[Hamstar99]

i agree with hamster, i run my tank with aragonite substrate and 2 canisters with coral rock in the basket and to be honest my ph in the tank is the same as what comes out of my tap and the kh is the same so in think the limestone/coral/aragonite do buffer to a small degree but it seems to me that they do little to buffer water that is already around 7.6-7.8 ph.

How have you found your homemade buffer hamster, i see heaps of conflicting info? is your ph/kh the same from each water change or have u had any fluctuations am interested to know as the expensive pre made buffers are basically the same as what you are using plus a few more bits and bobs. Even with the aragonite etc.. in my tank i find my ph and kh start to drop a bit by the time i am due a wc ( i dont use any buffers at the moment).

I change 20- 25% (100L) per week and my recipe is 1 teaspoon of each baking soda, epsom salts and rock salt per 20L. So every week i add 5 teaspoons with my water change. I have 20L marks on my tank glass so i know how much im changing out. That keeps me on a rock solid Kh and Gh of 11. I dont often test the Ph as it always the same. I used to check every water change now its more like every 6 weeks but always good.

The only time i got small fluctuations was initially when i was fine tuning my recipe. I worked it out in a 10L bucket of my tap water adding a measure of each until i had the hardness where i wanted it. Then i had to fine tune it once it was in the tank with the limestone etc. I'd imagine fluctuation would happen if you were not replacing what you were taking out or just not being accurate enough. My tank is not planted, has no drift wood but has a heap of limestone which could also help.