A New Home For My Yellow Labs

[monkeyman]

I am getting a new tank for my 2 yellow labs REAL soon. They are in with a mix of fish now and the pH isnt great for them. I want to move them to a tank espically for them. Ph 8 or there abouts? trouble is my tap water is pH 7 so i need some help. What will i use for sustrate? Wat will i use to higher the pH? PLEASE, i so want the new home to work out for them. btw i will be getting a juwel rekord 120 tank.

 

[ozzy47]

hi well personally i use coral sand and ocean rock to buffer my ph and there after a great little secret i was told by my local malawi dealer/breeder is bicarbonate of soda(1 tablespoon to every 150litres) will give you great ph. i have done it many times and gives great results at the fraction of the cost of shop ph buffers as you can see in my pictures in the picture section my fish are very healthy and spawn very readily.
cheers stewy

 

[monkeyman]

hi well personally i use coral sand and ocean rock to buffer my ph and there after a great little secret i was told by my local malawi dealer/breeder is bicarbonate of soda(1 tablespoon to every 150litres) will give you great ph. i have done it many times and gives great results at the fraction of the cost of shop ph buffers as you can see in my pictures in the picture section my fish are very healthy and spawn very readily.
cheers stewy

I take it coral sand will be labelled as such in the shop? Is it like it says - a sand? Sorry for being a dummy. Im totally new to african chiclids and want to get it right. What about cleaning the sand? will my vacumn hoover it all up? will the sand keep the ph up indefinatly? what pH is ur tank? Like i said sorry for being a pain... i reckon i have a few more questions too

 

[ozzy47]

hi yes it is a sand, and no you wont be able to hoover it unlike gravel, there is the option of calcium gravel which then you would be able to use your hoover. the ph in my tank is around 8 - 8.5, and yes when you buy it from the lfs just ask for which ever you prefer coral sand or calcium gravel.

 

[monkeyman]

i think i will go for the coral sand. How do i go about cleaning it though? Does the coral sand raise the pH to a certain level and then stop? I take it it doesnt raise it off the roof??? Sorri im sooo stoopid!

 

[ozzy47]

it will bufer your ph for sure but it wont buffer it for ever so when you notice the ph dropping just add bicarb as i mentioned before, it is not easy to clean apart from move it around when you do your water changes.

 

[monkeyman]

thank you for all ur help. bed time now me thinks going to get mi new tank tomoz