Advice on salt?

[itiwhetu]

I wouldn't keep Rift Lake cichlids in rain water. It's not natural for them. Just like I wouldn't put marine fish in freshwater.

Africa's Rift Lakes have a lot of minerals in and the fish have been living in those lakes for a very long time. If you want the fish to live in a natural environment that is similar to their wild habitat, then add some minerals or use hard water for them.

People don't keep neon tetras, cardinal tetras and discus in really hard water with a high pH, so why keep Rift Lake cichlids in really soft water with a neutral or lower pH.

If you use a limestone base, and only do small water changes then you get the mineral content that is required. In the wild these fish come from lakes full of lime and they get replenished with rain. That is what I am doing. I am recreating their lake.

 

[AmyKieran]

Kh still very low, testing at 3

How should I raise kh? Sodium bicarbonate from supermarket? And if so how much?

 

[Essjay]

No, you need to add one of the buffers Seachem make to use alongside the Rift Lake salts. Depending which lake your fish came from you need either

Seachem - Tanganyika Buffer

www.seachem.com

or

Seachem - Malawi/Victoria Buffer

www.seachem.com

Seachem's website says for the Cichlid Lake Salts

This will not provide a complete replication of the mineral salts that are contained in the lakes of Africa, in particular calcium and potassium. Seachem’s Tanganyika Buffer™ (pH 9.0–9.4) and Malawi/Victoria Buffer™ (pH 7.8–8.4) should be used to adjust carbonate hardness and pH.

Seachem - Cichlid Lake Salt

www.seachem.com

 

[AmyKieran]

No, you need to add one of the buffers Seachem make to use alongside the Rift Lake salts. Depending which lake your fish came from you need either

Seachem - Tanganyika Buffer

www.seachem.com

or

Seachem - Malawi/Victoria Buffer

www.seachem.com

Seachem's website says for the Cichlid Lake Salts

Seachem - Cichlid Lake Salt

www.seachem.com

I have a mix though of Malawi and the other lake. Most are Malawi but I have fish like frontosa from the other lake?

 

[Essjay]

I don't know much about Rift Lake cichlids as my water is too soft for them, but I understand that fish from the various lakes should not be mixed together

We need someone who knows about these fish to help out here.

 

[AmyKieran]

I don't know much about Rift Lake cichlids as my water is too soft for them, but I understand that fish from the various lakes should not be mixed together

We need someone who knows about these fish to help out here.

I’m under the impression that both fish need relatively similar conditions and probably won’t be detrimentally impacted by not having ‘exactly’ the right parameters for them . But this advice was given by the LFS so as always im a bit sceptical, I hope that’s the case because I love my frontosa

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I had to stop reading this thread after the first two pages as the misinformation astounded me. here are a few observations from that.

firs re salt, read this, I have yet to read a better paper on the subjetc. I got some of the best advice I have gotten from RTR on a now defunct site in 2001-2003.
http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/wiki/The_Salt_of_the_Earth

Next, hardness is a fine but limited measure. There are many more things in water than those measured by either GH or KH kits. I use a TDS meter which actually measures conductivity and then converts it to ppm. This considers everything in the water except the H2O itself. However, neither of the two kits nor conductuivity or TDS readings tell us exactly how much of what is in the water, only the total effect of it all. GH does not measure any of the ions, it does not measure salt it does not measure other things. While it is usefull, it does not tell the whole story.

Most fish do not want or need salt in their water. The softer the water and the lower the pH, then the less likely fish that live in it will do well with sodium chloride. Next, if one adds 1 tablespoon of water to a tank and then changes 50 % of the water and then adds another tabllspoon, one now havs 1.5 tablespoons in the water. After the next 50% change .75 of a tablespoon is left behind and then another tablespoon being added results in there being 1.75 tablspoons. Next week that will become 1.875 tablespoons. How long before the fish are pickled? Salt does not evaporate from water.

The above is a bit over simplified because it doesn't account for any of the salt being used by anything in the tank in any way.

I have fish of all sorts thriving in my tanks without any slt. I have rasboras for over 12 years, clown loached for almost 20. Plecos for as lonfg as well. I have kept or keep tetras, danios, angels, bettas, blue eyed rainbows, farlos, wild swordtails, corys, barbs for years all without any salt. So I am one who doesn't believe most FW fish need sodium chloride added to their water.

 

[Colin_T]

Lake Malawi has a lower pH, GH & KH than Lake Tanganyika.
Lake Malawi has a GH around 300-350ppm, pH between 7.6-8.5
Lake Tanganyika has a GH between 350ppm-450ppm, and a pH between 8.2-9.0

If you get the GH up to around 350-400ppm and the pH to about 8.2-8.5, they should all be fine.

Frontosa get big (12 inches plus) so make sure you have a big tank.

 

[AmyKieran]

Lake Malawi has a lower pH, GH & KH than Lake Tanganyika.
Lake Malawi has a GH around 300-350ppm, pH between 7.6-8.5
Lake Tanganyika has a GH between 350ppm-450ppm, and a pH between 8.2-9.0

If you get the GH up to around 350-400ppm and the pH to about 8.2-8.5, they should all be fine.

Frontosa get big (12 inches plus) so make sure you have a big tank.

Frontosa grow slowly so I plan to expand / move him tanks by then but thanks for water parameters