African Cichlid Minerals And Salt

[gregswimm]

We all have seen products that claim to cycle our tank, heal our fish, modify our water, and many other extraordinary things. Now that I have begun to start with African rift cichlids, 2 products in particular caught my attention Seachem's Cichlid Lake Salt, and Cichlid Trace. These products claim to "restore and maintain important trace elements between water changes." and "restore them [trace elements] on a regular basis". My fish appear to be doing just fine without all those products. Like so many of us, the water comes out of the tap at 15dkg at a 7.8 ph. So do we need the products then? Maybe the answer is to not use RO water with rift lake cichlids.

tLDR: Are Cichlid salts/trace elements worth it?

 

[Malawi MaD]

If you have wilds then yes id say its pretty essential but if all your fish are TB(tank bred) then your water stat's are fine

 

[gregswimm]

I think mine are WC, don;t know for sure. I bought some regular aquarium sea salt, its cheaper and I figure it can accomplish the same task. I am adding ~1TBSP per 5G of water. Bringing the conductivity up slowly through water changes. I'm considering getting some buffer as my PH is around 7.8. Ill keep you posted on whether or not it is making a difference.

Edit: I did my math wrong, the water comes out of the tap at 7-8dkG

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I am not an african keeper at all. But a number of fish friends are. Many of them put together their own mixes much the way some plant folks mix their own ferts from dry ingredients. If nobody here can help, then poke around on some good cichlid sites or forums to get an appropriate recipe for which ever rift lake your fish are from.

 

[gregswimm]

I am not an african keeper at all. But a number of fish friends are. Many of them put together their own mixes much the way some plant folks mix their own ferts from dry ingredients. If nobody here can help, then poke around on some good cichlid sites or forums to get an appropriate recipe for which ever rift lake your fish are from.

Thx for the tip, I'll probably have to make my own, everyone's tap is different.
Edit: Oh ya, and do you think i am adding too much salt?