chemicals to use for african cichlids

[lougotzz]

what chemicals should i use to house african cixhlids like how should i make there water

 

[yhbae]

First of all, what is your water parameter, out of your tap? You may not need to add any chemicals...

 

[ProGolferCL6]

ya dont add any chemicals if u dont need it

 

[semper fi]

also depends on which lake. post your tap water parameters and what type of fish

 

[Zippy]

If you are trying to raise or lower water parametres, there are more natural ways of doing this without adding harmful chemicals to your tank.

I cannot understand why so many ppl like adding chemicals to their tanks, i mean you don't find chemicals being added to lake malawi for instance, how can you replicate the lakes or any other tropical lake or stream when using chemicals.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

I cannot understand why so many ppl like adding chemicals to their tanks, i mean you don't find chemicals being added to lake malawi for instance

Many people will mistakenly use the term 'chemicals' for all additives. By chemicals I'm assuming he means salts and minerals used to try to match the conditions of the rift lakes.


If you are using tap water, there will most likely be no need for these additives. Most of us happen to have ideal water for African rift lake cichlids. It seems to be accepted as a general rule all over the internet that the water must meet specific requirements (8 seems to be most common), but this is not the case.

The rift lakes are extremely large, among the largest bodies of fresh water in the world. The PH in any given lake, be it Malawi or Tanganyika, will range from as low as 7.2 to as high as 9.5, and our cichlids will do fine in any water falling into this tolerant gap. The GH of these waters is not as high as most people think either, and the fish are very adaptable in this aspect as well. KH will not affect the fish directly, but a higher number will lead to a more stable PH.

When you test your tap water, and find it very soft and acidic, then the use of additives may be unavoidable. Realistically it would still be better to choose cichlids that are already more at home in the water you can readily provide, but if you have the time and experience to adjust your water parameters, while keeping them stable, then there are different rift lake mixes you can purchase to accomplish what you want. You can also save money by making your own additive using baking soda, epsoms salt, and aquarium salt--amounts of each depending on your specific water, and determined through experimentation.

TCA

 

[yhbae]

thecichlidaddict, in your opinion, do I need to adjust my water for my malawis (and lake tang species for that matter)?

- pH = 7.2
- GH = 3
- KH = 2

To me, this is really stretching for African tanks. I'd rather not add any chemicals if I don't have to, but I am concerned about the softness of my tap water. I also intend to breed them as well. So far, I've been adding a little of baking soda and epsom salt to get pH = 8.2 and GH and KH to be around 8...

Appreciate some feedback...

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Hey Yhbae

You are correct, you are on the low end of the scale. As long as you can keep the parameters stable, there is no reason why you should not keep up with these additives. Test regularly, make sure things are steady. Stability is the main concern, and it's better to have a steady PH that is too low then a higher PH that jumps around. This is why I recommend, especially to beginners, not to mess with it if they can help it.

 

[yhbae]

I'm going to measure KH to see if it stays constant. I just measured it before water change and it was 7. After water change (with chemicals added), it stayed at 7. I hope it stays at 7 by next Saturday....

How fast is KH supposed to be used up?

 

[thecichlidaddict]

It seems that there is no rule, different variables, such as stocking levels and different mineral content in the water will produce different results. Testing is the only surefire way to get an idea of what's going on in your tank. I always found that weekly water changes of about 30% or so kept things very stable. I also found that the GH could easily climb higher then expected with the epsoms salt, so keep an eye on that as well. You can't test your parameters too often right now, but it also won't be long before you have good idea of what's happening in the tank, and you'll know what to expect.

 

[yhbae]

Hmm... Does plants use up any of the GH or KH components?

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Nope, just make sure the plants can handle the alkaline water.

 

[yhbae]

Thanks... The only plant I have in there (not planning to introduce any other species) is java fern and it has been growing rather nicely...

 

[gixer]

thecichlidaddict, in your opinion, do I need to adjust my water for my malawis (and lake tang species for that matter)?

- pH = 7.2
- GH = 3
- KH = 2

To me, this is really stretching for African tanks. I'd rather not add any chemicals if I don't have to, but I am concerned about the softness of my tap water. I also intend to breed them as well. So far, I've been adding a little of baking soda and epsom salt to get pH = 8.2 and GH and KH to be around 8...

Appreciate some feedback...

my water is actually softer than that. usually ph =6.8, gh=2 and kh=1

my tank is full of tuffa and holey rock (and i mean full lol), argonite, crushed coral and endless amounts of shells.

I still need to use bicarb

you will soon get it right.. a few weeks of testing ph and kh regularly and you will soon be able to work out how often you need to add the bicarb..

for me its twice a week.

 

[yhbae]

Interesting - twice a week...

I have been adding the exact same amont of baking soda and epsom salt every week during water change for the past 2 months. I did loose two 1 inch Yellow Labs since then but others seem ok...

I'm gonna watch extra carefully during this week on the water parameters and see how it varies...

Thanks for the tips!