Help me with my African Cichlid tank set up! Please!

[FishNewbie82912]

Is it this one

Seachem - Cichlid Lake Salt

seachem.com

Seachem's website says

so as the fish you've been talking about are from lake Malawi, you need to use this as well

Seachem - Malawi/Victoria Buffer

seachem.com

Yes that’s the one. The Cichlid salt. I’ll look into that lake Malawi buffer. Thank you!

 

[Colin_T]

You can use sodium bicarbonate to raise the KH and pH in Rift Lake tanks.

Check the ingredients of the KH buffer and see what is in it. Then look online for that ingredient. You might find it cheper but get a food grade quality so it doesn't contain impurities.

 

[FishNewbie82912]

You can use sodium bicarbonate to raise the KH and pH in Rift Lake tanks.

Check the ingredients of the KH buffer and see what is in it. Then look online for that ingredient. You might find it cheper but get a food grade quality so it doesn't contain impurities.

Isn’t baking soda sodium bicarbonate?

 

[madmark285]

Isn’t baking soda sodium bicarbonate?

Yep.

I appreciate your efforts on getting things right. On a positive note, African cichlid tend to be very hardy fish!

 

[FishNewbie82912]

Yep.

I appreciate your efforts on getting things right. On a positive note, African cichlid tend to be very hardy fish!

Thanks I feel I’ve been glued to the forum all weekend. I have the new Cichlid tank I started and then in my other tank I have a fish that lost an eye! It’s been an eventful weekend for sure.

 

[Colin_T]

Isn’t baking soda sodium bicarbonate?

Not all baking soda contains just sodium bicarbonate. Some brands of baking soda contain other ingredients as well as sodium bicarbonate.

 

[Essjay]

In the US, there's baking soda and baking powder. Baking soda is the one you want; baking powder is bicarbonate of soda plus other things.
In the UK, there's bicarbonate of soda and baking powder so it's easier to tell the difference.
I don't know what the products are called in Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc.

 

[FishNewbie82912]

Thanks everyone. I ordered the SeaChem buffer.

 

[madmark285]

Check out this one, a Dragon Blood Peacock....

 

[FishNewbie82912]

Check out this one, a Dragon Blood Peacock....

View attachment 131184

That one is awesome. Here’s a pic of some of the little guys I picked up so far