How to change my entire substrate to limestone chip?

[AmyKieran]

Okay so in my rift lake cichlid tank I’m using an ugly blue gravel and ide love to change to a limestone chip. How do I go about changing this effectively?

I have been buffering the gh, kh and ph with seachem Malawi buffer and rift lake salt. How will this impact the introduction of limestone chip ?

And also how many kg am I going to need for my 50g trigon?

 

[Colin_T]

Scoop the old stuff out with a net and replace it with the new stuff.
Do a gravel clean the day before so you get most of the gunk out and the water stays clearer.

I wouldn't go white substrate, it's too glary for the fish. Use a dark substrate (brown or black) so the white rock contrasts and the fish show better colours.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

I'm afraid your water GH, pH will go too high over time and you won't be able to control them.

Also, if you make a large water change, your water GH, pH will have big changes which is bad for the fish.

Btw, I haven't used limestone before, so this is just my opinion.

 

[AmyKieran]

Scoop the old stuff out with a net and replace it with the new stuff.
Do a gravel clean the day before so you get most of the gunk out and the water stays clearer.

I wouldn't go white substrate, it's too glary for the fish. Use a dark substrate (brown or black) so the white rock contrasts and the fish show better colours.

So what would be a black substrate that helps me with ph, kh and gh?

 

[Wills]

I'd definitely change from the blue gravel but as suggested a white substrate isnt great but you could mix it in with a sand which would be pretty natural for the fish. An other option is to just go for a sand substrate and then add a bag of crushed coral etc into the filter which will have the same effect.

Wills

 

[AmyKieran]

I'd definitely change from the blue gravel but as suggested a white substrate isnt great but you could mix it in with a sand which would be pretty natural for the fish. An other option is to just go for a sand substrate and then add a bag of crushed coral etc into the filter which will have the same effect.

Wills

I already use crushed coral in my filters and it doesn’t seem to do anything. I think another use recommended argonite maybe? Or Dolomite? I love the look of black sand

 

[Wills]

I already use crushed coral in my filters and it doesn’t seem to do anything. I think another use recommended argonite maybe? Or Dolomite? I love the look of black sand

Using the substrate to buffer a tank for Africans is pretty standard practise so personally dont have an issue, I'd just try and mix in something else to dull it down you could also put the coral or limestone etc in zipped nylon bags and put a sand substrate over the top - Aquascapers do with this with aquarium soil and it would do the same job here.

I think then you would just need to see where the tank water sits week to week and match your fresh water using the Malawi Buffer. When you make the switch you'll have to test constantly to make sure the hardness is not rising too fast - as well as the risk to the fish the other risk is to the filter bacteria which can take a hit when adjusting hardness.

Wills

 

[StevenF]

I'm afraid your water GH, pH will go too high over time and you won't be able to control them.

The PH effect of carbonates depends on the type of carbonate and its solubiilityin water. Sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate resoluble in any water condition and as a result can push the PH up a lot. However limestoene is Calcium barboate ONLY dissolved in acidic water. It does not dissolve in water with a PH of 7 or more. End result is calcium carbonate pushes the PH up to about 7. It won't push it higher.

Okay so in my rift lake cichlid tank I’m using an ugly blue gravel and ide love to change to a limestone chip. How do I go about changing this effectively?

If you prefer the look of limestone chips then yes you need to remove the old substrate and put in the new. However if your are adding it to try add naturally buffering to your substartthen you could mix the two together. I don't know how it will act with the Seachem buffer.

 

[malfunction]

Caribsea make a couple of aragonite based sands that will buffer your tank and come in varying colours. Their site is: https://caribsea.com/freshwater-substrates/

These were recommended to me by a user on this site, and I chose the eco complete African cichlid sand - it’s a mix of black and white. Buffers the water well and doesn’t scare my fish at all. Depending on the size of your water changes you may be able to sto using the seachem buffer/salt. I still use them as I do large weekly water changes - you might not have to if you’re doing smaller changes.