In hindsight, how would you guys of recommended to stock my tank?

[AmyKieran]

I keep rift lake cichlids but buffer my water from sift to hard

In hindsight, if I was just starting now, what would you have recommended to keep?

I have kh - 3
Gh - 4

In a 50 g trigon

 

[Colin_T]

Don't know how big a 50g trigon is. What are the dimensions (length x width x height)?

What sort of fish do you like?

I had soft water (0GH & 0KH) with a pH around 7.8 and I kept all sorts of fish ranging from softwater to Rift Lake cichlids. But I made the water up a week before I used it and add mineral salts for the fish that liked hard water.

If you are willing to buffer the water for the fish you like, then keep whatever you want.

 

[AmyKieran]

Don't know how big a 50g trigon is. What are the dimensions (length x width x height)?

What sort of fish do you like?

I had soft water (0GH & 0KH) with a pH around 7.8 and I kept all sorts of fish ranging from softwater to Rift Lake cichlids. But I made the water up a week before I used it and add mineral salts for the fish that liked hard water.

If you are willing to buffer the water for the fish you like, then keep whatever you want.

It’s actually a triangle shaped tank (like a block of cheese) it’s a juwel trigon

 

[Colin_T]

The cheese we buy in Australia is sold in rectangular blocks

 

[Back in the fold]

Would having a limestone gravel negate the need to buffer your water ? In my experience it's always easier to have hard alkaline water. Water seems to want to go hard and alkaline.

 

[AmyKieran]

Would having a limestone gravel negate the need to buffer your water ? In my experience it's always easier to have hard alkaline water. Water seems to want to go hard and alkaline.

Yes but I have 25kg of limestone rock in my tank already, so limestone wouldn’t look good on the bottom. I’ve just ordered some black sand which I thinking will look cool just the task of changing the substrate with 50+ fish in

 

[Back in the fold]

@AmyKieran Looks like you're stuck buffering then but with all that limestone rock in there I'm mystified as to why your water would be soft. I'm no expert but soft water is usually the result of lots of rainfall like in jungles such as Southeast Asia and the Amazon. Limestone will usually leach off lots of calcium. How about a parakeets cuttlebone in there to speed the process ?

 

[Naughts]

Less fish, a lot less fish!

 

[Colin_T]

Limestone takes time to affect the GH, it's not an instant add water and limestone and the GH suddenly jumps to 300ppm. You need mineral salts that dissolve in water for that.

 

[itiwhetu]

Yes but I have 25kg of limestone rock in my tank already, so limestone wouldn’t look good on the bottom. I’ve just ordered some black sand which I thinking will look cool just the task of changing the substrate with 50+ fish in

You need to have a limestone substrate to make this tank work, forget about what looks cool.

 

[Lynnzer]

The cheese we buy in Australia is sold in rectangular blocks

And my favoutite cheese has holes in it. Not recommended for a tank though.

As for the question, and as an afterthought to my own setting up in the hobby, I think it's always best to go with whatever fish you like in the size and other attributes, that suit your local water supply.
The amount of faffing about trying to get water to suit the fish is akin to the 1st steps to insanity.

 

[AmyKieran]

@AmyKieran Looks like you're stuck buffering then but with all that limestone rock in there I'm mystified as to why your water would be soft. I'm no expert but soft water is usually the result of lots of rainfall like in jungles such as Southeast Asia and the Amazon. Limestone will usually leach off lots of calcium. How about a parakeets cuttlebone in there to speed the process ?

Well I know another user mentioned that crushed coral in my filter doesn’t work above 7 ph and suggested an alternative that I can’t remember but I’ll have a look back.

I’ve just googled it and it seems interesting, perhaps a few of these in the filter may work?

 

[AmyKieran]

Less fish, a lot less fish!

Yes in hindsight, I have too many lol but surprisingly my nitrates are always very low, to which I actually don’t know why

 

[AmyKieran]

Limestone takes time to affect the GH, it's not an instant add water and limestone and the GH suddenly jumps to 300ppm. You need mineral salts that dissolve in water for that.

So that being said, am I just to keep an eye on gh incase it raises too high?

 

[AmyKieran]

You need to have a limestone substrate to make this tank work, forget about what looks cool.

I get the reasoning, but it’s really not much bother adding a buffer every water change. So ide trade the aesthetics for the use of some buffer. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t other things that could work, would limestone in the filter work the same as the substrate? Or something else in the filter?