Increasing Ph Naturally

[Davo86]

A friend of mine has switched to malawis recently, and as the title suggests is looking to increase his ph naturally,

I have suggested adding some Crushed Coral which he has but only in a small quantity, I have also suggested Ocean Rock but said I would find out if there is anything better before he goes out and buys some, so...

Also how many peacocks would you say is a reasonable amount for a 400L setup, He is upto 20 atm

 

[markandhisfish]

aragonite sand . limestone rocks . both of these will help raise ph. what is his current ph?

 

[elisew]

A friend of mine has switched to malawis recently, and as the title suggests is looking to increase his ph naturally,

I have suggested adding some Crushed Coral which he has but only in a small quantity, I have also suggested Ocean Rock but said I would find out if there is anything better before he goes out and buys some, so...

Also how many peacocks would you say is a reasonable amount for a 400L setup, He is upto 20 atm

The ocean rock definitely lifted my ph in my Tang setup, it`s one of the reasons I went with ocean rock in the Malawi setup too

I have a 389L tank and have just ordered approx 20-25 mix of aulonocara, haps and 4 mbuna and apparently I`m way off being overstocked, mind you the sizes range from 5cm to approx 10cm so it might possibly give some idea of how many your friends tank would comfortably house

 

[Davo86]

Thanks, current ph is 7.4 but very hard, He's looking to get it upto around 8.2 - 8.4

 

[markandhisfish]

7.4 isnt disasterous for malawis , anything 7.5 upwards is ok , so 7.4 isnt really that bad . his gh is more important , do you know his gh ? if the gh is good id be inclined to not mess with water chemistry too much for the sake of stability.

my water is ph 7.5 with A general hardness of 16dh , and all the breeders ive spoken to about it have said the same thing. 7.5 is in the lower end of the range for malawis , but is acceptable and the gh is far more important. and the only time i may need to raise the ph is if i wanted to breed them.

this article is pretty good for water chemistry of the lakes , and also has a buffer recipe for raising ph/gh if needed . maybe worth your friend having a read through , it explains it much better than i would be able to .

edit: forgot the link!
http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/water_chemistry.php

 

[lalo99]

I would leave the water alone and not worry about it. Thats fine for rift lake cichlids. If he really want to raise th ph a little baking soda is needed.

 

[Squidward]

Thanks, current ph is 7.4 but very hard, He's looking to get it upto around 8.2 - 8.4

This is fine for Malawis, especially if it is hard.

better to have it stable, but slightly lower, than keep playing with it and have it fluctuate.

 

[bullit]

aragonite sand . limestone rocks . both of these will help raise ph. what is his current ph?

my research has found that limestone and coral do raise the ph over a long time but the buffering cant keep up with the water changes. To start with you will get a rise in ph because of the dust etc but beyond nothing beyond that. Baking soda is what you want to use.

 

[hazza2580]

While were on the topic wat naturaly lowers ph i already know driftwood does ?

 

[Bawie]

A Peat additive in your filter tray also will help to lower the ph. The same sort of thing as the driftwood.The SA cichlids like it that way.

 

[Squidward]

While were on the topic wat naturaly lowers ph i already know driftwood does ?

Not necessarily.
It all depends on how hard your water is to start with.
My water is fairly hard & I have loads of wood in it. The ph hasn't budged at all.