mav8989
Fish Fanatic
I think I understand the relationship between Ph and the buffering capacity of a given volume of water. I have a 75 gallon African Cichlid tank (Malawi) that I just started.... My first Cichlid tank and I'm thrilled!!!!!! The tank is fully cycled using mature media and substrate from the prior tank... It took about a week of feeding some ammonia before the tank completed it's mini-cycle from the change-over. Am is currently 0, the nitrItes are 0 and the nitrates are 15-20ppm.
My dilemma:
Out of the tap my water has a PH of about 7.2 - 7.4. It is actually fairly hard water and the Ph does not flucuate. Unfortunately, I did not use a crushed coral or lime based substrate to help increase that buffering capacity further. It's not really an option at this point. In some places I have read that the fish can tolerate this lower Ph - but I doubt it makes them "happy".
I purchased some Proper PH 8.2 which I do understand alone will not just "set the Ph to 8.2" like some believe. In order to give the water the buffering capacity to hold that adjustment I bought a nice size bottle of Seachem's "Cichlid Lake Salt" and dose it at 3/4 teaspoon per 10 gallons using the Lake Malawi dose for my tank's inhabitants. Given the added buffering capacity this should provide for me, the "Proper Ph 8.2" should adjust the Ph to roughly the proper level and the water should be able to hold it, right
? Well, the Ph seems to be flucuating rather wildly... which is AWFUL for my fish and probably worse then doing nothing at all....
I have added the Seachem salts slowly over several days to get the level correct and compensated by adding the salt with water changes but not for replacement water due to evaporation. With those water changes I have dosed the tank properly (considering the fact that some is removed with the water changes and compensating for that as well as increasing the overall amount) each time I have changed the water.
I've done everything I can and I feel like I'd be better off just doing nothing. I don't want the tank to swing even one more time!!!!
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I do not want to torture the fish!
Thanks!
My dilemma:
Out of the tap my water has a PH of about 7.2 - 7.4. It is actually fairly hard water and the Ph does not flucuate. Unfortunately, I did not use a crushed coral or lime based substrate to help increase that buffering capacity further. It's not really an option at this point. In some places I have read that the fish can tolerate this lower Ph - but I doubt it makes them "happy".
I purchased some Proper PH 8.2 which I do understand alone will not just "set the Ph to 8.2" like some believe. In order to give the water the buffering capacity to hold that adjustment I bought a nice size bottle of Seachem's "Cichlid Lake Salt" and dose it at 3/4 teaspoon per 10 gallons using the Lake Malawi dose for my tank's inhabitants. Given the added buffering capacity this should provide for me, the "Proper Ph 8.2" should adjust the Ph to roughly the proper level and the water should be able to hold it, right
? Well, the Ph seems to be flucuating rather wildly... which is AWFUL for my fish and probably worse then doing nothing at all....I have added the Seachem salts slowly over several days to get the level correct and compensated by adding the salt with water changes but not for replacement water due to evaporation. With those water changes I have dosed the tank properly (considering the fact that some is removed with the water changes and compensating for that as well as increasing the overall amount) each time I have changed the water.
I've done everything I can and I feel like I'd be better off just doing nothing. I don't want the tank to swing even one more time!!!!
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I do not want to torture the fish!
Thanks!
