Question about seachem Malawi/ Victoria buffer

[AmyKieran]

Remember crushed coral and ocean rock aren't freshwater things. Limestone is a freshwater thing.

That’s another piece of advice that my LFS told me, fill it with crushed coral and ocean rock. Ocean rock being almost all calcium base and crushed coral raising kh/ph. But both of these things really haven’t seemed to help anything. Ocean rock looks awesome but yeah doesn’t do the purpose

 

[itiwhetu]

That’s another piece of advice that my LFS told me, fill it with crushed coral and ocean rock. Ocean rock being almost all calcium base and crushed coral raising kh/ph. But both of these things really haven’t seemed to help anything. Ocean rock looks awesome but yeah doesn’t do the purpose

I can only speak from my experience, using something from the ocean in freshwater doesn't make sense to me. I use limestone because these fish come from lakes that have a limestone base and are filled with rainwater.

 

[itiwhetu]

 

[malfunction]

Personally, I would make life easy for myself and just keep using Malawi buffer. It’s the only thing you’ve tried that works and it is consistent. I have low kh water too so pH swings were a concern for me. Seachem Malawi buffer keeps both my ph and kh stable and it’s pretty easy to dose. I add it every time I do a water change (mostly because I do large ones), but you might be able to dose it less frequently as you’re probably doing smaller water changes than me.

I use the lake salts too but that does nothing for my ph or kh (this isn’t surprising as it’s meant to increase GH). I have an aragonite based substrate, which does help, but wouldn’t be sufficient to counteract the change in parameters caused by a water change.

Based on what I’ve seen on the net, lots of other people use seachem’s Malawi buffer successfully to keep their ph and kh stable. I haven’t seen any scientific papers or anecdotal reports saying that it’s been harmful in any fashion, so basically you have product that’s working effectively for you with no discernible side effects. Seems like the obvious option is to keep doing what works for you.

 

[Colin_T]

Post pictures of the ocean rock?

In Australia we use limestone in marine tanks and in Rift Lake cichlid tanks. Limestone is the base rock found in oceans and in the Great Rift Lakes in Africa. Over a period of time, the limestone rock gets covered in coral, coraline algae and shells and it gets sold as live rock for marine tanks.

If you have 25kg of limestone or calcium based rocks in a 200 litre aquarium, the pH should go up to 8.5.

 

[AmyKieran]

Post pictures of the ocean rock?

In Australia we use limestone in marine tanks and in Rift Lake cichlid tanks. Limestone is the base rock found in oceans and in the Great Rift Lakes in Africa. Over a period of time, the limestone rock gets covered in coral, coraline algae and shells and it gets sold as live rock for marine tanks.

If you have 25kg of limestone or calcium based rocks in a 200 litre aquarium, the pH should go up to 8.5.

 

[Colin_T]

The white rock in the tank is limestone and should raise the pH to 8.5

 

[AmyKieran]

The white rock in the tank is limestone and should raise the pH to 8.5

Ocean Rock (Sold per Kg)

Ocean Rock from Complete Aquatics. The one stop shop for all your aquatic and reptile needs with fast next day delivery, Rated 5 Stars on TrustPilot

www.completeaquatics.co.uk

That’s the website I bought it from, it states it should raise hardness and ph and stuff but all my liquid tests are saying otherwise

 

[itiwhetu]

The white rock in the tank is limestone and should raise the pH to 8.5

The rock won't act the same as a substrate made of limestone chip.