What Is The Correct Gh & Kh?

[cocopopz]

What is the correct GH & KH for african cichlids and how can I alter these up or down?

 

[noxious_nasties]

About 12 for Kh and I've kept/bred africans with a Gh between 20-30 (which is quite high, but it worked so I have no need to change it)

It is much easier to raise these levels than it is to lower. This can be done with various "buffers" one for Kh and another for Gh

 

[reignofcheese]

Malawi water is actually not that hard and the GH is fine 5 or above. For tanganyikan species you would want it up at 10 or more ideally and you don't need to worry about too high, for the most part. Anything above 10 is good for the KH.

To help buffer the water I've used crushed coral in my canister filter before which worked ok, and decorated with lots of limestone, which worked great. There are products you can buy that will get your water up, but there is a cheap and reliable alternative I used for years: http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/buffer_recipe.php. It's good to experiment with this in water without fish, and the lower your parameters are in the first place, the lower end of the ideal range you should aim for.

Lowering parameters is much more difficult to do by just using additives, and it would be better to start with distilled or R/O water and increase them.