Question about Kh/Gh in african cichlid tank

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LostInFish

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Ok so I have a few tanks setup. My main concern is my african tank. It's 180 gallons and ph 7.6 gh10 Kh7 TDS 350 and the fish seem to be very active and eating well. Should I add some crushed coral to a canister filter? To buffer the water and bring up the Kh? I read that the Gh shouldn't be higher then Kh or your ph can swing. I have had this tank up and running for 8 months and it's fully cycled with almost 0 nitrate. I do weekly water changes with prime of 25% again fish look great. I just don't want to have any die off early do to stress from these parameters. Also I have invested my time an money to this hobby. I also want the best for my fish. But I'm on a budget and can't purchase expensive lake salts and things. 180 Gallon tank with 30 gallon sump! With 45 gallons of water changed weekly the salts add up quick. So what should I do to have a good stable in environment for my fish. And how can I keep it simple and cheap? I have lake Tanganyika, Victoria,and Malawi together. Yes I know that's not right. But it is what it is and a ph of 8.0-8.2 is good for them all. But I don't want to change it if it's going to be expensive or unstable
 
A low KH will cause your pH to fluctuate. It doesn't really matter where it is in comparison to GH. GH and KH are fairly unrelated.

Your water is fairly hard already and your pH is alkaline just not as alkaline as the lakes themselves.

Honestly, I would probably leave it alone. Since you water is already fairly hard a cheap and easy way to raise KH and pH would be to add baking soda. This will raise your pH to a little over 8 and increase your KH.
 
Ok, I have read that baking soda is bad because u need to add a buffer to the water or it will just bounce back to the original ph over time. So I won't be doing that thanks for your input. I'm still learning does and don'ts so far I have just used tap water with prime in every tank I have and it seems to be fine. I just want to give my fish the best chance I can while keeping it cheap as well.
 
Ok, I have read that baking soda is bad because u need to add a buffer to the water or it will just bounce back to the original ph over time.
Anything that alters pH will need to re-dosed over time or with water changes.

You could, of course, add something like holey rock or crushed coral as substrate which would continually dissolve into the water. The disadvantage here is that large water changes that most people do with overstocked African cichlid tanks will also cause the pH to fluctuate somewhat.
 
Right that's what I don't want and I do weekly PWC 20-25%. I also do have a few nice pieces of holy rock in there. Must be I don't see it in ph is because of the water changes or just not enough rock. Of the subject I was just watching my fish and my Congo Black Calvus has Her ****** hanging out. I wonder if it's going to breed?! Huh, anyway I appreciate the advice I have been reading a lot about all this ph, Kh, Gh TDS and all that stuff but it so much info it's hard to understand it all. Thanks for the help in understanding It's a really cool hobby and people with out fish tanks in there home are just missing out on the chance to experience having there own little world they create. I'll post a pic of my calvus if possible but she is being weird/shy ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1415651714.573105.jpghiding in her rock/cave ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1415651777.797462.jpg
 
You have a small piece of holey rock but also a small piece of driftwood which releases acids.

I really think you are fine to leave it the way it is.
 
Alright, I am going to look into the coral for the filter at least.. that can't hurt anything I have an available spot in my canister filter might as well use it
 
Baking soda is a buffer, and in water it tends to raise pH to 8. I've heard and had varying experiences with it not buffering for very long.

I haven't kept cichlids but I've had to supplement water a lot, and it sounds like you might be confused about pH and KH and GH. They are confusing and there's a lot of info out there that's not right (like GH needing to be the same as KH).

This is a very crude summary but so far the more experienced people have t told me I'm wrong so maybe it'll help ...

GH measures overall minerals.

KH measures a subset of minerals that help buffer pH, keeping it stable.

Increasing KH indirectly results in a pH increase, up to a certain point.

Total dissolved solids measures a wider range of stuff in the water than GH. It can indicate whether fish might experience osmotic stress.

It can hurt to add coral or other things to the water if you don't need them, because even though it won't raise pH forever it can make total dissolved solids too high.

There are recipes for DIY cichlid salts on the web. The ingredients are cheap (usually ... Right now there's a national shortage of Epsom salt).

But if Dalto says you don't need anything, I'd leave well enough alone.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.
 
Well I have to do something because my ph right now is 8.4 yesterday it was 7.6 and I haven't done anything to my water at all. It's been 4 days since a water change. Anyways I need to stabilize the ph before it kills my fish from ph swings. I'm totally going out on a limb here but I have 3 psc holy rock and I had drift wood in there I don't remember my substrate but I think it was for Africans anyway I just removed the wood and plan to just watch the tank and do no water changes until nitrates reach 30ppm then before and after water change I will check ph. I think the holy rock and substrate are raising ph and that's fine but why the drop. I'm assuming it's my tap water. I have to test it tomorrow after it sets but I'm pretty sure it's 7.4 if it is 7.4 then should I be doing something to it before adding to the tank? I have 3 other tanks that have gravel and wood And the ph is 7.4-7.6 so the only thing I can think is either having multiple fish in the tank or the substrate and holy rock are the culprit for the hi ph. I think I just need a good buffer to hold it at 8.2 or so
 
If your substrate is for african cichlids it is probably a base of some sort and it may be raising your pH.

I don't think that rock would dissolve fast enough to raise your pH that much in such a short time.
 
So any suggestions on doing my weekly water changes with a ph of 7.6 it's what I have been doing for 8 months I just never thought to check the ph because I wasn't doing anything different with all of my tanks. So I figured it was the same through out but that's not the case. Lol now I just want to keep it where it is on the ph and lock it in. I think I might have to get some baking soda and change my tap water ph to match what's in the tank? Or it will just swing the ph every time if I am figuring this right. Cause my tap water if test right away test 6.0 from all the c02 in the water that's usuAlly when I add my water to the tank maybe that's the problem? If I let it set for a day maybe it will be 7.6 instead of 6. It might help some... I don't know I'm just making this up as I go lmbo sounds logical haha ok well it sounded good at least lolImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1415676437.017600.jpglooks bare with out the wood I think but oh well better safe then sorry
 
People do sometimes let water sit before they add it.

If you do need to buffer it further from there, check into the DIY cichlid salts. If you want to add something, that's most appropriate and least expensive. Epsom salt is about 5 bucks a bag, baking soda about 3 for a huge box, don't know about the ice melt product. But I keep hearing you get a "lifetime supply" of buffer for $15.

I've tried several things and it's just the cichlid mix that I don't have to re-dose between water changes.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.
 
Since your water is already fairly hard and alkaline I would be cautious with dosing cichlid salts. The closer you keep it to your tap water the less likely you are to have swings and other issues. Just don't over do it and you should be ok
 
Since your water is already fairly hard and alkaline I would be cautious with dosing cichlid salts. The closer you keep it to your tap water the less likely you are to have swings and other issues. Just don't over do it and you should be ok


You don't think it will hurt to add tap water with a ph of 7.4 to the tank with a ph 8.4?! Won't I get a quick ph swing and isn't that bad for the fish... Again my fish look great I'm just thinking for there future wellbeing
 
You don't think it will hurt to add tap water with a ph of 7.4 to the tank with a ph 8.4?! Won't I get a quick ph swing and isn't that bad for the fish... Again my fish look great I'm just thinking for there future wellbeing
Two things.

The first thing is that when you talk about DIY cichlid salts there are a lot of different formulas out there and they do different things. My point was, when you formulate yours you should consider the fact that your water is already fairly hard. You may want to add less of certain ingredients based on what is in your water to start with.

The second, probably more important thing, is that you should figure out why your pH went from 7.4 to 8.4 overnight. That isn't really normal. Even if there is something in your substrate or rock it shouldn't rapidly shoot up like that.
 
I think it from doing a water change. I tested tap water and ph 6 lol after it sat in a bucket for 10 min it was 7.6 I read that that can be from co2 in the water but I didn't know it was ph6 so I always just added it to the tank right away so I think that's where that came from
 
I didn't realize there were multiple recipes for DIY ... Just wanted to send the OP in one research direction if she's determined to supplement and in an inexpensive way.

It still sounds like there are a lot of other questions to answer before putting anything in the water.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.
 
I think it from doing a water change. I tested tap water and ph 6 lol after it sat in a bucket for 10 min it was 7.6 I read that that can be from co2 in the water but I didn't know it was ph6 so I always just added it to the tank right away so I think that's where that came from
So you think the tank pH dropped from the water change and then went back to "normal"?

If so, how big was that water change?
 
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