Raising my PH for Chiclids?

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Thanks for the great suggestions. I'm not sure if I will be able to do the conversion to sand/crush coral because I already have the tank setup with the goldfish and the pleco. Unless I can get a small (~10gal) tank and put the pleco in there and get rid of the goldfish I will have to make due with the gravel. But that's good to know for the future. Does anyone know where I can get the re-useable filter bags for my Emperor 280 so that I can put crushed coral in it?
 
PetsMart has them, or I am sure any online dealer (Big Al's, That Fish Place, etc.) would carry them. However, the Emperor line of filters have separate media baskets and you can put the crushed coral directly into them (it is what I do :wink:). In my canister filter I use the mesh baggie.
 
Yeh I just realized that after posting it, duh my bad!! Will it be sufficient to use crushed coral on one fo the media baskets or should I do it in both. If both shouldn't I do some type of mix because I need carbon in there as well?
 
You do not NEED carbon. It helps keep the water very clean and it takes out toxins and meds. I don't currently have carbon in any of my five tanks--I prefer to use more biological filtration.

Although, perhaps a good idea for a new tank.
 
Me neither, I only put in carbon if I need to remove something like meds or want to really polish the water. I use mechanical filtration to remove big crud, and the rest is all bio noodles or whatever ehime calls them :)

On my cichlid tank I have an ehime 2217 canister, an emperor 400 and am planning to add a aquaclear 500 when the spring sales hit the stores.
:) You can never have too much filtration :)
 
The more surface area you have in your filter, the more bacteria that can live there. All the little nooks and crannies in the crushed coral will really help with biological filtration as well as raising the ph.

I only use carbon when I make major changes to my tank. For example, this past weekend I bought an actually stand for my tank (was using gorilla rack). I had to tear down my tank in order to get the tank on the new stand. Crushed coral, even after being rinsed like crazy, will still make the water cloudy when you disturb large quantities of it. When I got everything moved around and put back together I added carbon to my filter to help get the cloud out of the water. It was clear in about 2 hours.

Some people have said that leaving the carbon in after it's ability to adsorb stuff is beneficial because it provides lots of surface area for bacteria. And some people say that it will eventually release everything that it had adsorbed previously. I'm more inclined to believe the first but to each their own...

Personally I'm more inclined to have my tank as maintenance free as possible. Weekly water changes, monthly filter cleanings. Every now and then using an algae scraper to clean the inside glass. Daily feedings. I don't want to have to add ph correctors and change carbon and other things if I can have the tank take care of those things by itself.
 
Interesting I didn't know that thanks. Any suggestions on some crushed coral, or should I just get some CaribSea crushed coral at BigAls? Pretty darn cheap there and it seems like from what people have said you don't have to change it out often.
 
The only crushed coral they had at my local BigAls when I was setting up was the CaribSea stuff. Cost me about 50$cdn. for a 60 pound baggie.

If I remember right, I think they charged me more for the silica sand, something like 24$cdn for a 20 pound bag. Wish I had known back then that you can sometimes find silica sand at Home Depot for like 5$ a 60 pound bag. :) Just a bit more work washing it. :?
 
Well I just got in my test kit but it only contains a gH tester not a kH so it looks like I will have to order another one. My gH was right about 5.0 , slightly less.
 
Yeh I am just putting in another order to BigAl's of:

Rena 300 Air Pump
kH test kit
CaribSea Crushed Coral 40lb bag
 
One more question for now...I can't promise forever because I'm sure I will ask several thousand more hah. By the way thanks for all the help people, I do a lot of research on google but there are a lot of things that I just need to talk to an actual person about.

Now the question. I really like the look of the driftwood, my brother has a lot of really nice Swahala Wood in his 265g and 150g. Will this wood lower my pH much if I properly buffer the water?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produ...10686&R=18253&N=2004+113145+113565&in_merch=1
 
I can't comment on that particular wood, but I did have driftwood in with my Mbuna and it lowered the pH. Plus it took up valuable lace rock space.
 
IS that lace rock that I see in a lot of Cichlid tanks?? Like when they line the back of the tank with it? I thought that was for marine setups mostly but I could be wrong.
 
Swahala wood is one of my favorites for my soft, acidic planted tank, but I would not use it in a tank where you are trying to keep the water hard and alkaline. A buffering rock is a handy way to keep the water on the hard side, and that is also a plus in marine setups. I have petrified coral rock (base rock for SW setups) in my Lake Tan tank.
 
Anyone know of a good place online to buy some lace rock or something that would be common in the lakes of Africa? My LFS stocks some lace rock but they aren't very nice piece and are rather expensive.
 
Honestly, lace rock is pricey. You will loose out on the shipping. One place to try is eBay--before I found lace rock, I was purchasing Texas Holey Rock. Pricey, but worth it. I also liked the people I was dealing with--they packaged that rock like it was glass!!
 
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