trennamw
Aquarium Advice Addict
The water where I live is so soft that I can't keep rift lake cichlids alive without the use of buffer (I've tried). Even in a tank full of holey rock and aragonite sand, the pH won't go above 7.4, and once I killed an entire tank of Julidochromis filling the tank from the tap like I always do- the new water was just too different from what was in the tank. I was always a staunch proponent of the "fish can adapt, so don't mess with the water chemistry" idea, until I actually experienced living somewhere that it isn't possible. LOL. I still fill from the tap, I just add the buffer while the tank is filling.
Me too. So soft I couldn't even keep bettas because of pH fluctuations.
My favorite fish book noted the only time to add stuff to the water is when it is extremely soft ... And then add buffers. It suggested low doses of products made for cichlids, and I found a sweet spot with cichlid buffer plus seachem equilibrium.
Of course, extremely soft water has an extremely low TDS. So this is consistent with what Dalto is saying. TDS could be too low in ridiculously soft water.
Would anyone keep discus in straight RO water? Or do they supplement it too?
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