About to start Malawi tank – question about water additives

[Icemist]

Hi,

I am about to kick off with my first Malawi Cichlid tank (250 liters).

I will be running 2x 2217 Eheim filters, Eheim 200 air pump and 200w Eheim heater, and LED lighting.

I have a mixture of pool sand and crushed coral for the substrate, 2 rock setups, and will be finding cichlid friendly plants to go in.

The question I have is what water additives would you recommend to use in the tank for:

·         getting the tank up and running, and

·         after the tank is up and running, and

·         during water changes.

Also temperatures, PH, etc

Not sure if there is anything that I have missed. If I have please let me know with setting up the tank.

All advice, good or bad is welcome, and happy to learn the ins and outs of a cichlid tank.

Thanks in advance.

 

[mjoconr]

The use of additives really comes does to your water, in my case my water has no KH or GH so I'm adding large amounts of additives just to get a KG and GH of 7. I use TechDen's Start Right African Cichlid Riftlake Salt which then supplement with more carbonate to up the KH using something like Aquasonic Carbonate Hardness Generator.

Cheers

 

[PlecoSam]

I tried startright but it does not dissolve very well, have you tried continuum’s products for rift lakes?

[Ageofaquariums]

The continuum stuff is top shelf awesome. If the tanks heavily stocked/heavily water changed, you may find the aquasonic rift conditioner 10kg or 20kg buckets end up being the most cost efficient way to maintain optimal water chemistry.