Buffering water

[Feldar]

Hello all - I am still in the planning stage of changing my tank over (it will happen soon!) and as I will be using the existing Eco-complete subtrate, and the rocks I will be using are bassalt, I was thinking of putting a couple of pieces of limestone, or some coral sand in the sump to help with buffering.

Is there any problems that anyone can see in doing this?

I will be injecting a small amount of CO2 into the tank to help plant growth, so I want to buffer the water without having to continually add buffers etc.

Thanks,

Matt

[jeppry]

hey matt what type of cichlids are you planning on keeping?

your plants might end up getting ripped to peices!

[Feldar]

hey matt what type of cichlids are you planning on keeping?

your plants might end up getting ripped to peices!

I plan on some electric yellows (I know - everyone starts with them ) and some acei's

Plants I plan on putting in the tank are anubias, java fern and crypts - which from what I have read should all be o.k. and are fine in harder water.

[jeppry]

cool sounds good... id probly go for some coral rubble in a stocking or

orange bag for in the sump. well good luck with the plants, i know when

yellows get hungry they will have a nibble on just about anything.

[rosco]

Your crypts may get eaten but the rest will be fine. There is no need to CO2 for pant growth for those plants, the nutrient waste from africans will be enough to sustain the plants once the bio cycle is up and running. I believe that co2 may cause the pH and to drop. You could use limestone or crushed coral in the tanks but people also use crushed oyster shells pieces of dead rock etc. It will be a good idea to use buffers and salts each water change and on setup to establish a baseline.

cheers

rosco

[Feldar]

Thanks for the feedback guys

I brought some limestone 'coral rock' yesterday, which I plan on putting in the sump, as well as some coral sand in a bag.

Rosco - the tank is already hooked up with CO2, but I will be turning it right down - even a small amount will be beneficial to the plants. Thanks for the heads up on the buffers for water changes - I was thinking of adding some bi-carb to the aged water to help a bit.

[Ash]

I'm probably get shot down because everyone here seems to have Seachem shares or something & always without fail recommends buffers & salts.

IMO unless you have some specialist fish that are fussier like tropheus you are making things more complecated than they have to be using salts & buffers, which opens the room for errors (overdosing) to take place. With common basic fish like acei & yellows in tank buffering will probably be enough - you can put some of the coral sand or limestone into your ageing container to pre-buffer it before adding to the tank if you want to, though if you go to that much effort then I guess using the buffers & salts isn't much more work.

It all comes down to how perfect you want to make it - IMO spending more on better filtration is more important than trying to perfectly replecate the lake's perameters - tho if you've got the money to burn why not go nuts?

[Feldar]

Thanks Ash - Money to burn - I don't have - but I do have a wife, two kids, and a mortgage!

I was thinking of putting some limestone into the top up water as you suggest - I like to make my tanks as low maintenance as possible (don't have much time with two young kids!)

Cheers,

Matt

[foai]

I agree with Ash. I spent a lot of time using buffers on my tanganyikan tanks for fish like foai and tricoti. I have a chemistry degree so I was interested in the procedure but ultimately i think the whole transaction was purposeless.

After a while I fell out of the habit and it did not make a jot of difference. The fish were fighting fit and still bred or tried to breed.

I wouldn't bother.

David