Need Help on general hardness

[Gail]

I would like to know what gh level to have for a 4 foot tank of lake malawi cichlids\

At the moment i think it is three as i'm having trouble reading the test kit

Thankyou for anybody that can help

[onlyme]

12~18 gd

But dont get stressed about this because usually near enough is good enough.

Craig.

[r.d.m]

im going through all this Gail & this what ive found out:if you live in sydney your ph is around 7.5 but as the gh is low(soft water) it wont stay there for long when i first tested my gh it was 3 as well & my test kit said african cichlids should have a gh of18-22 the only way ive managed to get this is salt, to be specific aquasonic rift valley conditioner although ive heard rock salt works as well but the aquasonic stuff has got other things in as well and disolves easily , the dose for both is 1 teaspoon per 10lts . my gh now is24 and within 1 week my zebas spawned,i change20% of the water every week so its very easy to add 1tsp per bucket(along with chlorine remover) i hope this is of help to you

[jaz1986]

i believe that hardness is just the amount of Ca and Mg ions in the water... so adding magnesium sulfate (epsom salts) or something of the like should do the trick. Some aquarium shops sell an Aquasonic product called "hardness up"- and there are many alternatives, that are just a salt solution in a bottle... and they work really well... to save messing around... these may be the best way to go

hope this helps...

Jared

[JDHOGG]

For my Frontosa tank I use epsom salts as well as Swimming Pool Hardener.

Its called "Agua Health Hardness Increaser". It cost me about $7.00 for 2kgs from a pool shop and should last a life time as I only put 1 teaspoon per 50 litres.

I got the receipe for home made Lake Tang salts off the internet somewhere but I can't remember where. I have been using it for a few years and the fish have been healthy. One of my Frontosa just has a mouthfull but she is still pretty young and hasn't held them for term yet.

regards, Justin

[anchar]

Hi Gail,

This may help...

Hardness article

merjo

[Chilli Powder]

Hang on a sec.... did you say you keep your tanks at a gh of 18-22? WOW that's hard water!!!

I think this is a long standing debate but I believe we keep our fish in much harder water than in their natural habitat. I distincly remember reading an article and in that the GH of Lake Malawi was somewhere around 8degrees and Lake Tanganyika was around 12deg. In actual fact Lake malawi is Ph is 7.8-8.5 and conductivity 200 and 260 microSiemens.

I know of some people who breed fish and do not add any additives to the water. Only some coral rubble in filters. And they are doing well. I have also seen evidence of diformities in fry where the water was quite hard in GH and KH.

In my opinion, I keep my Malawi's at 8deg GH and about 8deg KH. The Tangs are kept at 13deg GH and about 10deg KH.

See link below

Water chemistry of lakes

[YeW]

Gail -

The is also a recipe for DIY salts and buffers in the ForumFAQ available from the main sydneycichlid.com page or from the Nav Bar to your left.

I keep malawis and tangs (mainly tangs). I use a shell grit base in my tanks and generally (90% of the time) dont add buffers (when I do I use the DIY). I dont have any problems breeding most african cichlids in these conditions.

HTH -