raising ph

ErnieG

ErnieG

Members
I have 2 20gallon african cichlid tanks, and I didn't use the african cichlid sand or any texas holey rock. Can I bag some crushed coral and raise my ph? And how much should I use? My tap water is 7.5 and I want to get my aquarium ph to 8.0 and suggestions?
 
cichlidaddicted

cichlidaddicted

Members
Yes you can bag it amd toss it in a filter. In terms of amount I would say you can't really over do it, start with an amount that fits the space it needs to go in, wait a day test and go from there. I would think 2-3 lbs for a 20g should be plenty but it may take a few days depending on a few other things.

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npbarca

npbarca

Members
If that doesn't raise it all the way, you can get a bottle of the lake Malawi buffer, 1-2 teaspoons should raise it to 8-8.2
 
cichlidaddicted

cichlidaddicted

Members
You can add a tbls of baking soda and a tbls of epsom salt once you put the cc in. This will increase kh and gh in turn your ph will settle to right above 8 and nothing will ever change it. Africans like very hard water and almost all buffers contain at least the baking soda.

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O

olzkool

Members
Ill second the rift mix. Substrate and coral bags only seem to maintain ph, not raise it. At least not by much in my experience. I throw a bag in all of my hobs, but I honestly don't think it does much other than act as another mechanical filter. Don't buy the pet store mix as you can make it for next to nothing by going to your grocery store and getting a few things. I use a tsp of baking soda, a tsp of sea salt, and a tbl spoon of Epsom salt per 5 gal. You will have to experiment with the amount and verify by testing as everyone's tap water is different. Once you get it right you will never have to adjust it again, just add the same amount to your water every water change.
 
rsretep

rsretep

Members
Just curious....is it possible to increase pH to quickly and does the rapid increase stress the fish?
 
O

olzkool

Members
Yes. Go slow. Raise it gradually. Let the fish acclimate to the change. A quick change in any water parameter can stress the fish.
 
cichlidaddicted

cichlidaddicted

Members
I never use cc I use aragonite and I've never seen a case where it didn't buffer the water to about 8. After all this is the stuff that buffers natural bodies of water like say the oceans. Its a fail safe way to naturally and definatly change your ph. Once you add it there is no avoiding it your water will change. My rift buffer is not fail safe if you add to much you will overshoot your goal and to much is only determined by what your water starts at. You can make a five gallon bucket of the stuff for less money than the smallest amout of name brand stuff.

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ErnieG

ErnieG

Members
My last african cichlid tank I used cichlid sand and I had 2 small pieces of holey rock, this kept my ph at 8.1 even when I did water changes. This time I decided to go with pool sand as a substrate and I found these black rocks that look really nice. So I need a solution that bring my ph up and keep it there.
 
daninmd

daninmd

Members
ErnieG said:
I have 2 20gallon african cichlid tanks, and I didn't use the african cichlid sand or any texas holey rock. Can I bag some crushed coral and raise my ph? And how much should I use? My tap water is 7.5 and I want to get my aquarium ph to 8.0 and suggestions?
Click to expand...

I feel like I am becoming the pH police here :)
why do you feel you need to increase the pH?? unless you have wild caught fish that have always been in high pH water, your fish are going to be more than happy in 7.5 water. they will be healthy and breed. unless there is a specific reason why the pH must be higher, I would recommend to just keep it as is. it will be a lot less work and one less thing to worry/think about.

the fish don't know how to read the pH tests, so don't worry about it:) especially for Africans. I have kept them in water from pH of around 6.8 to 8.3 and have never noticed any differences in their appetite, breeding, etc.
 
cichlidaddicted

cichlidaddicted

Members
daninmd said:
I feel like I am becoming the pH police here :)
why do you feel you need to increase the pH?? unless you have wild caught fish that have always been in high pH water, your fish are going to be more than happy in 7.5 water. they will be healthy and breed. unless there is a specific reason why the pH must be higher, I would recommend to just keep it as is. it will be a lot less work and one less thing to worry/think about.

the fish don't know how to read the pH tests, so don't worry about it:) especially for Africans. I have kept them in water from pH of around 6.8 to 8.3 and have never noticed any differences in their appetite, breeding, etc.
Click to expand...

I would be willing to bet no fish has ever answered when asked how he liked his water quality. If you would like to base your your conditions on a long list of assumptions then go ahead and toss the test kit. I however will never accept the possibility that my fish is so far removed from the wild that his natural conditions are not only prefered but no longer matter at all. I will also not accept that every hobbyist that ever kept the ancestors of my fish also did not care about water condition and made no attempt to recreate the conditions that these fish evolved to live under. I try to come up with comparisons, since air does not have such a parameter lets take any other parameter it does and substitute it. Can I survive the awful disgusting smog of new york city? Yes I can, and if a higher intelligence were looking on but, had no way of communicating with me had to guess he would say "yes he's happy he eats and breeds so he must be happy" well yes I do that stuff but place me somewhere with nice clean air and I will surely know the difference. Again the onlooker would have no idea. He also wouldn't realize I would have much less risk of certain illnesses and probably even live longer, needless to say I would prefer this.
So, is .6-.8ph difference a big deal? No not a huge deal but that doesn't mean webshouldnt

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cichlidaddicted

cichlidaddicted

Members
Attempt to create a more natural condition. Isnt that one of the main goals in this hobby? Creating a natural healthy enviornment for our fish to live as long and disease free as possible? After all is going to the store and spending five bucks that much more work? I have no problem justifying the hour its takes to do so. Until the fish is able to say "hey don't worry about it I'm happy" I cannot justify being ignorant of the test kit just because the fish can't read it.

Sorry I accidentally hit submit when I meant to backspace breaking this response into two posts.

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