Re: Carbonate reduction

[Dave Gomberg <gomberg@wcf.com>]

Bob, it is great to see someone approach water quality carefully.
Ususally folks trundle off to the LFS and stock up on 7 bottles of
chemicals, then make a stew and kill their fish.

If you want to do most SA cichlids, you will be talking about soft acid
water.  Anything from 6.5 for the least acid-loving to maybe  4.5 for the
most (altho I bet they would all do fine at 6.0).  To do this it is nice
(but not essential) to have a digital pH meter.  They only last a year or
two before they need a new probe tho, so it is better to have a couple of
buds to share one.

The next problem is to get rid of stuff from your water.   The most cost
effective solution is RO.  If you use RO water you do not need to add
anything (usually) because you are doing a partial water change to lower
the concentration of stuff in your water.  RO or distilled is just fine for
diluting out the fish pee.  The only problem is that RO water is fairly
unstable as to pH (just a little acid or base will move the pH a lot).  To
combat this, and to produce the lower pH that SA cichlids require, add
peat.   It is best to add the peat in a nylon stocking bag.  That way you
can easily remove it when the desired pH is reached.  I would bet that RO
water and peat are the only "chemicals" you will need, and the RO gear and
the pH meter the only equipment.

Remember, you are shooting for 100ppm TDS, so cleaner (purer) is better.
Good luck, it's easier than you think.   



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Dave Gomberg, San Francisco            mailto:gomberg@wcf.com
FormMaestro                              <http://www.wcf.com>