[GSAS-Member] Water buffering

["Holly" <holly@ourglasshouse.com>]

I am pretty clueless about buffering water and I'm hoping you guys can
enlighten me.  I want to get a consistently high pH for my Tanganyikan
shellies.  If I buy play sand from the hardware store it'll probably be
silica.  So if I then add a baggie of crushed coral to my filter box will
that keep the pH up in my entire tank until the next water change a week
later?  
 
Also, I have some rift salt to add to the new water during water changes.
Do I need to let the fresh water sit in buckets with the mix to sufficiently
harden it or can I just add the it to the water being siphoned in?  I'm
really not big on lifting buckets of heavy water so I'd like to keep my
water changes easy by sticking with the Python.  Should I filter the water
through the coral as it enters?  
 
I looked into getting some Aragamax or cichlid sand but the stuff seems to
be ridiculously expensive... Like $40.  So I'm thinking a $5 bag of play
sand and some other material with buffering capability elsewhere in the tank
would be better.  I want a very fine sand since the shellies are small and
move sand around in their mouths a lot.
 
When it comes to Malawi fish, how do I keep the pH a little lower than
Tanganyikan water?  And the same goes for lowering pH...  Will a bit of peat
have the same results when trying to get acidic water? 
 
 
Thanks,
Holly
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