Re: [GSAS-Member] Water buffering

[Trish <snips36@yahoo.com>]

Holly-

I have mostly africans in my tanks, so having a higher
ph is important. Out of the tap here in Enumclaw it is
a ph of 8, so I am lucky this way. For sand I have
used play sand in the past, and you need to rinse and
rinse and rinse, and even then it wasn't clean. So
since then I use just silica sand. Got it at a lumber
supply place near here, for about $10.00 for 100
pounds. Great price.

As to the salt. I jsut add the salt when I am adding
water to the tanks, no need to to let it sit and
disolve first. I never have.

Their is a great fish web site with all your answers,
and then some to your questions. it is
www.malawicihlidhomepage.com   it is mostly an african
fish web site but has other information as well. 

Hope this helps some,

Trish

--- Holly <holly@ourglasshouse.com> wrote:

> 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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