PH needs to be that specific?

[mcsully]

Couple of questions for the experienced Cichlid lover..

My 55 gallon tank cycled (actually brought the water from NJ ) and decided to make it a Cichlid tank.
My first two were a Kenyii and Maingano. I love the colors and they seem to have a great spirit!
Question I have is the LFS tried to push me to buy 55 pounds of crushed coral for like 60 dollars. The reasoning was to get my PH to 8 for the fish. Right now its 7.4. I was getting the feeling he was trying to make a sale..

I bought the two fish, bought a dead coral rock and added a half teaspoon of baking soda.. Am I okay? Every where I read here PH really isn't stressed to maintaine because its like humidity to a human. But then again I figure I ask..

 

[TLM4x4]

A good buffer is:
1TB. epsom salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp marine salt
per 5 gal. of water

 

[wayne]

For some fish pH really is that important. I think baking powder is a more effective alkalinity buffer than crush coral tho'.

 

[Orion]

TLM has a good start to a buffer, but that isn't going to be correct for everyones water. How much of each is going to depend on where the tap water is to begin with. If it's really soft, then your going to have to add more epsom salt than if it were medium/hard.

I've been using baking soda, epsom salt, and kent cichlid trace ( I think it's cichlid trace) for quite a while now to buffer my water and it's done an excellent job. All you need to do is be consistant with the water changes and the amount of buffer added and you won't have any problems.

 

[mcsully]

Guys thanks for the advise.. When adding in 1TB. epsom salt
1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp marine salt.. Do I have to do it in that order or can I put like 5 tsp of epsom salt, 5 tsp of marine salt and then 5 tsp of baking soda?

Thanks again!!

 

[Orion]

The hardness of the water is going to determine just how much of the buffer you are going to need.

Go slow with this. You don't want to shock the fish. Add a little bit each day and take readings. Keep adding it untill you've reached the numbers you want. Keep track of how many teaspoons you've added so that you can know how much to add when it comes time for a water change.

 

[mcsully]

Cool thanks!

 

[mcsully]

I used your advise and started slow, just using the theory of adding 1 tsp of baking soda, epsom salt and marine salt per gallon. I did this 4 times and stopped and checked me level. Everything looks great at a 8.0.

Thanks again for the help! Instead of paying 60 bucks, I paid 3 dollars

 

[Orion]

lol, well I ment start with a single tsp of each per day, but this will work too. The ph wasn't that much of a rise, and your fish are hardy so I'd say you'll be fine.

Ok, so you have a 55 gallon tank and you added 4 tsp's to reach the level that you want. So if you do a 25% water change, then you'll only need to add 1 tsp of each to maintain the buffer level.

Remember that salts do not evaporate out of water, so if you only top of the tank without removing any water then you don't need to add anymore. Only add when you preform a water change.

 

[straitjacket]

What would the marine salt be good for? I assume baking soda would suffice. For a second, forget your pH. What's your hardness (gH, kH)?

 

[Orion]

I have heard of some people who like to use marine salt in cichlid tanks because it does have some minerals that are only found in sea salt. Of course you can also get some rift lake trace elements and to my understanding has some of the same or similar minerals. I use Kent's liquid trace for rift lakes and I don't know that it actualy helps anything, but it can't hurt.