New tank

[Louise Tremblay]

Hi all;
I'm thinking of starting another cichlid tank and don't want to use
crushed corals as substrate. Any suggestions on how to keep the PH up? I
also want to use real driftwood. Thanks in advance.

Louise

[The Madd Hatter]

put the crushed coral in the filter. probably work better then using it as a
substrate anyway. The driftwood is going to counteract it though.

Maybe you can soak the driftwood in a solution of water, epsom salts and
salt for a few weeks first. Never tried that but it might work.

"Louise Tremblay" > wrote in message
...
> Hi all;
> I'm thinking of starting another cichlid tank and don't want to use
> crushed corals as substrate. Any suggestions on how to keep the PH up? I
> also want to use real driftwood. Thanks in advance.
>
> Louise
>
>

[Mephistopheles]

"The Madd Hatter" > wrote in
ble.rogers.com:

> put the crushed coral in the filter. probably work better then
> using it as a substrate anyway. The driftwood is going to
> counteract it though.

If you get well-bleached light-colored driftwood (called
"california" driftwood in the U.S.), there should be little in the
way of tannins left to lower the pH.

Meph

>
> Maybe you can soak the driftwood in a solution of water, epsom
> salts and salt for a few weeks first. Never tried that but it
> might work.
>
> "Louise Tremblay" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Hi all;
>> I'm thinking of starting another cichlid tank and don't
>> want to use
>> crushed corals as substrate. Any suggestions on how to keep
>> the PH up? I also want to use real driftwood. Thanks in
>> advance.
>>
>> Louise
>>
>>
>
>
>

[T]

I have a tendency to stay away from drift wood in my African Cic tanks.. I
would almost bet your tap water is already fairly hard, mine is right around
a constant 7.6 and my Cic's do quite fine..

Tim..


"Mephistopheles" > wrote in
message link.net...
> "The Madd Hatter" > wrote in
> ble.rogers.com:
>
> > put the crushed coral in the filter. probably work better then
> > using it as a substrate anyway. The driftwood is going to
> > counteract it though.
>
> If you get well-bleached light-colored driftwood (called
> "california" driftwood in the U.S.), there should be little in the
> way of tannins left to lower the pH.
>
> Meph
>
> >
> > Maybe you can soak the driftwood in a solution of water, epsom
> > salts and salt for a few weeks first. Never tried that but it
> > might work.
> >
> > "Louise Tremblay" > wrote in message
> > ...
> >> Hi all;
> >> I'm thinking of starting another cichlid tank and don't
> >> want to use
> >> crushed corals as substrate. Any suggestions on how to keep
> >> the PH up? I also want to use real driftwood. Thanks in
> >> advance.
> >>
> >> Louise
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
>

[Phil & Edwina]

I have calcium carbonate mixed with the substrate
it comes crushed fine as sand, or various gravel grades
I also have bogwood in the tank but the ph and hardness is always high
because of the calcium carb, despite the soft tap water we have here
you could also get rocks known to raise PH as well

[Mephistopheles]

The pH of my tap water is around 8.0. Hardness is average (forget
the exact figure). I have driftwood in all three of my tanks. Two
of these tanks are rift lake cichlid tanks. Since I do not want to
reduce the pH of these tanks, I only put in well-bleached
driftwood. The pH of the water in these tanks is identical to the
pH of my tap water. I also have a 165 gallon South American
cichlid tank. In this tank I have dark-colored driftwood, rich in
tannins. The pH in this tank fluctuates around 7.5. All the fish
are breeding and doing great.

Meph

"T" > wrote in
ink.net:

> I have a tendency to stay away from drift wood in my African
> Cic tanks.. I
> would almost bet your tap water is already fairly hard, mine is
> right around a constant 7.6 and my Cic's do quite fine..
>
> Tim..
>
>
> "Mephistopheles" >
> wrote in message
> link.net...
>> "The Madd Hatter" > wrote in
>> ble.rogers.com
>> :
>>
>> > put the crushed coral in the filter. probably work better
>> > then using it as a substrate anyway. The driftwood is going
>> > to counteract it though.
>>
>> If you get well-bleached light-colored driftwood (called
>> "california" driftwood in the U.S.), there should be little in
>> the way of tannins left to lower the pH.
>>
>> Meph
>>
>> >
>> > Maybe you can soak the driftwood in a solution of water,
>> > epsom salts and salt for a few weeks first. Never tried that
>> > but it might work.
>> >
>> > "Louise Tremblay" > wrote in message
>> > ...
>> >> Hi all;
>> >> I'm thinking of starting another cichlid tank and don't
>> >> want to use
>> >> crushed corals as substrate. Any suggestions on how to keep
>> >> the PH up? I also want to use real driftwood. Thanks in
>> >> advance.
>> >>
>> >> Louise
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>
>