Cichilds water question

[jlariviere]

Hi,

I bought 4 rusty cichilds. And I know I need to change the water chemistry for them. No worry, they are not with me they are in good hand until I get set up here !  

I was wondering what is the advantage to use crushed coral vs store's chemical . Can I use only crushed coral ? Is it better to use that ? How can I use that ? Do mix of both better or only one of them ?

I'm not new the fish care...only to cichilds. Any recomadation about how to stabilize my water chemistry ? The water chemistry is the only thing that really make me worry about...having cichilds

Thx for your help

Julie

[vpilieci]

When I started I was really worried about hardness and additives, etc. however I quickly found that my Cichlids (all africans) thrived in plain ol Barrhaven tapwater, treated for chlorine of course. To add a little harness I have a baggy of crushed coral in one of my filters and I add trace elements to the water from time to time. I have had my African tank for three years now. No sickness, death, or otherwise malaise. I would put more onus on water quality then I would on the hardness issue. I have also been speaking to a number of pet stores who are using plain tap water (treated for chlorine) in their tanks. Our tap water is around 7.4 PH anyways (at least mine is) which is just fine for my fish. The only way you may consider raising the harness is if you want your fish to breed, then PH, trace elements and all the other stuff comes into play. It doesn't sound like you are into that stage yet. I would suggest putting some crushed coral into one of your filters holding baskets and then filling the rest with whatever (I use ammocarb and bioballs... hey it works for me) cycle the tank for a few days and check your ammonia, nitrate/nitrite levels if they are all copasetic then add you rustys...

enjoy.. hope this helps
VP

[ambushman2j]

personally I have fine crushed coral in all my african tanks, it keeps the pH high, I never add anything other then baking soda and aquarium salt to raise pH or hardness, those 2 are fine on their own