Local water question

[Chris Spierings]

I'm about to undertake a new set up. Its been a lot of years since I
set up a new aquarium. I'm going to go with a 75 or 90. At this point
I'm leaning toward African cichlids because of the color.

Our local water is hard the water utility tells me its 17.5 or 310mg/l

The PH is over 7.6.

How are Africans going to fare in that sort of water?

On the other end my wife would like to see the tank be an Angel tank.
Plants, Angels, Tetras some corys and plecos. I'm not sure what I could
do to bring the PH in line, probably peat in the filters. Is the
hardness going to be an issue?

Thanks

Chris

[Rita]

There is an additive called Proper PH 7.0 which I used in my tank. My tap
water is about 7.8 and this worked just fine.

Rita

"Chris Spierings" <spie...@mailbag.com> wrote in message
news:3C9A5A94...@mailbag.com...

[Dat Bui]

i don't see what's wrong with keeping them in that pH range.
My tap water is hard but the pH is only about 7.2. I use some lake salt (the
one that mimicks rift lake conditions) to bring the pH up to 8.0. My tank
water usually sits around this pH. If you're thinking of keeping Tanganyika
Cichlids then the pH could go even higher because their natural
environment's pH is above the 9 somewhere (easily researchable on the net).
If you have a source of (not too polluted) rain water, I think that would be
even better. But rain water is soft so you'll have to bring up the General
Hardness. I think the main thing is that the conditions of the tank should
be keep as constant as possible. The change shouldn't be too rapid as this
will increase stress which will in turn causes disease.

Cheers,
Dat

"Chris Spierings" <spie...@mailbag.com> wrote in message
news:3C9A5A94...@mailbag.com...

[Ross Clement]

Chris Spierings (spie...@mailbag.com) wrote:
: I'm about to undertake a new set up. Its been a lot of years since I

: set up a new aquarium. I'm going to go with a 75 or 90. At this point
: I'm leaning toward African cichlids because of the color.
:
: Our local water is hard the water utility tells me its 17.5 or 310mg/l
:
: The PH is over 7.6.
:
: How are Africans going to fare in that sort of water?

Erm, assuming that you mean rift lake cichlids by "African Cichlids", then
that PH is probably the minimum you need. Victorians match about that,
Malawis a bit higher, and Tanganyikans would be better off if you boosted
the PH to the high 8s.

However, some african river cichlids live in soft, acid, water.

Cheers,

Ross-c

[st...@tropheus.demon.co.uk]

On Thu, 21 Mar 2002 16:11:32 -0600, Chris Spierings
<spie...@mailbag.com> wrote:

>I'm about to undertake a new set up. Its been a lot of years since I
>set up a new aquarium. I'm going to go with a 75 or 90. At this point
>I'm leaning toward African cichlids because of the color.
>
>Our local water is hard the water utility tells me its 17.5 or 310mg/l
>
>The PH is over 7.6.
>
>How are Africans going to fare in that sort of water?
>

Cichlids from Malawi and Victoria will like it, Tanganika will find
the pH a bit low. In general West Africans won't like it.

>On the other end my wife would like to see the tank be an Angel tank.
>Plants, Angels, Tetras some corys and plecos. I'm not sure what I could
>do to bring the PH in line, probably peat in the filters. Is the
>hardness going to be an issue?
>

They won't like the pH. You could bring it down but it's much easier
to keep the fish that like your water without adding a load of extra
chemicals.

You can't have it all ways. In such a wide mix some fish won't like
your water. They may live but won't be smile much :)

Steve

--
Steve Wolstenholme
EasyNN. The easy way to build neural networks.
http://www.easynn.com

[Chris' News]

Thanks for all the input. I am thinking Lake Malawi cichlids in terms of
the Africans.

On the Angel side of the equation I was thinking about filtering the water
through peat.

Thanks

Chris

"Chris Spierings" <spie...@mailbag.com> wrote in message
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