Maintaining proper pH

[LiveCulture]

i have a couple cichlids and to my knowledge the pH should be up around 8. the water in my tap is about 7.4. i would like to know how to keep my water around 8 without using chemicals. thatnks matt

[dr_sudz]

limestone or live rock converted to fresh water will maintain a ph of 8.2ish

[LiveCulture]

could i crush up lime stone and mix it into my gravel ?

[dr_sudz]

you could do that or you could by aragonite and use that as a ground cover or mix with what you have. It will do all the same thing.

[LiveCulture]

how much aragonite or lime would i need to raise per gallon?

[lateraldisposition]

I'm guessing u have gravel?? U could just take it out and use either arginite or gravel and u might not even have to use neutral . It don't have to be right at eight either I go 7.6 to 7.8 for my mbunas I use argonite with neutral and that what mine stays but u don't want chemicals so sand or argonite and ur water I'm pretty sure would be just fine

[LiveCulture]

how about putting some limestone in my filters to disperse evenly

[Lupin]

Other alternatives include crushed corals, crushed oyster shells, marble chips and plaster of Paris blocks.

[LiveCulture]

thanks...sounds good

[devder1]

you can use a buffer too
theres a good mbuna 1 that is like 1 cup aquarium salt, 1 cup baking soda, and 1 cup epsom salt, (find it online dont take it from me and kill ur fish! :nilly:)
that and crushed coral sand always worked well for me ;)

[LiveCulture]

im not sure what u mean by a buffer...is it a sort of homemade combination of things like you listed?

[JoeBel]

+1 on crushed coral, IMO a steady PH is always the best PH. My cichlids do just fine in their 7.6 PH because it's consistently at that level.

[navygirl76]

i use crushed coral in my sump. just put it in some pantyhose and tie a knot and throw it in there..

[Muske]

Or buy fish from local clubs that have raised there fry in your current pH tapwater.

[blkg35]

Crush coral gravel works really well or you can use Caribsea's Eco-complete sand or gravel. I'm currently running Caribsea Eco-complete blk/wht sand on all my tanks. This is what it looks like:
http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/cichlid_eco-complete.html

[LiveCulture]

i just put some larger crushed coral in my filters so ill see how it does

[krichardson]

i just put some larger crushed coral in my filters so ill see how it does
I've almost always used crushed coral as substrate for my Africans and had good results.What do you use as a bottom surface material?