Hello, Anyone have any experience with Caribsea's "African Rift Substrate"? I have an 8 week old 100 gal with mixed Malawi & Tanganyika Cichlids and some multipunctatus cats. I also have wood in the tank, I understand that will drop the ph some.The water comes out of my tap with a ph of 7.8, wich is where the tank started. I made the mistake of putting regular gravel in the tank. Now the ph is running closer to 7.0. I know I need to get the ph up to 8 - 8.2. I don't like the look of white crushed coral and would prefer the look of natural colored substrate. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Caribsea African Rift Substrate
- Thread starter Mike Enyeart
- Start date
can always treat the water when you do water changes with baking soda for the ph and maybe some epsom salt
Why not do what i do? Stuff some crushed coral in a filter bag or 2 and set it in your filter if you have a big enough filter. I have an AC110 so i used two bags. You can also hide them within your decor if you have enough.
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Thanks all.
I have an xp4 and could certainly put some in the filter. Just didn't think it would be enough, hence why I was exploring it as a substrate. The tank is an older glass tank, so unfortunately there is no sump. But if I don't need huge amounts of the stuff, might just try it in the filter before doing a whole overhaul to remove the regular gravel.
Theres been no problem with losses due to ph, but I know in the long run it wont work so well, so low. I've also added aquarium salt (aquarium pharm brand I believe) at the recommend dose on the carton. I wasn't aware that adding salt would affect ph,
I have an xp4 and could certainly put some in the filter. Just didn't think it would be enough, hence why I was exploring it as a substrate. The tank is an older glass tank, so unfortunately there is no sump. But if I don't need huge amounts of the stuff, might just try it in the filter before doing a whole overhaul to remove the regular gravel.
Theres been no problem with losses due to ph, but I know in the long run it wont work so well, so low. I've also added aquarium salt (aquarium pharm brand I believe) at the recommend dose on the carton. I wasn't aware that adding salt would affect ph,
i use the african rift sand and love it. the fish like to dig around in it too. some people think it's harder to maintain because you cant siphon it but i found if you hold the siph and inch above the sand it'll still suck up all the crap and not the sand. then i just run my fingers through it to level it out again. been running for a year and a half now with sand. the only problem is you have a 100 gal tank and that'll take a lot of bags and money. i used 3 bags for my 55 gal