New Tank projects.. help! High Ph...

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attackfish21

attackfish21

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 13, 2009
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Seattle, Wa
I am only familiar with normal PH water, but would like to start a high PH tank with Tanganyikan Altolamprologus Calvus. I fell in love with these fish my birthday weekend, and haven't looked back. I really want to learn about starting a high PH tank. I am looking at turning my 60gal into the high ph once I move all my guys to the 120. What forum can I look at for help? I looked around for stickies, but I must have looked over it if there is something there to help me. I want to be sure to do it right!

Any help would be greatly appreciated. THANK YOU!
 
no one? ok.. Well I am off to bed for now, I will check back in the morning, hopefully someone can help cause google is a dead end!!
 
Moved to the African section to help you out.

What is your current PH? I do not do anything to the PH of my water and my Africans thrive in it. It is typically better to leave your PH as-is and just keep it consistent instead of trying to keep it high and it fluctuating.
 
The rule of thumb with pH is that a stable pH is better than a perfect pH. If you do something to get your pH to the "perfect" level for a fish and it is in fluctuation, the fish are going to suffer. However, if your pH is close to the levels of the fish in question and you keep it stable at that point, your fish will be better off.

read this for more understanding of pH and kH: http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-chem.html

You can do things in your tank to buffer the water and keep the pH stable and that is the route you should start with IMO.
 
you can try using your substrate as a buffer.... what is your normal pH? You dont really need to run a high pH tank unless you regular pH out of the tap or w/e you fill you tank with is amazaingly low. At my mom's the pH is 7.9-8.2 out of tap. and where I live now my pH is a little over 7.0 out of tap. I have kept my tang's in both conditions and they have done fine so far.
 
Ok, My tap reads about 7.0 every time I have checked it. is that to low for Tanganyikan fish? Keeping it steady is seemingly easy, unless I try and put drift wood in, then the ph drops to almost 6.0-6.2 every time. Luckily, my normal ph fish have been fine with the sudden change, but since I have stopped using drift wood until I have more knowledge about how to use it properly.

I am just worried about the fish being uncomfortable, especially if the fish are wild caught, and I am unaware.. Usually the fish are marked as wild, but sometimes they are not.

Should I use a specific cichlid substrate? I want something that will be easy to siphon, but something that is beneficial to them as well. I just want the best environment for the fish.
 
well you could put a bag of crushed coral in your media basket or in your hob to help buffer, and you could use either aragonite or Eco-Complete for the substrate if you want to try and raise it a bit.

I went and checked out some profiles on the Calvus and you're right, HIGH pH seems to suit them best. 8.6-9.1pH is what I'm reading. If you're tap is sitting at 7.0, I don't know if there's much you can do to really keep a stable 8.6-9.1 with relative ease. IIRC, the Eco-Complete substrate and aragonite and crushed coral top out at something like 8.1pH.. I would imagine though that if you had a constant 8.1pH in your tank that the fish would be fine.
 
soxfan692;3984971; said:
well you could put a bag of crushed coral in your media basket or in your hob to help buffer, and you could use either aragonite or Eco-Complete for the substrate if you want to try and raise it a bit.

I went and checked out some profiles on the Calvus and you're right, HIGH pH seems to suit them best. 8.6-9.1pH is what I'm reading. If you're tap is sitting at 7.0, I don't know if there's much you can do to really keep a stable 8.6-9.1 with relative ease. IIRC, the Eco-Complete substrate and aragonite and crushed coral top out at something like 8.1pH.. I would imagine though that if you had a constant 8.1pH in your tank that the fish would be fine.
Click to expand...

Ok cool... I will have to look up those substrates. I plan on cycling the tank for a few weeks to be sure I am able to keep a steady 8.0 or higher. I was reading that too about the Calvus, that they like higher ph. I am going to do as much testing and waiting as possible to be sure my tank stays steady. Thanks for the info on substrates and the crushed coral. I will look those up. :)
 
Just a warning about crushed coral.. your fish can cut their mouths on it if you don't get the really fine kind. I think #3 is going to be what you're looking for.
 
I have breed both comps and calvus in just tap water. My city water has a PH around 7-7.2. Clean stable water is your best bet. My comps were even WC and did fine with out the high PH.
I would suggest doing nothing to your water, just perform regular weekly water changes and you will be fine.
Good luck,
 
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