Home made water buffer

Doing a bit of research on home made African Cichlid buffer.I know our LFS supply differnt products but there bloody expensive over the coarse of a year.I am not very well versed on this subject but the consensess calls for 3 ingrediants 1 Epsom Salts Baking Soda & Salt. Hehttp://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/buffer_recipe.phpre is a link to this Recepie. Seems like a cheap way to go considering it would cost less than €10 for a years suply.Couple of things,the baking soda is supposed to raise the PH depending on the dosage however ive tried using this as a test 1st and the soda didnt raise the PH.is there a certain amount of time you must leave the water b4 testing?. Anyway looking for any feed back before i go broke.....Its an expensive game this fish keeping business.....lol.... Ps forgive my spelling.

But a pH Buffer is not necessarily supposed to change the pH, it is meant to keep it at a given pH.

It is only fortuitous if the addition of the buffer increases or decreases pH by virtue of the existing buffering capacity of the water.

Epsom salts is not really a pH buffer as it is a salt of a strong acid (sulphuric acid), but it could be a pMg buffer....buffers Magnesium: and the most important bit about that is that it buffers RedOx.

Mainly, though, epsoms salts is best for Magnesium lakes such as Tanganyika as opposed to mildly calcium lakes such as Malawi........but the added buffering to RedOx would also be appreciated by Malawi cichlids.

Mind you, Malawi is a bicarb lake.

To get bicarb of soda to actually buffer the pH correctly, you'd need to calculate how much to add (the amount depends on the pH and the existing buffers in the tank).

The effect on pH is pretty instant....you don't need to wait for long.

If the tank is already being buffered by ammonia or similar stronger base, then bicarb of soda may even lower the pH !!

Even if the bicarb of soda does not increase the pH it will still increase the alkalinity of the water.

But, all in all, stuff you find in the cooking section at tesco is as good as the muck you buy in aquatic shops (and much cheaper).

Bicarb is good for many things, as is epsom salts.

Having said that, though, I tend to recommend people don't mess too much with the water anyway as only a few fish really demand conditions they experience in the wild if kept in good bouyant conditions (good food & good water changes).

ian

Thanks Ian.....Very helpful advice

for a buffer i use limestone chips bought from a builders merchant
think its about £3.00 for 25kg.i have about 70kg in my main filter which holds a very steady 6.9-7.0 with maybe 100lbs or more of fish

6.9 to 7.0 is on the low side for Africans even if it holds steady at those readings.Not sure if thats what fish you keep.Mine is African.....Regards

pH 6.9 to 7.0 is way too high for the African cichlids I keep though. !!


The limestone chips would, however, give a high alkalinity even if the water is slightly acidic.
The temperature would also affect the pH reading.

ian

pH 6.9 to 7.0 is way too high for the African cichlids I keep though. !!


The limestone chips would, however, give a high alkalinity even if the water is slightly acidic.
The temperature would also affect the pH reading.

ian
Hi Ian you explain as above PH is way to high for your cichlids.Just as a curosity what
type of africans are they. Cheers

antoblfc wrote:

pH 6.9 to 7.0 is way too high for the African cichlids I keep though. !!


The limestone chips would, however, give a high alkalinity even if the water is slightly acidic.
The temperature would also affect the pH reading.

ian
Hi Ian you explain as above PH is way to high for your cichlids.Just as a curosity what
type of africans are they. Cheers

Teleogramma, Steatocranus, Nanochromis etc (also I have kribs, but they are the goldfish of the cichlid world).
I no longer keep riverine Lamprologus as they are odd in requiring more alkaline pH.

The species I have tend to require very soft very acidic water (very peaty) that has low conductivity OR those requiring torrents of highly oxygenated water (or both).

Some species from those genera are from high pH waters, but I don't have them.

Some call them the boring african cichlids as their colours are somewhat drab and they can hardly swim, but after 30 years of keeping Malawis and Tanganyikans, I got bored of those lake fish about 10 years ago but still maintained my interest in the cichlids that have limited swim-bladders (and, to be honest, there are still some Tanganyikans that I still find fascinating....Tropheus and the other Goby Cichlids)

Ian