Shell Dwellers and Cichlid Salts?

[Taregreen]

Hello all,

I'm in the process of setting up a 20 gallon tank for shell dwellers (multis) and saw two products at my LFS; Cichlid Lake Salt and Tanganyika Buffer. I recently read the the Co-op's article on shell dwellers and it mentions using Wonder shells or Equilibrium to raise GH, but doesn't mention these two products. I'm also using CaribSea's African Cichlid Mix as a substrate. My questions for those of you who care for African Cichlids are: do you use these two products? Any reviews? Are they really necessary? 

Thanks,

[anitstuk]

I believe Girl Talks Fish/Irene has a video on her channel all about Shell Dwellers in a 20 gallon. I'll try find a link later for you. 

@Zenzo

 

[Zenzo]

On 8/1/2022 at 4:14 PM, Taregreen said:

Hello all,

I'm in the process of setting up a 20 gallon tank for shell dwellers (multis) and saw two products at my LFS; Cichlid Lake Salt and Tanganyika Buffer. I recently read the the Co-op's article on shell dwellers and it mentions using Wonder shells or Equilibrium to raise GH, but doesn't mention these two products. I'm also using CaribSea's African Cichlid Mix as a substrate. My questions for those of you who care for African Cichlids are: do you use these two products? Any reviews? Are they really necessary? 

Thanks,

It depends on what type of water you have. If you have hard water at a high pH, you are probably okay with just using the water that you have. If you have neutral, acidic, or soft water, you will want to use these to help raise the hardness, pH, and add necessary minerals that helps these fish thrive. 

[Taregreen]

Got it, thanks!

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

When you know your water out the tap let us know and we can help. African cichlid substrate buffers to a pH close to 8 from what I remember. Don’t think I was testing gH and kH back then. 

[Zenzo]

@Taregreen I should also add that if you use a substrate that has buffering qualities (like aragonite, aragonite sand, crushed coral, or a cichlid substrate designed for Malawi or Tanganyikan fish), this will help quite a bit. You may not even have to use buffers or salts if your tap water is close, and you use those substrates. 

[tolstoy21]

I have super soft acidic water and used Seachem's Lake Cichlid Salt and Malawi Lake Victoria Buffer. I know multis are from Lake Tanganiyka , but mine did well and spawned a lot in a Ph at the low 8's. Either of those two (Malawi or Tanganika buffer) will work to set the Ph/Kh at an optimal level. The Salt is for boosting the Gh.

As others have mentioned, it's good to know what your water parameters are first so you know how much adjustment it needs. Test your GH and KH.

If you only need minor buffering, then an aragonite sand and some crushed coral substrate could be all you need.

Edited August 4, 2022 by tolstoy21