Hi All,

What does everyone use for raising their PH and KH??? Can you use ay type of PH buffer?

What are you using as your tank's substrate?

Crushed coral, aragonite, or maybe some limestone
or texas holey rock will help keep up the ph.

I know many people who use sand as their substrate and
they just put crushed coral in a filter bag and place it in their
canister filters or even HOB.

I don't like to mess with adding chemicals unless you have a
recipe that you've worked out that will match the water parameters
that you are looking for.

I just don't think messing with the ph is all that critical. Most fish just
simply prefer consistency in their habitat, not a lot of constant fluctuation.

HTH, but if it doesn't, I'm sure somebody will come along shortly and
straighten us out soon!

Hello preacherboy,

I'm using crushed coral & sand mixed. I was just wondering how people raised it if they did. My KH is on 9 at the moment & i wanted to raise it to 12...what do you think about it?

I think 9 is just fine! That is considered as hard water which
is what most african cichlids prefer.

The crushed coral and sand should buffer your water pretty
well and with regular water changes, your water should be fine!

I use baking soda, epson salts and sometimes aquarium salt.
I usally add 1 tsp of each / 5 gallon pail of replacement water.
This gives me a PH of 8.0 and kh in the range of 14. GH will also rise.
Initially I had to experiment with different amounts of these powders until I got the PH where I wanted it.
Although many people I have talked to do not use anything other then water conditioner.
Some others also use that African Salt mix from the stores but it is pretty expensive compared to the buffer recipe I use.
There is also some stuff which I believe is called PH8.0. This is expensive too.
As you may know the crushed coral or limestone rocks will take a long time to increase the PH if at all.They should just keep it stable.
Chemistry is such fun!
Hope that helps.

Yep Cheers!!!

Baking soda will raise your KH and give you a ph of about 8.4 max. Epsom salts will raise your GH while having no effect whatsoever on your ph. Hope that is as clear as mud.

Here is a link containing an index of my favorite on African cichlid water chemistry. Not all of us live where the water is liquid concrete.
MalawiCichlid Homepage

Good Luck Cheers!!!