# using Malawi Victoria buffer for water changes



## Flatfish (Jul 9, 2015)

I'm helping with a new 30gal cichlid tank in a classroom, which is my first time with cichlids. This is also my first time using RO water for water changes; we are using the Malawi buffer with it and I have several questions for those of you who also use it with RO water changes. 
The sand/gravel (it's kind of like very fine gravel or very coarse sand and is made for cichlid tanks) seems to keep the pH pretty stable at 8.2, dKH stays around 6 and GH is off the conversion chart that comes with the kit, but at least seems pretty stable.

(1) I know stable pH is the most important thing, but I was wondering how much fish are affected by fluctuations in hardness (or nitrifying bacteria for that matter, they're pretty important critters too!)? Is KH or GH more important to keep an eye on?
(2), what is the difference between aquarium salt and cichlid salt? It was recommended to us to use aquarium salt but I'm wondering if cichlid salt is better?

So I'm trying to figure out how much of the buffer to use when doing water changes, since the the instructions on the buffer give you a range. Mixing the buffer and RO in a 5 gallon bucket, I started with the low end of the range, mixed it thoroughly, and tested the pH and hardness. The pH wasn't high enough so I added more of the buffer (putting it up to the high end of the range given in the instructions). This brought my pH up a little more but still not up to 8. At this point I remembered the aquarium salt and added that, then retested the pH; it now tested at about 8-8.1.
(3) Is this normal? That adding aquarium salt affects the pH? Or was this just a time delay in the effect of the buffer?
(4) After adding the buffer and aquarium salt and mixing it well, the hardness of the new water still wasn't very high; does the buffer not affect hardness much? Do I even need to be worrying about that?

Thanks!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

30G is small for cichlids, what species do you keep. KH is most important and with your readings I would not adust the water...assuming you are keep Rift Lake Africans like Tanganyikans.

No need for salt. Read the ingredients, aquarium salt used as a medication is likely NaCl and cichlid salt will have more baking soda and Epsom salts in it.

No need for buffer or RO water unless your water out of the tap is poison. What is the pH and KH out of the tap?


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## Flatfish (Jul 9, 2015)

Species are peacocks, or were supposed to be, though the photos I posted were identified as only one being a peacock. We thought were were getting some of the smaller varieties (they are all juveniles now; possibility of getting a larger tank is in discussion) but not sure that's what we ended up with :-/

I don't remember exactly what the pH out of the tap in the classroom was but it was definitely not in the 8-8.2 range. I don't think I've tested the hardness there.


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## sparky4056 (Sep 1, 2014)

unless your fish are wild caught, your ph and gh don't need to be as high as in the lake Malawi. If your tap is around 7.8 and has a decent enough kh to avoid ph swings you should be fine with just tap water. I have kept tanganyikan cichlids in 7.8 tap water and the lake is around 9. The buffer and ro are just another step that isn't always necessary. If you do go that route the cichlid salt adds to the hardness, don't use aquarium salt. And to get an accurate reading of what the buffer actually brought the water to, you should aerate your water for 24hrs with the buffer in it.

With buffers, if you don't perform regular water changes with addition of buffer, the buffer gets used up through various biological process and you can experience ph swings. That's why I stay away from them, that and the additional hassle. Hope this helps.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Next step is to provide dimensions of the tank (footprint is more important than gallons, you want 48" long ideally) and test the tap water.


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