# Seachem Cichlid salt and lake buffer



## borohands8593 (Apr 15, 2009)

So with keeping Tangs and attempted to make the water as perfect as possible( the good ol' to buffer or not to buffer topic can be debated but for my sake lets just say buffer), and breed Tangs I have resorted to chemicals the past few months. My water from the tap is decent at around a 7.5 and hard enough to hold that for a couple weeks without any buffers. However, with the seachem lake malawi/ victoria buffer just a small amount increase my pH to a steady 8.2-8.4 and an extremely high kH where the pH just doesnt budge even after weeks without any water changes or chemical additions.

Question is is two fold. One, can water ever be too hard for Tangs?? I know pH could be too high but at a constant 8.2-8.4 I feel safe.

Also, does the addition of cichlid lake salt from seachem make any difference? I know it contains iodide which will help prevent goitor and other issues but is that plus the other ingredients important enough to make the fish healtheir, live longer, breed easier, etc? They also make the trace elements which I really question its place if the hobby and if it is needed.

Any of your guys experiences with thier products please share!


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

Depends on the Tangs. Tangs that live in the surf zone live in a pH over 9. Most Tangs are happy around a pH of 8.6.


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## aquariam (Feb 11, 2010)

I use the trace. Makes a massive difference. I also use the malawi victoria buffer to put my pH around 8.0

I've used the cichlid trace, freshwater trace and discus trace. They all seem to have the same ingredients. My theory is they are different concentrations. I use the KENT product however not the seachem product.

The Seachem tang buffer gives me about 9.5 with my tap water so in the interest of being able to get tangs from most people around here who keep them in straight tap, without dripping the bag for 5 hours to go up over a point, I use the malawi buffer.

to 5 gal of tap water I add .15mL of seachem prime, 2.5cc of malawi buffer, and I forget the exact dose of the trace atm..


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## borohands8593 (Apr 15, 2009)

By the way my kH is around a 358ppm, not sure on the gH dont have a testkit. Is 358ppm to high for cichlids or is it right where I need to be?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

aquariam, can you explain what are the huge benefits? I've heard people say they use it because they feel like they are doing the best for their fish, but I've never heard anyone say I've tried with and without and the tanks with are better because....fill in the blanks.

Thanks!


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## aquariam (Feb 11, 2010)

DJRansome said:


> aquariam, can you explain what are the huge benefits? I've heard people say they use it because they feel like they are doing the best for their fish, but I've never heard anyone say I've tried with and without and the tanks with are better because....fill in the blanks.
> 
> Thanks!


Better color and more active fish is what I see without vs with seachem malawi buffer and Kent cichlid/freshwater trace.


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Baking soda in a fancy bottle.
Snake oil.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Well I think the trace elements are things other than sodium carbonate. But I'm always curious how you know your water doesn't already have some or too much of these trace elements. Maybe the huge improvement for aquariam was because his water is severely lacking but it might do nothing for my water because I already have the good stuff.

It's interesting.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

I have active, colorful fish without ever using Seachem products. Water changes have the biggest positive effect and impact on my fish. Maybe some have poor source water and can see a difference with these additives, but I'd suggest going without these additves first. Tangs don't need the perfect water parameters that I hear so much about, at least not IME. pH 7.8 - 8.0, KH around 5, and GH around 9 works for me just as well as when I first began with tangs and thought I had to strive for the often published 'ideals' or they wouldn't do well. Now I just change the water, clean the filters, provide good circulation, good nutrition, and compatible tankmates.


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## bassounds (Jan 27, 2003)

I've had good luck with the Seachem salt and buffer preps. The "lake salt" tends to work more on GH than KH, while the buffer contains primarly carbonate salts. The chemical composition is on the bottle so it's just chemistry to adjust hardness and alkalinity.

I have no interest in SeaChem, ad I'm sure a number of companies have similar preps.


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