Few questions about your wonderful products.

[ejhart]

First let me say sorry for the winded thread. I have a 75 gallon Malawi tank, and very hard and alkaline water from my tap 7.6 PH or so not sure about GH or KH.

Alright my first question is about the Cichlid Lake Salt. After adding the directed amount of salt to my tank I tested PH GH and KH and found my GH to be through the roof just over 500ppm is this going to be a problem for my fish?

Second question is a 3 parter about the Malawi/Victoria Buffer. Does this product effect GH or KH in any way? If not how can I raise my KH because it's under the recommended 200-400ppm for African cichlids, about 125ppm. Should I even worry about my KH? Also at this point let me say that I've only added one teaspoon instead of the directed 4 teaspoons because I currently have fish in the tank and did not want to shock them with a sudden PH change. My tank PH went from 7.6 to 7.8, and my goal is to slowly get to 8.0 to 8.2.

Alright last but not least a quick 2 part question about Purigen. I plan to use 2 100ml bags of this amazing media in my Rena Filstar XP3 Filter just above the biological media and Bio-Zorb. Will the Purigen have problems with the Bio-Zorb, which is basicly activated carbon with some resins? Also when I go to regenerate the Purigen will I be able to just use the Malawi/Victoria Buffer, or do I have to use the Neutral Regulator?

Thank you for reading my post and all the great products that you make. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

[Tech Support GL]

The GH is a high. The GH should be around 180 ppm or less. If the water coming from your tap is already hard, you may want to cut back on the dosing some. You can lower the GH with a water change.

The buffer will increase hardness (some), pH, and the KH. Dosing Malawi/Victoria Buffer will help to get your pH in the desired range and raise KH.

It is perfectly acceptable to use Purigen with an activated carbon. When you regenerate Purigen you can also use the Malawi/Victoria Buffer to adjust the pH.

P.S. Thank you for the great title.

[ejhart]

Thank you very much for your response. I do however have a couple of follow up questions. First off i just tested the GH of my tap water and it's 275ppm so the 180ppm is not very doable, which is fine because I've read many times from different sources that African Cichlids prefer GH of 200-400. My original question however was will a very high GH or a low KH of 125 harm my Malawi Cichlids? If not should I continue to use the Cichlid lake salts on water changes or do I not even need to do so. I vaguely understand that a high GH in my tap water means that it already contains a high level of minerals, but are these the right minerals and what about the sodium itself? One last thing, in the second response you said that the buffer will increase hardness. So how can I raise my PH and KH without sending my GH even further through the roof (assuming you meant GH by hardness)? Gosh I hope I didn't waste a bunch of money on the lake salts and the buffer for no reason. Darn water company! At any rate thank you for all your support and again for the great products.

[Tech Support GL]

The products you have are fine. You will need the buffer to maintain the pH. It will raise hardness some, but not greatly. Cichlids do like hard water. I can not be sure of what levels of each component contributing to GH your city water has in it, but that is information you can get a hold. GH is a measure of calcium and magnesium. KH is the buffering capacity of your water. The fish will be fine with a lower KH. The fish will also be able to tolerate the extra hardness of the water, but it should be lowered some with a small water change. The minerals do not all stay in the water column permanently. The correct GH range is important for osmotic balance in the fish.