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RE: Tanganyikan salts
>Sodium bisulfate would work well if the pH would needed to be lowered as I
suspect it would.
Every time I have used sodium bisulfate to lower pH in my breeding tanks the
result has been drastically lowered egg production by most of my fish. I no
longer use it. I'm not saying it should not be used or tried by others,
just that after I stopped using it, the egg production went back to it's
previous levels.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-killietalk at AKA_Org [mailto:owner-killietalk at AKA_Org]On
Behalf Of Bill Martin
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2001 10:39 AM
To: KillieTalk at AKA_Org
Subject: RE:Tanganyikan salts
I looked at the table at
http://www.angelfire.com/or2/cichlid102/Tank_chemistry/rift_lake_salt.htm
more carefully last night and converted the values to gram equivalents.
The analysis of the manufactured salt mix has some peculiarities in that
it relies very much on carbonates. If the analysis is correct, there is
not only going to be a high pH problem, but also a problem with the salts
precipitating out quickly in the aquarium. Using this mixture is going to
give much more carbonate than the lakes actually have. The suggestion
concerning using Epsom salt is a good one, however it will result in high
sulfate concentrations. Plaster of Paris is also a good way of adding
calcium to the water, but again it is also adding a lot of sulfate and I
would be careful that it didn't contain any additives. The best way of
coming close to recreating these systems is probably much more complicated
and would involve using the bisulfate, and bicarbonate salts of calcium,
magnesium, potassium and sodium as well as the chloride salts. Try as
hard as we can I don't think we are going to duplicate what God (or if you
prefer Chance) did in those lakes. From the fishes point of view, we don't
have to. If I was keeping these fish or creating a environment similar to
this I would use magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, and calcium
chloride. After adding these to water the pH would have to be adjusted.
Sodium bisulfate would work well if the pH would needed to be lowered as I
suspect it would. Sodium sulfate might be able to raise the pH. These
salts will give you a higher chloride concentration than the lakes, but by
staying away from the carbonates, the magnesium and calcium won't
precipitate out as quickly. You'll probably get all the sodium and
phosphates you need when you adjust the pH. The carbonate is always going
to be there as the result of normal respiration and dissolving of carbon
dioxide.
If you use dolomite or crushed coral or shells the calcium won't get
depleted quickly, but you are always going to have to be adding magnesium,
potassium and adjusting pH. So regular water changes are going to have to
be done to try to maintain a constant environment. Using a calcium based
substrate helps to keep the pH stable, but I learned from keeping a salt
water tank 30 years ago, that the substrate becomes coated with an
impervious layer of slime and bacteria and has to be vacuumed periodically
to remove this and maintain the buffering capacity. The easiest way is too
start out with regular tap water, add the salts, add the substrate, wait
several days then buffer the pH. From then try to maintain the magnesium
and potassium concentrations by doing 10-20% water changes. The potassium
is probably just as important as the magnesium so don't neglect it.
If you are looking to get a particular concentration, let me know what it
is and I'll do the math, but don't ask me what concentrations will work
best for these fish.
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