Added 40Kg Of Limestone....

[MikeO]

Rather pleased with my work last night having added 40kg of limestone to the tank and make a nice rockscape with some caves etc, ready for when the milawi go in. Hoping this will raise the pH and hardness up a bit.

Looking forward to sharing photos, but I am waiting on my eco-complete cichlid live sand which isnt coming until next week now, so for the moment I am keeping the camera in its case!

Even though I have put in 40kg, it doesnt actually look that much now that it is all in (260l tank) but I am reluctant to add any more - Would it be a bit overkill to increase the amount in there?

 

[OldMan47]

It will definitely raise the pH and hardness of your water. I would suggest that you let the water in your tank circulate for a couple of days and measure the hardness and pH again. I suspect that you will be surprised by how much you have already done to drive both hardness and pH through the roof. What is the "live sand" that you are buying? From everything that I have read, live sand is something used for saltwater tanks, not freshwater ones.

 

[MikeO]

Hi OM.

This is the sand:

http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/catalog/caribsea-ecocomplete-live-african-cichlid-sand-20lbs-p-1732.html?osCsid=4d15102022dd29b873d98e57bcb64b5a

Do you think I may have added too much limestone then?

 

[OldMan47]

That is an interesting ad. It looks like they are selling a bag of pH buffering sand, probably containing a fair amount of sea shell or maybe limestone. It also is advertised as containing the beneficial bacteria we associate with a cycle, although most such products are not well thought of here or on most other forums. Between what you have already done with the limestone and this new product, my guess is that you may have gone too far. Measurements will tell you far more than a guess though.

 

[MikeO]

Will see what it does. My pH out the tap is 6.5 and hardness is pretty low, so hopefully it will be ok. Not a big problem if it isn't though as there are no fish in yet.

If indeed it does go too high, would slate be a suitable replacement for the limestone, or does this effect the water parameters too?

 

[OldMan47]

Most slate will not affect water chemistry at all.