VickiandKev
Fishaholic
Thanks guys again for helping out here 
The water quality is always good in my tank - I have clown loaches which really do need good water to thrive - and one of my babies has grown almost an inch in literally 5 months so they must be happy. On the more technical side, I take water readings often and have the tank over-filtered with internals currently, until I make myself a sump for the bigger tank.
It's just that pH *sigh* ... my OH has been talking about purchasing a water butt for the garden though - this would be a viable alternative to RO, right? (so long as we don't have droughtish summer months!!).
I've posted in the scientific bit to get some more specific guidelines on how to adjust pH safely for my fish - so I'll be doing it very gradually (and probably trying out the peat as an extract in water in a 'test tank' without fish to see what happens really).
I've just been looking up altifrons on the net, and have found some profiles which say their pH range is 6-8 - this seems a big range, but I'm tempted to do some more reading up and asking around to see if anyone does keep their SA cichlids at 8.0 with success.
Would it be worth me asking about the altifrons I purchase to see if they're wild caught or tank-bred - this makes some difference, doesn't it?
I'm so excited - I'm going to absolutely love getting this all up and going and seeing my final tank plan take shape.
I currently have some L128s and an L200 in my big tank, which is not where they belong, but their own 6ft is in the pipeline (the materials have just arrived!
).
The water quality is always good in my tank - I have clown loaches which really do need good water to thrive - and one of my babies has grown almost an inch in literally 5 months so they must be happy. On the more technical side, I take water readings often and have the tank over-filtered with internals currently, until I make myself a sump for the bigger tank.
It's just that pH *sigh* ... my OH has been talking about purchasing a water butt for the garden though - this would be a viable alternative to RO, right? (so long as we don't have droughtish summer months!!).
I've posted in the scientific bit to get some more specific guidelines on how to adjust pH safely for my fish - so I'll be doing it very gradually (and probably trying out the peat as an extract in water in a 'test tank' without fish to see what happens really).
I've just been looking up altifrons on the net, and have found some profiles which say their pH range is 6-8 - this seems a big range, but I'm tempted to do some more reading up and asking around to see if anyone does keep their SA cichlids at 8.0 with success.
Would it be worth me asking about the altifrons I purchase to see if they're wild caught or tank-bred - this makes some difference, doesn't it?
I'm so excited - I'm going to absolutely love getting this all up and going and seeing my final tank plan take shape.
I currently have some L128s and an L200 in my big tank, which is not where they belong, but their own 6ft is in the pipeline (the materials have just arrived!
).
They look all juvenile and punky lol. I love them!
