Does Lava Rock Buffer The Water?

[Fish_Mike]

Very straight forward, does Lava Rock?

This question also mainly pertains to FreddyK (he lives in Toronto, close to me, same water conditions out of tap):

How do you buffer you tropheus tank?

thanks for the help

 

[freddyk]

Lava rock apparently is supposed to act as a buffer but frankly I found it to be neutral, with a very minor affect at best. Toronto water is already a good ph, but the kh is low and this is all that needs to be looked at. With this water all I did was add some baking soda to the water, which added calcium bicarbonate to raise the kh and keep things stable.

 

[Marshall]

Lava rock will not buffer water to any significant degree and is also to harsh and abbrassive for cichlids especially tropheus which are feisty. The best option might be to add crushed coral/shells either to the substrate or in a bag in the filter or maybe to add limestone to the rockwork if you can aquire it.

 

[Fish_Mike]

Yes, I was planning on changing the Lava Rock for Limestone, which I will do during the summer.

 

[BabySealClubber]

Lava rock affects GH a bit, but has zero observable buffering action.