Epsom salt and baking soda for cichlid tank

FishNewbie82912

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So Iā€™ve done some reading and a couple sites suggest using a mixture of Epsom salt, baking soda, and aquarium salt for a buffer and salt recipe. I have very soft well water so I need a lot to raise my gh and kh. I currently bought SeaChem cichlid salt and the buffer but I can see that will get costly very fast for a 75 gallon tank. Has anyone made their own mixture? I donā€™t want to kill my fish.
 
So Iā€™ve done some reading and a couple sites suggest using a mixture of Epsom salt, baking soda, and aquarium salt for a buffer and salt recipe. I have very soft well water so I need a lot to raise my gh and kh. I currently bought SeaChem cichlid salt and the buffer but I can see that will get costly very fast for a 75 gallon tank. Has anyone made their own mixture? I donā€™t want to kill my fish.
It sounds like you could use a sump full of crushed coral sea sand and ocean rocks and such
 
It sounds like you could use a sump full of crushed coral sea sand and ocean rocks and such
Yes I did read that too but i already filled my substrate. Depending on how much it would take to increase the hardness that could be an option. Thanks!
 
I don't have cichlids but I have been making a custom fertilizer to address issues Have seen in my small 100% RO water Tank. So the following should be helpful.

Yes I did read that too but i already filled my substrate. Depending on how much it would take to increase the hardness that could be an option. Thanks!
At the desired PH adding crush coral to the tank will not increase hardness sufficiently to reach the desired GH. crushed coral will only dissolve when the PH is less than 7. It will not dissolve when the PH is above 7. However crushed coral in an aquarium would prevent the PH from dropping unexpectedly.

The ingredients listed on the bottle are calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium sulfate, sodium chloride, iron sulfate, Aluminum sulfate, iron sulfate, and potassium iodide. Most have a biological function and fish need them. Aluminum sulfate has no biological function. So the most important parts Calcium and magnesium to boost GH, sodium potassium. The rest are needed in small quantities and your fish will get most of those from the fish food. And they may already be present in your tap water.

So you could buy a chloride based GH booster or purchase calcium chloride and magnesium chloride and make your own GH booster. All the ingredients I have listed are available on line and or in stores. And if you can avoid shipping costs you could safe some money. Or you can make your own Gh booster with Ca and Mg chloride and add potassium to that and sea salt. That add as much as needed to achieve the desired GH. Than add baking soda to achieve the desired KH and PH. This not really an accurate recreation of cichlid lake water. There are typically many more elements in water but most will have Littleton no impact on fish health. I prefer sea salt over ordinary table salt because it has about 100 different elements in it including iodine. bromine, lithium cobalt and other nutrients fish need in small quantities.

This site for an alternative product lists calcium magnesium ratios for two different rift lakes and a sodium potassium ratio. It might be helpful in figuring out a good recipe. It is probably not important to get the ratios exactly right for cichlids.

This fertilizer calculator may also be helpful. it has calcium chloride and potassium sulfate in pull down list. You can use it to help tune your recipe. And it can predict the amount of baking soda to add to achieve a targetKH.
 
I don't have cichlids but I have been making a custom fertilizer to address issues Have seen in my small 100% RO water Tank. So the following should be helpful.
Wow thanks for the info! I do have SeaChem Cichlid trace which contains the elements they need. So if I make my own buffer and salt mix I could add that once or twice a week as instructed. Iā€™ll see how things go. Thank you!!
 
Actually if you want to save money and all the trouble, just keep soft water fish.
There are many South American and Asian fish that require soft water.

South American Cichlids, Tetras, Rasboras, Barbs, Danios, Gouramis, Bettas, etc.... too many to mention.
 
If you are keeping African Cichlids just use a lime stone chip base, the rest will take care of itself, African Cichlids come from lime fed lakes. I have never needed to use buffers with lime stone chip as the base use the fine grade available at landscape suppliers, cheap as chips.
 
Actually if you want to save money and all the trouble, just keep soft water fish.
There are many South American and Asian fish that require soft water.

South American Cichlids, Tetras, Rasboras, Barbs, Danios, Gouramis, Bettas, etc.... too many to mention.
Hah yes that would have been easier in retrospect. But Iā€™ve already purchased 11 peacocks and love them too much to turn back.
 
If you are keeping African Cichlids just use a lime stone chip base, the rest will take care of itself, African Cichlids come from lime fed lakes. I have never needed to use buffers with lime stone chip as the base use the fine grade available at landscape suppliers, cheap as chips.
Thanks for the suggestion. Does lime work like the crushed coral? Increases hardness and ph?
 
At the desired PH adding crush coral to the tank will not increase hardness sufficiently to reach the desired GH. crushed coral will only dissolve when the PH is less than 7. It will not dissolve when the PH is above 7. However crushed coral in an aquarium would prevent the PH from dropping unexpectedly.

For water changes, would using a container with limestone and/or crush coral and a small water pump help? My thinking, let the limestone/coral initially raise the ph and hardness which will reduce the amount of SeaChem used for a water change.
 
Some info for you.


 

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