Water Hardness for my Malawis

[nickmcmechan]

Hi,

My tap water is very soft and really doesn't bring the best out on my Malawis, so I harden the water using Magnesium Sulfate, however I think I have discovered a better product:

http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=145_146&products_id=1570

Would this be better, and if so, how much would I use to raise water hardness from a gH of 20ppm to 200ppm?

[ibr3ak]

Ever try crushed coral in your filter?

[jm1212]

crushed coral is the way to go. if you put it in your filter, then you are sure that at least most of the water is coming into contact with it. plus you only have to replace it every so often, and with MgS04, you've got to watch your parameters add add it all of the time.

[Beowulff83]

just remember to rinse and rinse and rinse some more with the crushed coral, it would cloud you tank if you dont.

[nickmcmechan]

sorry, should give a little more explanation
my tap water has a kH < 40ppm and gH <20ppm, i.e. there's not much buffering capacity and the pH sits between 7.0 and 7.2. vary clean water up here...gr8 for my SA setup!
i do used crushed coral in my filter, and its the substrate too. there's plenty of oceanic rock, and this gets the gH up to about 80ppm after a week and raises the pH to 7.6.
i'm a bit of a purist when it comes to biotopes so i want a stable pH of 8.0 and a gH >200ppm; i truly believe the colours and behaviours are different at these levels - but please don't get me wrong i'm not normally one to mess with pH - i'm one of the first to shout "dont worry about the pH as long as its stable!!!"
so i use magnesium sulfate during water changes to get the parameters right...works ok, but this product seems to be a more complete solution???

[cav]

Why not just use bicarb of soda? My tap water has a ph of 7.6 so I add 2 teaspoons of this to my water change water which ups it to around 8.2 which then dilutes to 8 once added to the tank

[kay-bee]

There are a myriad of products out there to attain 'ideal' levels (the various rift lake salts and what not), however you could use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to increase alkalinity/kH and buffer pH and add epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) to increase the general hardness (gH) of the water.

Add 2 teaspoons of baking soda and epsom salt per 10gal of tank volume (add them separately to the tank, diluting each first).

Then test kh/ph/gh 24hrs later and, if levels are below desired levels, repeat process DAILY until target levels are attained. If target ph/kh is attained prior to target gh, add just espom salt until the target level for that is achieved (and vice versa).

Keep track of the quantity added and replace the percentage changed out during water changes.

[nickmcmechan]

i think what i like about the product is that it also contains calcium carbonate