Tanganyikan buffers

[DMD123]

Had a questions about Tanganyikan buffers… what do you guys use?

When I started keeping shellies I needed a buffer so I bought from where I was and got the ‘Rift Lake Cichlid Salts’ from WetSpot and its worked fine but not easy to get ahold of. I have to do an online WetSpot order and they are not set up to easily order from. Have to email and get a quote and pay shipping.

I have looked at the Seachem products but do I need both the buffer and salt? The WetSpot stuff is an all in one product that contains: buffer salts, calcium, magnesium. A container that treats 200 gallons for $8.99.

So Im shopping and also see Fritz products has some nicely priced products on Amazon but again a buffer and separate salt…

A little help from Tang keepers would be appreciated: tag @sir_keith, @fishguy1978, @lloyd378, @John58Ford, @cjag

 

[DMD123]

Im looking at these on Amazon, $14.99 for buffer, $14.54 for salts, both in a 1.25 pound container

 

[John58Ford]

I guess I haven't killed any fish in, well, ever due to my buffers, so I'll share my current recipe. Again though, like I said in your shellies post, I treat every water system individually. I do not assume what works in my water works in your water, and would test thoroughly.

Here's what I aim for: https://malawicichlids.com/mw01011.htm

The above links testing has been debated as it is older information, but no one has offered me a more modern chart that's nearly as thorough.

To get there I found my tap water basically needed significant boosts that I could achieve with 4 "simple" compounds, and a drop of iron.

John58ford's Tanganyika buffer for the chemistry savvy:
Per measured 5 gallons, agitate by pump and add in order, continue agitation until water is clear;
4g CaCl2 (calcium and chloride)
5g MgSO4 (magnesium and sulfate)
5g KHCO3 (potassium as bicarbonate)
5g NAHCO3 (sodium as bicarbonate)

Tang water is significantly higher in ratio of magnesium: calcium, and has significantly higher chloride and sodium levels than it's counterparts so that recipe gets me pretty close, then I add the same miniscule drop of iron I use on all my other tanks as my tap water is completely devoid, you likely don't need it.

CaCl2: calcium chloride, pool treatment $10, 4lb/2.5-lb
MgSO4: magnesium sulfate, epsom salt $15, 5lb/3-lb
KHCO3: potassium bicarbonate, "food grade" 6$, 1lb
NAHCO3: sodium bicarbonate, baking soda, $1 1lb

2.5+3+6+1=$12.5-4lb/1800grams
~20 grams per 5 gallon/90 doses/450 gallons
~450 gallons @ $12.5

There are savings to be made buying in bulk but I went by the smallest reasonable container on Amazon for this break down, I use everything listed besides the sodium in all my tanks (at different amounts for different goals) so having 4-5 containers and a scale with some notes is my version of having a few dozen different products (including several salt/fertilizer products) on the shelf.

I don't actually do it my way to save money though; I do it to be extremely controlling over my water parameters. Allot of the products available do not list exact ingredients, I can say with certainty from testing if you took my tang water, and blindly added a standard nkp fertilizer, it would precipitate (cloudy underwater snow storm) the potassium almost immediately. Same for micro packages with calcium. If seachem doesn't list which "salts" they used specifically(they don't), I would not know what to do if I was having a plant or fry development issue while using one of their products.

 

[sir_keith]

Yes, if you use Seachem products you need both the lake-specific buffer (in order to get the correct pH) and the salt mixture (to get the appropriate water hardness). Many other companies sell generic mixtures of salt + buffer, which ignores the fact that the chemistry of Lake Tanganyika is significantly different from that of Lake Malawi. These products are at best a compromise.

I have been using Seachem products for all of my Tanganyika tanks for more than 20 years, which maintain the pH at 8.8-9.0, and KH and GH at ~300ppm. Does it work? Well, you can do all the chemical tests you like, but at the end of the day the most meaningful readout is the bioassay- are your fishes (and to a lesser extent, plants) flourishing? I keep some delicate Tanganyikans that are quite demanding in terms of water chemistry, and even my wild-caught fishes live long lives and breed regularly. Yes, you can save some money by mixing your own buffers from scratch, and if you like that sort of thing that's fine, but for me it's too much like laboratory work (which was my profession for 40+ years). Seachem Tanganyika Buffer is ~$30/kg, and Seachem Cichlid Lake Salt is ~$20/kg.

That said, many of the commonly kept, tank-bred Tanganyikans, including L. ocellatus, are not very demanding as long as the pH is above 8. For these fishes, keeping the water parameters constant is more important that the specific values themselves. So my advice would be to choose something that works for you, and stick to it. Good luck.

​

 

[DMD123]

@sir_keith are you also using the Seachem ‘Cichlid Trace’ with that combo?

 

[sir_keith]

@sir_keith are you also using the Seachem ‘Cichlid Trace’ with that combo?

No. There's nothing terribly exotic in Cichlid Trace, and my tap water is mineral-rich (coming from a 180-foot deep well), so I think Trace would be redundant.

 

[John58Ford]

my tap water is mineral-rich (coming from a 180-foot deep well), so I think Trace would be redundant

Where mine is mineral depleted as it's a spring well. This is where I find the challenge with seachem, I would likely need all 3.

You are 100% right in the proof being in the results, your fish thrive and breed with a few being in the "very difficult" breeding realm. My fish and plants thrive and multiply but I haven't given a stab at a "difficult" Tanganyika fish yet. That is too be determined at a later date. I have used all but one of those ingredients successfully breeding GBR and difficult tetra and rasbora to the free swimming phase though, obviously at a much smaller dose and different ratios, I would have needed 6 different seachem soft water fertilizer (flourish alone still requires 4-5 more of the Flourish line to make a complete fertilizer and mineral package) bottles and a 2 part buffer package.

I agree also that the lab side of what I do is work, and not everyone likes it. It fits us well here though and my boys will be much more advanced than I was in chemistry and biology as they progress I'm sure.

 

[lloyd378]

I use the two that sirkeith shared pictures of

 

[DMD123]

I bought some of the Seachem stuff from Kens. (Yay, Black Friday sale!) I will make the switch after I run out of the WetSpot product.

 

[sir_keith]

I bought some of the Seachem stuff from Kens. (Yay, Black Friday sale!) I will make the switch after I run out of the WetSpot product.

I consider it a plus to get reagents from a big company like Seachem, which is not going to disappear anytime soon, and to be able to order the products from Amazon.

 

[fishguy1978]

I haven't used the salts just the buffer. I did do water testing recently just ph in my "low" ph tanks and they were all in around 7.6-7.8. Even my tap water is 7.6-7.8. I need to do the high range test to see where all 15 tanks fall.

 

[sir_keith]

I haven't used the salts just the buffer. I did do water testing recently just ph in my "low" ph tanks and they were all in around 7.6-7.8. Even my tap water is 7.6-7.8. I need to do the high range test to see where all 15 tanks fall.

Same here: the water coming straight out of my well with no filtration or treatment of any kind is pH7.6. That would be a problem if I were keeping fishes that require soft, acidic water, but it's a good starting point for Tanganyikans. The other plus is that the water tastes great.

 

[John58Ford]

Crazy what a few miles can do, my tap is about 6.8 with a dkH between 1-3 based on rainfall; in my soft water heavily planted tanks I can "crash" pH in a week and get down to 5 pH within another if I leave them depleted, I originally started making buffers to avoid going black water.

I would suspect if we tried my buffer in some of your waters without testing and adjusting we might just get that sweet under water snow storm lol.