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Hi all

Im going to change my existing (3-4 yrs) freshwater community to a Cichlid setup. After some deliberation I think Im going to go for a Malawi setup.

I have a Juwel Rio 180 litre tank and currently it has fish in it, substrate, plants filter etc.

Should I keep the existing water and filter to save setting it all up from scratch again, but change the substrate? I'd like to add sand of some sort plus nice rockwork, but not sure what colour to go for, or what type of sand and rock.

Also should I be adding shells to keep the pH fairly high, its currently around 7.6

Any opinions or info are appreciated, thanks

Stan

Hi! Welcome to fish profiles

I've never used shells in my Mbuna tank. I use a chemical substance (pH increaser) and add it when I do water changes, it seems to work okay. I keep my pH at about 8. In my opinion, 7.6 is a little low for a Malawi setup.

You can keep the water, but anytime I change the setup, I try and re-cycle my tank, just to be safe. ^_^

Inky

I personally think PH is overated. If you want to raise tthe PH you can just add crushed coral tp your filter as part of your media. The more you add the more the PH will go up, of course this all depends on the size of your filter.

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Thanks for the reply, I defo wont be using any chemicals, but thanks for the nput. I think coral/shells are the way forward to raise the pH.

Another idea is to use texas holey rock, not only is this a great rock to use for the fish to hide in it will also help keep the ph up. plus it looks really cool.

chris

Limestone caves are very effective and help keep the pH and the hardness up. I do not think most holey rock I have seen is thick enough. The fish need to be able to completely be away from sight to each other in hard (super agressive tankmates) times. I recommend dark gravel or sand as it shows their colors better.

Good luck.

Thanks for the replies, Im still undecided between dark and light substrate as they both look cool!!

However, I'd like to get plenty of small bright fishes to keep the peace in the tank, as Ive read in a few places that the more fish the better they get on.

Any recommendations?

Most non cichlids would be killed with mbuna(tough catfish can often make it). There are more peaceful malawis, such as peacocks, though. In general, bright fish show more color against a dark background.