GH/KH for Cichlids

[Slopster]

Hi all well on the weekend I added some coral rock and last week i added some Oceanic rocks that i purchased at Rogers Aquatics. I got a test kit yesterday GH/KH type and i did a test today, my GH came out on the scale at around 40, and my KH came out on the scale at around 100.
Can anyone tell me what is a good level to have and maintain?
I've been told we have pretty soft water here in the lower mainland so on the scale it's saying that it is low. So any advice would be great.

Thanks.
Rob.

[Mferko]

above 12 degrees for both

[Slopster]

12 huh so am i good or bad then????
I have a water buffer do i need to add more?

Rob..

[effox]

You listed parts per million "ppm", he's stating degrees. You've got basically a GH of 2 degrees right now. You'll *slowly* want to increase that over a period of time (how long I'm not sure, probably 2 weeks, but someone more educated than I am will tell you exactly).

You can divide ppm by 17.86 to get degrees if I'm not mistaken.

[Slopster]

ahhh ok i'm a dumb ass, theres a conversion table on the back of the instructions and it say's to mulitply by 0.056 for GH/KH and that will be the degree. Wow sorry for any stupiness on my part, i'm still trying to figure all this out..
Thanks guy's..

Rob..

[Slopster]

I bought a Akaline Buffer by Seachem, it raises pH and right now my pH is at 8,i'm assuming that is good, should i keep putting in this buffer to get the KH up to around 12 Degrees? with the conversion it's at 5.62,
Also what raises the GH?

Rob.

[effox]

Don't feel dumb, there are no stupid questions man.

You'll want GH booster.

Follow the directions on the bottle\box, it should say that what amount to put in per X gallons, and that you shouldn't increase it more than a degree a day probably.

[Slopster]

ahh ok thanks man, it's not just having fish swim around anymore it's chemistry all over again...
Thanks again for your advice and help you guy's..

Rob.

[Diztrbd1]

If you haven't already, you might want to test your tap water (if that's the water you use for your aquarium) and see what it test, as well. Mine is pretty much 0 KH/GH right out of the tap, so I try to adjust my addition water somewhat before adding it ,when I do my water changes.
There's a few different ways to raise GH, but I'm not sure what is best. Personally I use Seachem. Equilibrium for raising my GH ,It works pretty good. I think i read that the coral will raise GH over time as well. But I could be wrong. It does seem a bit like chemistry at times lol

[hp10BII]

Just to be clear, you're asking about African Rift Lake cichlids, right?

New world cichlids prefer their water on the softer side, lower pH.