Advice on pumps
Mike, I really wasn’t quite sure where to interject this note since I’m replying to Robb — but I’m also relieved to hear that these fish aren’t “swimming with the fishes” (aren’t in a fatal environment). I suppose it should be further pointed out that it is not to be considered as a “salt water (marine) tank” unless it contains the full compliment of marine salts to support salt water fish — those fish that are found in the oceans.
I suppose the phrase “Cichlid Lake Salt” can be misleading; obviously so in Robb’s case. Then too, these “salts” that are used in Cichlid Lake Salt are not what most people consider as “salt,” even though they are. A salt is the result of an anion of acid reacting with a cation of base — or more simply put, its a metal (base) combining with a non-metal, forming a crystaline substance. Seachem’s Cichlid Lake Salt contains magnesium, calcium, sodium and potassium salts (in that order, as per Seachem), along with trace compounds of iron, aluminum and iodine (oops, did I say “iodine”? yes the same substance some people have worried about in table salt).
Ordinarily, I don’t think too many people think of calcium, potassium or sodium as being a metal — but they ARE! The very small recommended amounts of these “salts” to be used in Rift Lake tanks should not preclude keeping Pleco’s, but higher pH levels may. For Tanganyika tanks, Seachem recommends 3/4 teaspoon per 10 gallons — note, that’s much smaller than the 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons often used with table salt. For Malawi tanks, they recommend 1/2 teaspoon per 10 gallons and for Victoria (not actually a Rift Lake) tanks, 1/4 teaspoon per 10 gallons is recommended. As can be seen, the amounts of these salts is much less than the “token” amounts of sodium chloride occasionally used by others. Ray
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