[skylergirl]

Does anybody on this site know if I could put live rock into a freshwater tank for cichlids to keep the pH up?

I know the rock won't be "live" for long. I am not looking for the rock to grow stuff, just to keep the buffer up in a freshwater tank.

Would there be any adverse effects on the FW fish?

Thanks!

 

[Jimbob]

Sunny... you could use an aragonite substrate (such as crushed coral or something called "cichlid mix" top help keep the pH up. Using crushed coral as the primary substrate in cichlid tanks is a trick that a lot of cichlid breeders use. I've doen it in the past and irt worked great. Also, the cichlid mix substrate is sold by carib-sea, so it is a bit expensive, but it works great too.

I'm not sure about using live rock. The nice thing about the cc or cichlid mix for substrate is that the smaller grain size allows for quicker dissolution of the substrate which is what helps keep the pH up.

Hope this helps some.