Do I need salt in the water ?

Hello,

I know I should have asked this in my other post (about pH adjuster),
but I only remembered about it after posting (ain't it always the way ?)

Anyway, whilst looking at a bottle of (very expensive) pH adjuster in
the LFS, I saw that the instructions mentioned adding salt to the water.
Do I need to do this ? I thought lake Malawi was freshwater ?

Our water is soft and neutral out of the tap.

TIA

--
Alan Silver

Lake Malawi is fresh , but the water is hard and alkaline.

Some easy ways you can make your tap water more suitable for Malawi cichlids
are :
- add a few teaspoons of baking soda ( sodium bicarbonate )
- add coral or crushed oyster shell
- use limestone for your rockwork
- add Instant Ocean or other marine salt mix , which includes calcium and
magnesium

The marine salt mixes are a little pricey, but one box will last a long
time. As long as you get the pH over 7.3 most fish from Malawi should be
fine.

Add a few spoonfulls of salt mix or baking soda at a time, wait a few hours
, test pH , add more if needed, etc. Changing the pH too quickly stresses
your fish, so have patience.

Glad to help;
Keith J.

"Alan Silver"
<alan-silver.TakeThisOut@furry-ferret.prestwich-smile-gemach.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in
message news:0v$GuITGrmu$Ewxq@nospamthankyou.spam...
> Hello,
>
> I know I should have asked this in my other post (about pH adjuster),
> but I only remembered about it after posting (ain't it always the way ?)
>
> Anyway, whilst looking at a bottle of (very expensive) pH adjuster in
> the LFS, I saw that the instructions mentioned adding salt to the water.
> Do I need to do this ? I thought lake Malawi was freshwater ?
>
> Our water is soft and neutral out of the tap.
>
> TIA
>
> --
> Alan Silver
>