Need some ideas for low light plants in an African Cichlid tank.

Tazman

[quote=Blackfeet;1197869]This is not true, Anubias and Jave fern are both thriving in my 75g cichlid tank and I use a Marineland Double Bright LED on it.

The fish have never eaten them once.

Agree with Byron that Corkscrew Vallisneria is a good plant for sand substrate, it does grow fast and is best position away from a filter inlet to prevent the runners from getting sucked in.

The salt is really only needed to stabilize the water to that of the natural lake if your water parameters are not near this. I have water out my tap which is about as close to the Lake as you can get, I do not use salt/Buffers.

RedRaider15

So you have the Double Bright LED?

Tazman

Yes 36"-48" Marineland Double Bright LED fixture.

Plants have been thriving and I have never dosed anything to the tank.

RedRaider15

Thats good. I really want to get plants but I didn't want to buy the more expensive Aquatic Plant LED. I'm glad that the Double Bright will work!

Blackfeet

Yes I have heard the low to no salt thing on African cichlids twice in the past week here. It appears I am too far out of the loop on AC water parameters.
Caution on LED LIGHTS. When the bulbs blow it requires curuit board work to replace the bulbs. I am really disappointed with mine. My fixture is 2 months old 108w dual HO 48" solar max light with 8 moonlight LEDs, only 2 LED bulbs are fully functioning anymore 3 are operating at less than half strength. I have an issue with a fixture that costs more with bulbs that I can't replace without circuit board work which voids the warranty. Everyone I know including the stores who use LEDs have bad bulbs.

Blackfeet

Yes I have heard the low to no salt thing on African cichlids twice in the past week here. It appears I am too far out of the loop on AC water parameters.
Caution on LED LIGHTS. When the bulbs blow it requires curuit board work to replace the bulbs. I am really disappointed with mine. My fixture is 2 months old 108w dual HO 48" solar max light with 8 moonlight LEDs, only 2 LED bulbs are fully functioning anymore 3 are operating at less than half strength. I have an issue with a fixture that costs more with bulbs that I can't replace without circuit board work which voids the warranty. Everyone I know including the stores who use LEDs have bad bulbs.

RedRaider15

Yeah, I know, my LED light hood lights are starting to go out. This is the only bad thing about LED lights though! Can't wait to get the Double Brights!

Byron

I'm not sure where you're coming from with this, so permit me to perhaps explain. "Salt" is sometimes a misleading term unless one knows exactly what the writer means by "salt." First there is common salt, sodium chloride, and this should never go into any freshwater fish tank except when it is the best treatment to deal with a specific issue, and by best treatment I mean it is not only effective but the fish in the tank can tolerate it. Oftentimes other remedies are better. You can read on the detrimental effect of common salt on freshwater fish here:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/f...quarium-97842/

"Salt" used in its true chemistry sense refers to the salts of all minerals. And this is what we use in rift lake cichlid tanks and livebearer tanks in order to raise the GH and corresponding pH. Some have suitable hard water out of the tap, but for those who don't these salts are one option. I consider them expensive long-term, and a better solution is to use a calcareous substrate, such as a sand made from crushed coral and aragonite or dolomite. These last years so they are considerably less costly over the long haul.

Byron.

RedRaider15

My tap water is hard and has a ph of 8.0, I also have African Cichlid sand in my aquarium in order to get the right ph for the fish that I have. I would like to have some driftwood in with the fish, but it lowers the ph to some extent. Do I have enough buffer material in the aquarium to ensure that the driftwood will not lower the ph very much?

Byron

Yes. You don't mention the KH (carbonate hardness or Alkalinity) of the tap water, and this is what buffers pH, but if the pH is 8 and the tap water is hard, it likely has a high KH too. Though not necessarily. And then as well the sand you have should contain hard minerals and buffering. So some wood isnot going to have much if any impact. The tannins released by wood meant for the aquarium are few to begin with.