Guide - Compendium: Help and instruction texts

Various help and instruction texts on various aquaristic topics

Aquarium view: Several colourful Malawi cichlids swim between stones and aquatic plants. A golden fish stands out.

THE MALAWISEE

Experience with Malawi cichlids has shown that they react much more sensitively to pH values that are too low than to slightly different water values.
As Malawi cichlids are usually kept at relatively high stocking densities (for "animal social" reasons: Suppression of aggression), the pH and KH values tend to drop in these tanks.

Close-up of a Cyphotilapia frontosa fish. The fish has distinctive black and white stripes. Its eye has a brown border and its lips are light in colour.

LAKE TANGANYIKA

In almost all fresh-water areas of the earth the calcium content is clearly higher than the magnesium content. This limits the pH-value increasing even by higher carbonate hardness, because from a pH-value of 8.5 to 9 calcium carbonate (lime) begins to solidify out and in this process limits the further increase of the pH-value.

Close-up of an aquarium with lush, green and brown vegetation. Stones and pieces of wood are visible.

AQUATIC PLANTS PURCHASE AND AQUARIUM SET UP

Buying plants is not always easy and sometimes you can get a bad deal. For this reason you need to do a bit of research.
Staff in pet shops who really know about aquatic plants are hard to find. So it is best to try a few suppliers, before you spend large sums of money on aquatic plants. Once you have found a good supplier, you should stick with it. By the same token, the cheapest offer is not automatically the best.

A clownfish with an orange body, white stripes and black accents swims in an orange-coloured anemone. It is looking directly into the camera.

NATURAL SEAWATER - COMPOSITION

The average concentration of the 22 most common elements and ions at a specific gravity of 1.025 kg/litre.