Algae eaters

Might be a silly question, but does anyone keep L numbers with thier Malawis ? As I dont know of any that like the high PH liked by Malawis . I know Malawis eat algae but I still get a small build-up on the front glass which a L number might keep clear .

I keep l144 and bristlenose along with a gara panda all are fine no problems

What is your PH in the tanks ?

Around the 8 mark. Alot of keeper have them in there tanks with no problems.

Question for you Big man How do you keep your ph up ? I use Tripple Buffer but its quite expensive at £11 for 250g .Any suggestions ?

No i don't use anything! my water comes out of the tap and stabilizes at 7.4. the min the recommend is 7.5. so i added coral sand as a substrate and i currently use coral as my rock, but you could use something like limestone if you do not like coral, tuffa rock, reef rock, there is a few that look alike. Now my water did not jump it naturally over a period of months rose to where it sits today. I change between 50 -75% of my water every week aswell and it does not affect the ph. I am a firm believer in don't use chemicals to artificially raise your ph to much can go wrong and a slight fluctuation can have devastating effect on your fish.

What is your ph out of the tap? and take a reading 24hours later just let the glass of water sit for a day as the reading will change.
If you are getting 7.5 i would consider not using chemicals to raise it further.

What is your substrate and what rock do you have?

Another thing you could use in you filter is sachems-purging it will also help stabilize you readings.

I also keep 100's of the l144's in with the malawi's, brown bristlenose, albino bristlenose and longfins with no problems

I have tuffa rock and coral sand ,my tapwater is 7.2 .Ph in tank is 7.6 by adding a small amount of tripple buffer with water changes, which I am not doing as much as I should be, changing 16 gallon per week . I thought a ph of around 8 or 8.2 would be ideal .The tripple buffer I use is designed for use in marine tanks .Its quite expensive but it also hardens the water as well as adding certin minerals . I havent used additives to adjust ph in the past but couldnt get ph up naturally

The ph is not actually the most important it is your gh, kh o2 and no3. your are recommend 8.2 for wild! but if you think about it most of the fish you will buy here will have been raised with a ph like yours! if you can adjust it naturally then do it but if not then look at a stable way of doing it

Thanks for advise