Preparing beached coral for Malawi cichlids

[BLB]

Hi guys, I started keeping Malawi cichlids after I found a local breeder in my neighborhood. I did a lot of homework after failing to understand the requirements for many different types of fish. Fast forward a few years and I understand the basic requirements for a few types of fish. Anyway back to my topic, I recently visited Indonesia and found quite a few interesting looking corals that I thought would serve perfectly for breeding fish to hide their small ones. My problem is I’m a little worried about the preparation before putting them into a tank. I have added rocks from mountains before and followed the same procedure.
1. Clean away most dirty parts with brush under running water.
2. Bleach in 1/9 bleach/water 15-30 min. I ended up leaving it over night.
3. Rinse and soak.
4. Some pieces had a bad smell so I took them out and bleached again.
5. Rinse and soak for a few days.
6. Air dry.
7. Rinse and soak.
8. Air dry.
9. Rinse and soak.
A lot of rinsing and soaking but better safe than sorry right? Gotta get that bleach out of there.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi guys, I started keeping Malawi cichlids after I found a local breeder in my neighborhood. I did a lot of homework after failing to understand the requirements for many different types of fish. Fast forward a few years and I understand the basic requirements for a few types of fish. Anyway back to my topic, I recently visited Indonesia and found quite a few interesting looking corals that I thought would serve perfectly for breeding fish to hide their small ones. My problem is I’m a little worried about the preparation before putting them into a tank. I have added rocks from mountains before and followed the same procedure.
1. Clean away most dirty parts with brush under running water.
2. Bleach in 1/9 bleach/water 15-30 min. I ended up leaving it over night.
3. Rinse and soak.
4. Some pieces had a bad smell so I took them out and bleached again.
5. Rinse and soak for a few days.
6. Air dry.
7. Rinse and soak.
8. Air dry.
9. Rinse and soak.
A lot of rinsing and soaking but better safe than sorry right? Gotta get that bleach out of there.

You can rinse, bleach them and rinse again and sun-dry. The problem with coral in this tank is the calcium they are formed with and can alter the ph of your water and cause problems.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Welcome to the reef!

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[Keko21]

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[BLB]

You can rinse, bleach them and rinse again and sun-dry. The problem with coral in this tank is the calcium they are formed with and can alter the ph of your water and cause problems.

I heard many use crushed coral sand just to get the water hardness up. The sand I use is not crushed coral but a fine quartz that I found online. It hasn’t changed my water perimeters much but I’d like my water to gain a little more hardness. But now you mention calcium problems I may just test them in a quarantine tank and if they change the water too much maybe scatter them around my garden or find another project for them.

 

[Buckster]

Hello and Welcome to R2R!

 

[Peace River]

I have bred a lot of cichlids in the past, but it has been a while. As you already shared, crushed coral is used in Malawi tanks to raise the pH to preferred levels. Similarly, aragonite sand which is commonly used in saltwater tanks, is used for Malawi tanks (there are several soft water South American cichlids so this is not general to all cichlids). You will likely want to keep an eye on the water parameters but I think it will be a positive to add the coral. As far as prepping the coral, clearly the coral is much more porous than river rock but a bit more rinsing, soaking, and sunshine will tend to take care of the bleach. If you wanted to be extra careful, you could always use a pool kit to test the water.

 

[BLB]

I have bred a lot of cichlids in the past, but it has been a while. As you already shared, crushed coral is used in Malawi tanks to raise the pH to preferred levels. Similarly, aragonite sand which is commonly used in saltwater tanks, is used for Malawi tanks (there are several soft water South American cichlids so this is not general to all cichlids). You will likely want to keep an eye on the water parameters but I think it will be a positive to add the coral. As far as prepping the coral, clearly the coral is much more porous than river rock but a bit more rinsing, soaking, and sunshine will tend to take care of the bleach. If you wanted to be extra careful, you could always use a pool kit to test the water.

I’ll definitely be giving a few more rinse, soak and dries before testing. I’m also going to give them at least a couple of days in the sun too like vetteguy suggested. They are going to feel so pampered and relaxed before getting in the tank for baby caves. Thanks for all the insights

 

[MDAquatics]

I would rinse, bleach, rinse, bleach, rinse, bleach, rinse rinse rinse. Then leave it to cook run the sun for a very long time. Did I mention rinse? Welcome to R2R!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board!

 

[1112-425XL]

 

[Nano_Man]

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R. I have no knowledge about your problem but I see some people do and are advising you.

 

[RedoubtReef]

I love Cichlid tanks. Have you considered using rocks, sand, and plants that would resemble their natural freshwater habitat?

 

[BanZI29]

Welcome to our little piece of the reef.

Welcome!!!

 

[zheka757]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[kevgib67]

Welcome, glad you are here!