Cichlid Tank Need help on Rock's

I am transforming my community 29 gallon into a cichlid tank right now I have just 2 Limestone rocks

I have 2 limestone rocks in there and I want to make them go across the tank Something like this :

Like go across but if I use a lot of limestone rocks is that going to throw the ph levels through the roof?? or what kinda rock should I use to do this? thanks!

 

Limestone will raise your ph, but if you plan on keeping African Cichlids, that would be a good thing.

 

If I add a bunch of them though will it go through the roof?

 

I really don't know how high it will raise the ph. You may have to just go with the "trial and error" method

 

Another suggestion if you are using real rocks the one in the picture is man made for your chiclids go to any hardware store and get what they call egg crate material. You will usally find it around the electrical dept. It is used in overhead flourcent light fixtures to duffuse light. It usally comes in sheets about 24x36 sheets. It has 1/2 inch squares and about 3/8 inch thick.. I cut it to fit the bottom of the tank and put the substrate over it to prevent your rocks from ever hitting the glass bottom and cracking it. It has happened many times. Does not take much to crack it. I had chiclids in a 90 gallon tank with Eco-Complete Chiclid sand looks like salt and pepper. These fish love to dig in the substrate and can possibly cause rocks to move depending on the rocks you use and that's why the egg crate is important to prevent a disaster. They love caves to hide in. I used natural rock cut flat so they could be stacked in a manner to hopefully prevent them from falling. I found mine at a large garden and landscape store. You have a lot to choose from. Good Luck

 

I know of other fellow cichlid keepers who have only used limestone slates in their tank, and used tonnes of the stuff without any problems, I would also try trial and error to see how much limestone you can add without the pH going any higher than about 8.3.

 

Thanks!

 

HI Aaron, I have africans myself. and plenty of Limestone. I have never had issues of PH to high. mine runs around 7.8-8.0
I would not recommend using a chemical to lower it ( like PH down) most fish will adapt to your PH, it is more important to keep it consistent. I think you will be fine with just the Limestone.
As John said above if your keeping africans higher will be better for them.

 

I also bought some lava rock!

 

yep, I have used some of the lava rock as well. actually, I like the Lava better, I think it looks nicer.