Seachem American Cichlid Salt

American cichlids get lumped in with Rift Lake cichlids and dosed the same way. They should not be. Lake Malawi and Tanganyika water is hard and alkaline, sitting up near pH 8. Central and South American rivers are mineral-rich but far closer to neutral.

That is the gap this fills. It supplies the calcium, magnesium and potassium these fish draw on for osmoregulation – the constant work of holding their internal salt balance against the water around them – and it leaves the carbonate side of the chemistry alone.

A Rift Lake salt would push hardness and alkalinity up together. That is the wrong destination for a Geophagus or a Jack Dempsey.

• Raises hardness only – Seachem states it affects hardness, not alkalinity or pH, so it will not fight a buffer you already dose
• Two published doses, not one – 2.5 g per 110 L for South American species, 1.25 g per 110 L for Central American, rather than a single rate for two continents
• Declared analysis – calcium 15.0–17.0%, potassium minimum 6.0%, magnesium minimum 3.0%, printed rather than described as a "mineral blend"
• Carries trace iodine and aluminium – minimum 0.02 mg iodine and 0.90 mg aluminium per gram
• Dry powder – no shelf-life clock the way a liquid additive has; the 4 kg pack is a fishroom size rather than a single-tank one

Seachem publishes the rate per 110 L (30 US gallons). Dose at setup, and after that only on the volume of new water going in – not on the whole tank.

Minerals are not consumed the way carbonate hardness is. Re-dosing full tank volume every week walks the hardness steadily upward until it is somewhere nobody chose.

Dissolve the dose in a jug of the new water before it goes in, rather than tipping powder across the substrate.

Worked from Seachem's own dose rates. These are litres of new water treated, not tank volume – a 200 L tank on a 25% weekly change gets through 50 L of dosed water a week, not 200 L.

Spellings are Seachem's own and are kept as printed.

Ingredients: Magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, potassium sulphate, sodium chloride, aluminium chloride, iron sulphate.

Suitable for: South American cichlid tanks – Geophagus, severums, angelfish, oscars · Central American tanks – convicts, firemouths, Jack Dempseys · remineralising RO or rainwater for a cichlid setup · tanks where a GH test reads low but pH is already where you want it.

Not suitable for: Rift Lake cichlids, which need alkalinity raised as well – Seachem Cichlid Lake Salt is that product · marine and brackish aquariums · raising pH or KH, which this does not do · deliberately soft blackwater setups, including wild-caught dwarf cichlids kept soft on purpose · use as a general aquarium salt for disease treatment.

• Seachem's label warns that it causes serious eye irritation and may cause skin burns. Wear suitable gloves when handling the powder
• Keep out of reach of children
• Avoid breathing the dust – dissolve it rather than tipping it dry
• Store sealed and dry; caked powder makes teaspoon dosing inaccurate
• A safety data sheet is published by Seachem at sds.seachem.com

• Seachem Cichlid Lake Salt – the Rift Lake version, for Malawi and Tanganyika tanks where you do want alkalinity raised
• Seachem Cichlid Trace – the trace element half of the same system
• Seachem pH & Alkalinity Kit – confirms this is leaving pH and KH alone, which is the entire point of choosing it
• Seachem Prime – dechlorinate the new water before the minerals go into it
• Seachem NutriDiet Cichlid Flakes – cichlid-specific food from the same range
• The full Seachem range – water care, media and test kits

Sold with the manufacturer's shelf life; no separate warranty term is published for a dry mineral salt. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law apply regardless and cannot be excluded. Ships as a standard parcel – a dry powder, not a dangerous good. The 4 kg pack travels as heavy freight rather than a letter-box item.

Will Seachem American Cichlid Salt raise my pH?

No. Seachem states it affects hardness only, not alkalinity or pH. If the tank also needs pH raised, that is a separate buffer.

Can I use it for African cichlids?

It is the wrong blend. Rift Lake fish need alkalinity lifted as well as hardness, which is what Cichlid Lake Salt does. This one deliberately leaves alkalinity alone.

How much do I use for a South American tank?

2.5 g, about half a level teaspoon, for every 110 litres of new water. Central American species take half that – 1.25 g per 110 litres.

Do I dose the whole tank every week?

No. Dose at setup, then only on the water you replace. Minerals are not used up the way carbonate hardness is, so dosing full tank volume weekly drives hardness up with nothing bringing it back down.

Why are there two different doses?

Central American waters are less mineral-rich than South American ones, so Seachem halves the rate for those species. Match the dose to where your fish come from, not to the tank they are in now.

Is it safe alongside plants and shrimp?

It adds calcium, magnesium and potassium, all of which plants use. It is not a shrimp-specific remineraliser, though – Seachem Equilibrium is the product aimed at that job.