I want what you guys do in freshwater!

[Dvt81]

All africian cichlids need is some holy rock for hiding spots and to buffer the water, rift lake salt, good water movement, and a pile of bio media like matrix or marine pure.

My tank has been up for about 12 years like this and only gets a small water change every 4 months.

All africian cichlids need is some holy rock for hiding spots and to buffer the water, rift lake salt, good water movement, and a pile of bio media like matrix or marine pure.

My tank has been up for about 12 years like this and only gets a small water change every 4 months.

Can I ask how what size the tank is and what is in it?, My current tank has 2 powerheads and 3 filters so alot of movement.. I run matrix but its only in the canister so won't be effective. Marine pure I have looked at and I'm keen on it

I have limestone and crushed coral as buffers

 

[Dvt81]

Skimmer won't work, so the vodka dosing won't work, unless you want to run a DE filter and try that as an experiment, but they are very loud. You could try it but I would personally not want a loud DE filter running all the time.

Purigen works, activated carbon works, phosphate removal media work (like alumina oxide/phosguard), auto water change systems work

A lot of things work, but conventional skimmers don't

Dosing systems also work but you don't need them if you have no demanding plants.

Skimmer won't work, so the vodka dosing won't work, unless you want to run a DE filter and try that as an experiment, but they are very loud. You could try it but I would personally not want a loud DE filter running all the time.

Purigen works, activated carbon works, phosphate removal media work (like alumina oxide/phosguard), auto water change systems work

A lot of things work, but conventional skimmers don't

Dosing systems also work but you don't need them if you have no demanding plants.

The dosing would be purely for cichlid traces which alot of the trade guys say should be down 2 or 3 times a week if your using liquid... Powered trace/salt elements would cost a massive amount during water changes... Hence a dosing for that.

Would the dosing work on a diatom filter?

 

[mrpizzaface]

Out of curiosity , what is your current water change schedule ( on your 75) ?

 

[Dvt81]

Out of curiosity , what is your current water change schedule ( on your 75) ?

2 a week.

Every Tuesday and Friday.

Water prepped on the day before each WC change day. Tested before it goes in.

Another reason is when I go on holiday for 3 or 4 weeks at a time. Having someone I trust is an issue too.

 

[Aardvark1134]

It's a 120Gallon all in one. I threw away the useless bio balls and put 2 gallons of pond matrix where they were so I am running them wet/dry style. I also run a cheap pond filter pad on top of them that cut to size. It's just there to prefilter poop out.
I have about 25 Mbuna in there with the 2 largest being 6-7 inch bumble bees. I also have 6 or 7 synodontis multipunctatus. I have about 150 lbs of holy rock in it...or more

For the reef people who will say way way too much fish in there...these are not saltwater they are mbuna you have to stuff them like sardines or they will all kill each other.

Water flow is a rio 2500 return and 3 hydor korolla 2450gph
Substrate is caribsea crushed African cichlid version
My rift lake salt is from seachem https://www.seachem.com/cichlid-lake-salt.php

 

[Dvt81]

It's a 120Gallon all in one. I threw away the useless bio balls and put 2 gallons of pond matrix where they were so I am running them wet/dry style. I also run a cheap pond filter pad on top of them that cut to size. It's just there to prefilter poop out.
I have about 25 Mbuna in there with the 2 largest being 6-7 inch bumble bees. I also have 6 or 7 synodontis multipunctatus. I have about 150 lbs of holy rock in it.

For the reef people who will say way way too much fish in there...these are not saltwater they are mbuna you have to stuff them like sardines or they will all kill each other.

Mbuna need the rock work. Mines is all male peacocks only.

I'm about 10-15 away from having the full genus species with 2 synos too.

I'm opting for dragon stone in my new tank since it's the same colour as the background

 

[Aardvark1134]

I had an all male peacock tank similar setup. Keep in mind once you have large males if you accidently get 1 female in that tank it will be WW3 in there. You can lose half the tank in a single night if you accidentally mistake a female who has male colors due to a store supplementing hormone food... for a male and poof will look like a hand grenade went off in the tank. Females supplemented hormone food will color up exactly like a male.

I lost almost $1000 in show quality male peacocks and haps I had for almost 2 years because an online vendor sold me a show male...that was actually a female that colored up due to the hormones they were feeding all their peacocks to make them look better. After most my tank killed each other the 1st night I realized that it was a female when it completely went grey after a few days without their supplements...but it was too late after the 1st night the tank was toast.

 

[Dvt81]

I had an all male peacock tank similar setup. Keep in mind once you have large males if you accidently get 1 female in that tank it will be WW3 in there. You can lose half the tank in a single night if you accidentally mistake a female who has male colors due to a store supplementing hormone food... for a male and poof will look like a hand grenade went off in the tank.

Haha very true... Once had a red shoulder bursting with blue and that red shoulder.. lovely egg spots only for it randomly to be holding the eventually spit out and then she ate her young. Since then I hold my fish for longer in QT and feed normal frozen and flake for around 6 weeks before moving into the main tank.

Obs are the worst to determine what they are.

 

[Hermie]

By the way, a relative of mine just got a 120 gallon (long) cichlid tank from someone and it has a bunch of cichlids. I don't know much about cichlids but I am supposed to help maintain the tank once a month... I don't think they have enough holy rock, they just have aragonite substrate. Any tips... or must haves?

 

[Aardvark1134]

Depends on which ones if they are mbuna stuff most the tank about 2/3 of the way up with holy rock. If not mbuna it's not a big deal.

 

[Dvt81]

By the way, a relative of mine just got a 120 gallon (long) cichlid tank from someone and it has a bunch of cichlids. I don't know much about cichlids but I am supposed to help maintain the tank once a month... I don't think they have enough holy rock, they just have aragonite substrate. Any tips... or must haves?

Sure you need a skimmer and Vodka dosing.. )

My method is hiding places, varied diet and plenty water movement covers the basics.

I use seachem nourish with the food and also add few drops garlic in during a WC.

Moving rocks around every so often when signs of bullying occurs. Feed little and often... I feed 3 times a day but in little quantities.. food doesn't hit the bottom 1/4 of the tank at each feed before it's vanishd. But I weigh out my measurements each day.

 

[reefwiser]

Things I would add to a freshwater tank such as yours is a automatic filter roll system on the sump and a anoxic filter
To help with your water change situation.

 

[oldbob50]

I have both a reef tank and FW Cichlid tank. I don't think that you would need much of the equipment that you mentioned. I have a sump (my design) on my FW tank but no reactors. Everything flows through a 200 micon filter sock, some matrix media, carbon media and some floss mat for final polishing. Water changes/vacuuming every 3 weeks now that I have my flow through system working. I have natural spring water that flows through the tank at a rate of about 3 gal per hour. Before I put that in is was doing 10% water changes every week. I have a pair of Mainganos that are dropping babies everywhere so they must be happy. Last week's testing showed PH at 7.2, NO3 at 1, Phosphate at 0.1and KH at 4

 

[Waterislife]

Completely agree and many thanks for the information given. The SW guys are on a different level hence my question regarding dosing if it would work in a FW system. It seems that it doesn't and 1 way of removing algae is running a diatom filter... Used alot in the states but a brief Google search seems that they aren't used much in the UK... The hunt continues

If your referring to the classic diatom filter using diatom powder, that is not used as a primary filter, only when cleaning the system, those filters will literally suck the slime right off the fish.

 

[fuelman]

I just set my African tank up on a fresh water drip system 240 dt 70 sump in 2 year's no water changes just vacuum the substrate. nitrate at about 20 phos at about 0.08

 

[Jim_Browning]

Hey all. A little help would be very much appreciated.

I have a near 400 gallon Malawi tank that is getting set up in the next 10 days.

I want to add reactors to my system and basically take as much of the stuff you guys in the SW side of the hobby do into my set up where I can.



Marco

I have 3 tanks - a 55-gallon planted freshwater tank, a 60-gallon saltwater system and a 125-gallon cichlid tank. The cichlid tank requires the least attention and seems to have the healthiest fish population. No reactors, just a Fluval FX6 canister and regular water changes. The only dosing I do is a once-weekly dose of Seachem Cichlid Trace Elements. Personally, I see anything more complicated than that as a unnecessary expense.

 

[Dvt81]

Can I ask how what size the tank is and what is in it?, My current tank has 2 powerheads and 3 filters so alot of movement.. I run matrix but its only in the canister so won't be effective. Marine pure I have looked at and I'm keen on it

I have limestone and crushed coral as buffers

It's 7ft long, 2.5ft wide and 1m in height.

Sump is just under 90g.

All in all it'll be around the 500g mark.