Maintaining Cichlid tank question

[Goblin]

I planning on setting up a nice African cichlid tank. My 55gal is just about ready with its cycle. One pet store recommends overstocking them so they will get along better. Too few is worse than too many. They advocate more water changes to help with the fish load.

My question is what my weekly and monthly schedual should be.

25% water change weekly?

What additives/ vitamins/salts do I need to add and how often?

whats the routine for cleaning a canister filter? Am I suppose to take the scummy tank water pour it into a 5 gal bucket then shake the filters in it? I assume eventually the spongy/floss filter in my canister is going to get clogged. If I throw it out won't I be lossing much of my good bacteria with it?

Just wonder what others do routinely with thier cichlid tanks.

Thanks!

 

[yhbae]

I'm no expert in african cichlids since I only set one up few weeks ago, but so far so good...

- I do 33% water change weekly. I always vac when I WC.
- My water is neutral, so I use baking soda and epsom salt to achieve 8.2pH, 10GH and 10KH roughly.
- I take a cup of warm water, put a large teaspoon of baking soda and epsom salt. (Obviously, I experimented prior to this to make sure I have the right amount of chemicals). I pour them slowly into the tank as I add tap water using python (as well as dechloronator).
- Other than these, I don't add any other additives.
- I only have power filters (so far), and I do monthly cleaning regardless of the type of the tank.

Did I miss anything?

 

[semper fi]

i check my water daily. i do reccommend that you get a water test kit. when i notice the toxin levels starting to rise i do a water change. on the smaller tanks i find that i do more frequent water changes. about 2 times a week. the larger ones about once a week.

i do not add anything to my water either. i feel the more that you mess with your water the larger a chance for error. i do check the ph and ammonia level of my tap water prior to adding to my tanks though. beleive it or not i have found fluctuations in the water.

i use magnims on my tanks and sponge filters on the smaller ones. with the magnums i shake the media holder in a bucket of tank water. it has a sponge sleeve around the media canister that i squeeze out in the water also. sponge filters i just rinse in tank water when neccessary.

if you are using active carbon, the life of the carbon is only good for 3 weeks. after that time it can leech into the tank the toxins it removes. i usually rotate between the two magnums on my larger tanks. two magnums on each tank at opposite ends. unless i am changing the carbon, or the filter is clogged, i do nothing to the filters.

when i say my smaller tanks i am talking about my tanks from 30-85 gallons. the larger ones are 180 and 240.

 

[yhbae]

Twice a week seem very frequent! I never did this to any tanks so far except for one grow-up tank, which is obviously heavily over-stocked, with over-filtering.

Also checking water daily must take lots of patient... I used to do it for the first 4 months or so of aquarium keeping then now I do it only once every few months. Each time, the water checks out perfect.... so far....

 

[thecichlidaddict]

IMO it's generally not a good idea to keep so many fish that weekly water changes are not enough. There is overstocking and there is overkill.

Overstocking is one way of dealing with aggression, but don't get carried away with it or the tank will become unstable.

Don't forget to read the pinned mbuna artical

 

[yhbae]

IMO it's generally not a good idea to keep so many fish that weekly water changes are not enough.  There is overstocking and there is overkill.

If you are responding to my message - I wouldn't do it to cichlids - this one contains a tank full of platies... They are my first fish, and the original pair keeps on producing and some manages to survive even in a community tank!

Within a month or two, I will dump all of them to my LFS for some store credits so that I can get some interesting cichlids instead...

Until then, two water changes per week!

 

[Angry_Platy]

I have pH on the high side of neutral (about 7.6 out of the tap)....I use water straight out of the tap for water changes (with dechlor of course)....never used additives....fish in all 4 tanks are perfectly happy and healthy.

On my mbuna tank I do water changes of 25% weekly.....check the ammo, nitrite and nitrate fortnightly.....

Some sites I have read have recommended adding Malawi salt as it enhances the fishes colours....but my fish are happy and healthy and colourful so I don't see it as necessary. And I am not about to change water conditions in my tank and upset the fish which are allready happy.

 

[tarcil69]

I have a 55 gallon african tank. The key to overstocking is alot of filtration. I clean my filters every two weeks or soo. Overstocking does keep the aggression down. Remember africans like to dig, so that will dirty up filters quick. I also try to keep the Ph around 8.2.. Remember that is the Ph level of Lake Malawi.

 

[yhbae]

The only issue I have with over-populating the tank is when I'm not around. I do plan to go for a vacation, up to 3 weeks in one shot. I don't have anyone who can do the water changes for me, although I'd trust them for feeding.

Personally, I'd never overstock the tank to the point where they will not survive if I don't change water for 3 weeks in a row, although I'd normally do weekly WC...