New to hobby, need advice on water quality!

[AmyKieran]

Hi there, I have recently bought a 190l trigon which I’ve tried to establish a Malawi tropical setup. I’m using a fluval 207 filter with 2 aerater bars, gravel, ornaments and limestone Rock. I was advised to start with lots of fish and overstock the tank so in about a week after set up (tank was set up for about 4 days before fish were put in) I have about 16 Malawi juveniles as well as 1 small pictus catfish and a bumblebee catfish. I had my water teeter today at pets at home and they told me my ammonia is 0.5ppm and nitrites are 0ppm. PH is 7. They are saying I need to do 50% water changes twice weekly to combat this, please could anyone give any advice for me?

Thanks so much

 

[Rocky998]

Hi there, I have recently bought a 190l trigon which I’ve tried to establish a Malawi tropical setup. I’m using a fluval 207 filter with 2 aerater bars, gravel, ornaments and limestone Rock. I was advised to start with lots of fish and overstock the tank so in about a week after set up (tank was set up for about 4 days before fish were put in) I have about 16 Malawi juveniles as well as 1 small pictus catfish and a bumblebee catfish. I had my water teeter today at pets at home and they told me my ammonia is 0.5ppm and nitrites are 0ppm. PH is 7. They are saying I need to do 50% water changes twice weekly to combat this, please could anyone give any advice for me?

Thanks so much

Welcome to the forum!
I will start off by saying that tye shop was wrong about that... You dont put fish in after a week of it being set up... You need to cycle the tank before putting fish in which takes 3-6 weeks before fish can actually be introduced. Right now you are doing what is called a fish in cycle... This is very stressful on the fish and can be deadly. I would recommend doing MORE than a 50% water change DAILY. Once you stop seeing ammonia and nitrites, you need to keep testing daily. Anytime you see ammonia or nitrites over 0ppm you must do a massive water change...

 

[Byron]

Welcome to TFF.

Agree with above post, the tank needs to be cycled. As is so common, the advice from store staff can be very wrong. There are articles at the top of the Cycling section of the forum that will explain.

A word on the fish though, before trouble starts. You should return the bumblebee catfish and the Pictus, neither will work in with rift lake cichlids. And the Pictus is a shoaling species that needs a group, but it gets large. Best to return these now, as they will likely have problems from the cycling issue and the store may not take them back then.

Rift lake fish need hard water and a basic pH. You should track down the GH, KH and pH of your tap water (check the website of the water authority). Limestone will increase these but depending upon the initial levels it may or may not be sufficient.

 

[AmyKieran]

Welcome to TFF.

Agree with above post, the tank needs to be cycled. As is so common, the advice from store staff can be very wrong. There are articles at the top of the Cycling section of the forum that will explain.

A word on the fish though, before trouble starts. You should return the bumblebee catfish and the Pictus, neither will work in with rift lake cichlids. And the Pictus is a shoaling species that needs a group, but it gets large. Best to return these now, as they will likely have problems from the cycling issue and the store may not take them back then.

Rift lake fish need hard water and a basic pH. You should track down the GH, KH and pH of your tap water (check the website of the water authority). Limestone will increase these but depending upon the initial levels it may or may not be sufficient.

Okay thankyou for your response, what would you recommend for a bottom feeder type fish?

 

[Byron]

Okay thankyou for your response, what would you recommend for a bottom feeder type fish?

There are Synodontis species in the rift lakes, but I am not familiar with these, so others who are can advise further. Most of the commonly seen catfish like plecos, loricariids, cories, etc are soft water which rules them out, plus they may be targeted by the cichlids, depending upon the species of cichlid. In my view, rift lake tanks should only contain rift lake fish, they are so unique.

 

[AmyKieran]

Welcome to TFF.

Agree with above post, the tank needs to be cycled. As is so common, the advice from store staff can be very wrong. There are articles at the top of the Cycling section of the forum that will explain.

A word on the fish though, before trouble starts. You should return the bumblebee catfish and the Pictus, neither will work in with rift lake cichlids. And the Pictus is a shoaling species that needs a group, but it gets large. Best to return these now, as they will likely have problems from the cycling issue and the store may not take them back then.

Rift lake fish need hard water and a basic pH. You should track down the GH, KH and pH of your tap water (check the website of the water authority). Limestone will increase these but depending upon the initial levels it may or may not be sufficient.

Okay thankyou for your response, what would you recommend for a bottom no

There are Synodontis species in the rift lakes, but I am not familiar with these, so others who are can advise further. Most of the commonly seen catfish like plecos, loricariids, cories, etc are soft water which rules them out, plus they may be targeted by the cichlids, depending upon the species of cichlid. In my view, rift lake tanks should only contain rift lake fish, they are so unique.

oh so get rid of the bottom feeders entirely? And am I going to have to 50% water change every day to fix this?

 

[itiwhetu]

Rift Lake Cichlids like to have the tank to themselves, so it would not be advisable to have any catfish or bottom dwellers with them. The cichlids are simply fine with each other's company

 

[Essjay]

Please check your hardness - if you live in a soft water area it is unlikely that limestone will raise the GH enough for Rift Lake cichlids.

Tell us the name of your water company and we can find the page for you.

 

[Rocky998]

And am I going to have to 50% water change every day to fix this?

Sadly yes, this is the only way to fix this without killing or getting rid of the fish.

 

[AmyKieran]

Please check your hardness - if you live in a soft water area it is unlikely that limestone will raise the GH enough for Rift Lake cichlids.

Tell us the name of your water company and we can find the page for you.

I am under Northumbrian water

 

[AmyKieran]

Please check your hardness - if you live in a soft water area it is unlikely that limestone will raise the GH enough for Rift Lake cichlids.

Tell us the name of your water company and we can find the page for you.

I’ve checked and it is ‘moderately soft’ how should I raise this?

 

[Essjay]

Look at the numbers rather than the words as the words are misleading. Under the words it will give numbers for calcium carbonate (that's the same as ppm) and German degrees (that's also called dH) which are the two units used in fishkeeping.

You may well need to add Rift Lake salts. These must be premixed with water before adding to the tank.

 

[Rocky998]

I’ve checked and it is ‘moderately soft’ how should I raise this?

Well, it is always best to keep fish suited to your water and not add any chemicals... You have fish in the tank already though so I would make a decision.... Keep the fish that are soft water and get rid of the cichlids, or get rid of the soft water fish and spend extra money on conditoning the water to make the water hard, OR get rid of all the fish and properly do a cycle.

 

[AmyKieran]

Look at the numbers rather than the words as the words are misleading. Under the words it will give numbers for calcium carbonate (that's the same as ppm) and German degrees (that's also called dH) which are the two units used in fishkeeping.

You may well need to add Rift Lake salts. These must be premixed with water before adding to the tank.

Okay so calcium carbonate is 67.50 and German degrees is 3.83

 

[Byron]

Okay so calcium carbonate is 67.50 and German degrees is 3.83

OK, this is very soft water. Rift lake cichlids are not going to do well. I take it you may already have them, so you need to decide quickly to either return them (and the pictus, it is still problematical as explained previously regardless of GH) and rethink the suitable fish (with soft water you have unlimited options) or to raise the GH/KH/pH it is going to require rift lake salts. This is not just adding them initially, but at every water change (which should be once a week regularly, the non-cycling is another issue complicating this) and the water has to be prepared outside the tank. In other words, at each weekly water change you siphon out say 50-60% of the tank water, and in another "tub" of some sort you prepare the fresh water by adding salts and getting the temperature close to the tank water. Then siphon the prepared water into the tank.

The cycling problem is still a significant immediate problem. This could kill the fish within days if not resolved. To be honest, returning the fish ASAP and then planning and researching with help from members here would be an easy solution.