Setting Up A 125 Gallon Malawi W/pics-going To 75 Usg Now

[kj23502]

Some have started swimming right up to and rubbing the rock and sometimes the sand!

Sounds like an irritation of some sort, probably because the tank hasn't gone through a full cycle yet. I would imagine you will get the odd mini-cycle as the tank and filters mature to cope with the bio-load. I would feed very sparingly and monitor readings daily.

One observation from your pics, what about putting the inlet pipes in the corners out of the way, and having the outflows in the top middle pointing to the front of the tank? You might like them like that of course or plan on putting something over them to hide them in which case ignore me!

Ohhhh.. I was hoping they were "flashing" and not getting sick/iritation!

Yea....about my pipes . Everything with the filters is 2nd hand and I need to order some suction cups! They don't quite stay put with hard ones that don't even suction ! That's why I wasn't quite ready to post pics yet. I don't have everything squared away! Eventually, though!
All fish are still accounted for. I counted them(several times) during their brief feeding and I think I counted them all there!!!

I checked the levels again last night and it's only a small amount of ammonia and nitrite. I did another water change... I haven't gotten the bio spira yet. Was going to and then hesitated. Is it really worth that much! I could just keep doing water changes every day until bio load catches up?!!! What do you all think?

 

[darrel69]

Ive always thought "bacteria in a bottle" products were ineffective and a waste of money. If i was in your position, i would just do water changes each day to keep the Ammonia/Nitrite levels at 0.25 or below.

If the Ammonia/Nitrite levels are too high, the burn may be causing your fish to flash like you described. Also, keep oxygen levels as high as possible.

 

[kj23502]

Ammonia was 0ppm
Nitrite 1.0ppm
Nitrate 5-10ppm

I did another water change of about 40 gallons at about 3pm and I'm doing one now at about 7pm. The first change only brought the nitrites down to .50ppm. I'll do another 40ish gallons. Anyone know how long it may last? Since it's processing ammonia and getting some nitrates, I hope it's just about done!

I'm getting busier. I'm not a stay at home mom anymore. I got a job as a secretary at my kids school. Granted I'm paying most of my pay to daycare for my 3.5 yr old and 7 mo old !!! However, it's really hard to get into these positions and I was called and offered the job first and I just had to take it! I had interviewed for a different position at the school last December and didn't get it. The principal saw me in January told me later that I was really close to getting it. I had figured I was close since they were checking my references. Then, the principal called me a few days ago saying there was an emergency resignation and asked if I was interested in this position. My hubby's excited for it and my 5 yr old(Austin) just loves it too! Whenever I'm out and about or comes by for something he says, "Hi mommy". Thank god he's still young enough that he acknowleges me at school!

Anyways, I work about 30 hours a week now and I really hope the cycle is about done!

 

[kj23502]

This last water change took the nitrite down to .25. Better, but not gone!!! Not that I expected it to be gone....just wish it was

 

[kj23502]

Ammonia was still 0 and Nitrite was back up to 1 so I did a huge water change. About 60-70% or so. I also added some aquarium salt. This was suggested by someone in my other post I did in fish emergencies. i have 2 fish that developed white patches that then turned fuzzy. I have 2 somewhat blurry pics. My fish emergency page

 

[kj23502]

That !@$%^&* sux! My "python" aquarium filling system just blew a hole in the side of the hose !!! It shot water all over my kitchen...Just peachy. At least my tank is pretty much full with new water . I called the lfs where I got it and they said I could take it back and they'll exchange it.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[wslinky]

That !@$%^&* sux! My "python" aquarium filling system just blew a hole in the side of the hose !!! It shot water all over my kitchen...Just peachy. At least my tank is pretty much full with new water . I called the lfs where I got it and they said I could take it back and they'll exchange it.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr

That amazes me, I have had mine for 5 years 2 of which it sat in a storage shed and never had a problem with it.

At least the LFS is going to exchange it.


BTW I like both the quotes in your signature!!!

 

[kj23502]

Here's some pics of one of my 2 best c afra "cobue" so far. The others are starting to get a little bit of blue, but are still clearish/grayish(if that makes sense).

I also recieved 2 fish with my bunch of afra's that have sparked my curiosity. I'm not sure if they are afra's. They guy did send me 3 extra fish....so maybe he threw in these 2 to get rid of them???
I asked a forum ? about these fish w/pics.

 

[kj23502]

Since my python broke friday I didn't do another water change until sunday evening(after i took it in and exchanged it). I expected the nitrite to be higher than it was. It was only about .25 ppm!!! Hopefully the bacteria is catching up! Before it would go up to around 1ppm within about 24 hours and to have it that low after not changing the water for 2 days was surprising?!!! I hope it's all settling! I can't wait to get some more slate and then more fish!

 

[jumpman]

The more water changes you do the slower the bacteria will catch up as you are taking away their source of 'food' - the waste. Because you are cycling the tank whilst your fish are in it, you will have a delicate balance of letting the bacteria catch up (doing no water changes) and not letting nitrite and ammonia levels to get high enough to poison your fish (doing water changes). Keep going with the daily readings but it could take some time before it all settles down. Until then feed very sparingly and don't think about new fish for a while!

 

[kj23502]

The more water changes you do the slower the bacteria will catch up as you are taking away their source of 'food' - the waste. Because you are cycling the tank whilst your fish are in it, you will have a delicate balance of letting the bacteria catch up (doing no water changes) and not letting nitrite and ammonia levels to get high enough to poison your fish (doing water changes). Keep going with the daily readings but it could take some time before it all settles down. Until then feed very sparingly and don't think about new fish for a while!

No, I'm not getting any more fish now!! I just can't wait until I can !! I was hoping that the nitrite level being so low meant that the bacteria was beginning to catch up and process it. It used go go from .25 to 1ppm within 24 hours and it wasn't any higher than .25 sunday. I figured since I hadn't done any water changes for 2 days the nitrite would be higher than it was. I have 17 Juvie fish in the tank to produce plenty of yuck. I feed every other day. I don't know Time will tell. This cycle thing really SUCKS! I haven't had to cycle a tank in years and honestly , back then, I didn't know to much of anything about cycling until I started researching about my 125 gallon tank!

 

[Ferris]

Pinned as should be useful to anyone starting out with african's.

 

[kj23502]

I haven't changed the water in 2 days and tested today.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite-clearly .25
Nitrate- fuzzy 10

Nitrate was harder to tell the difference. It's a little on either side of 10 so I called it 10! Since parameters are ok, I'm not going to change the water today and I'll test the water again tomorrow. If nitrite starts creeping up then I'll do a wc. Hopefully, it'll start dropping and then I'll be cycled!!! That would be awesome.

I still haven't lost any fish yet! But I also read that they could die up to a week or 2 after the cycle ordeal.

It'll be great when it's all over!

 

[kj23502]

i'm thinking that in the future I'll add some more filtration also.

To elaborate on this a little bit!!

I've been reading and hearing that Mbuna need more filtration than the average fish. My filters are:

Eheim pro II 277gph
Eheim pro II 277gph
-------------------------
=========554 gph or 2097 liters per hour

They need at least 10X the amount of the tank per hour so ultimately I need 1250 gph (4732 lpr) filtration, I think. Ferris, my analysis is right isn't it? Anyways, I'm not even half there. Eventually, I'll add some extra filtration. Not sure what or when, but someday.....

 

[wslinky]

i'm thinking that in the future I'll add some more filtration also.

To elaborate on this a little bit!!

I've been reading and hearing that Mbuna need more filtration than the average fish. My filters are:

Eheim pro II 277gph
Eheim pro II 277gph
-------------------------
=========554 gph or 2097 liters per hour

They need at least 10X the amount of the tank per hour so ultimately I need 1250 gph (4732 lpr) filtration, I think. Ferris, my analysis is right isn't it? Anyways, I'm not even half there. Eventually, I'll add some extra filtration. Not sure what or when, but someday.....

I guess the 10x is debatable, depends if you want to go with Ferris it is 10x but CFC it is more dependent on filter capacity. On my 80 I have 2 filter rated for 710gph, but probably get more like 500-600. I have always over filtered my tanks, as I see it more filtration can't hurt unless there is too much current.