Some Questions About Water And Stocking

[blue acara]

hi,

i have ordered a 5x2x2 125 gallon tank. i was thinking about going for a planted tank, but with london water (high ph and hardness) and not wanting to get a ro unit at this time i couldnt get it looking anything like this

so the better option for me is an african setup. another downside to london water is the nitrate content (30-40 ppm)
so 1st question will african species be ok in this water?

2nd question is what fish to get. i would like some hardy fish also not too aggressive. i really like the look of peacock cichlids mabie 6-8 of these, i also like malawi blue dolphin, i thinking 1 male 3 femails would these two species be ok together and is the enough room for them/?


last question is what rock do you recomend and where to get it (in london area)

help is appreciated

 

[africantigerfish7]

You could buffer it down with a solution if you wanted a south american tank, but anyway...

First you'll want to cycle the tank. Peacocks are peaceful and so are labs. As far as your water, they like a pH of about 8.0-8.2, but are very hardy, and on my first tank of malawis, I kept them successfully in a tank with a pH of 7.0.

Not sure what the blue dolphin is, but if you could give the scientific name I could help.

Smooth rock works best. Just stack it. Usually found at a gardening center, just rinse thorougly before placing it in your tank.

 

[blue acara]

ty 4 reply
buffer down ph 8-8.2 water(my tap water) with wot?peat?ph adjuster? wouldnt work imo kh=20

malawi blue dolphin-cyrtocara moorii.
this fish is also peaceful. i spose my real question is how much room do these fish need. could i fit 4 aulonocara(1-2males, 4-5 femails) 4 cyrtocara(1 male 3 femails) and a lab when all are adult size.

with the rocks i was wondering what ppl liked the look of eg ocean rock

 

[BiffMalawi]

I think with a 125g tank you could easiler fit 20 -25 of the fish you have mentioned. Ratios of 1male to 3or4 females works well.

If the PH level of your water is more than 8.4 you may be able to bufferit down. I beleive driftwood has a pH lowering effect.

The high nitrates will be an issue. I never let my tanks never go over 10ppm. An RO unit is really the only thing I have heard of besides plants that is very helpful. Is there another water source available. There are a lot of people on thsi forum from your neck of the woods I am sure they must have ideas of how to deal with this.

As far as rocks go. It really a personal preference thing. In my malawi tank I have all black gravel and black background with white calcium carbonate rocks They buffer my PH up and I think the contrast looks great. All the rocks I have in my 5 tanks are "found" rocks. Just make sure they are clean and have no obvious minerals like iron and copper. If they are rusty looking stay away. Maybe a nice drive in the country or google some local rock quarries.

 

[blue acara]

ok so i can fit in the fish. the taps ph is 8-8.2 so thats ok. the nitrate thing though...aaah dam london water
with the nitrate coming out of the tap the tank will get to 50 ppm possibly, and i heard this slows growing of fish, and is generally not good for health. i will have to look into an ro unit but space(in my flat) and water waste is a issue.

 

[BiffMalawi]

There is a guy named Irf, who lives in london and he is having the same Nitrate issues as you are. I know live plants help and in the US they have a product called Prime which is a water conditioner. It dechlorinates as well as neutralizes ammonia and nitrates I think. Not entirely sure as I can't find any yet.

Maybe you need to set up a RO consortium. Get a bunch of Londeners to kick in on the unit and then set up some method of sharing. Just a thought.

There must be some else on this forum in London who has found a way to deal with this. Come on and share.

 

[blue acara]

yup i have heard of products and filters that remove nitrate- but ppl seem to say they dont work so well.
ro water is the way. sharing a unit is a nice idea but probley wont work-london is big and the traffic is bad, moving water around would be a hassle.

ive been looking into the ro units, it would cost me bout £200 for 6 stage unit, water pump and tds meter.
to buy or not to buy...i probley will, dam you, you addictive fish!