Beginners Questions

I need some help for a friend of mine (computer-less) who just recently bought a tropical tank.

I have a marine tank on the sister site marineaquariumsa (same username).

I have been trying to help my friend with his tank, but I have almost no experience with freshwater tanks, and I suspect the advise I am giving is more suited to marine tanks.

The tank is 1.5mX0.5mX0.5m has mostly cichlids.

Here are some questions I hope you can answer for me:

I recommended a sump for his tank (as that’s what I use), he is currently using a cascade filter. Are these external filters any good?

How often should this external filter be cleaned?

He has livestock in the tank already, in my marine tank I try achieve 0 nitrates, what is acceptable for a freshwater tank?

How often should water changes be carried out? And how much water to be changed at a time?

Is a regular light cycle required? i.e. does he need to run his lights on a timer or is simply switching the lights on ever evening for a couple of hours okay?


Thanks for your help

 

Hello And Welcome

This link as some well written answert to your questions

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=277264

The cascade filter should suffice, but telling us what livestock he has would give us all a better idea.
Also what Filter.

It looks like he will end up doing a fish-in Cycle.
Reqular Water changes are a must.
I am personally of the opinion that more frequent smaller changes (every day or other day), rather than a gigantic change is the better and least stressful way to cycle a tank in.
Cleaning the filter is usually a weekly affair using water from the aquarium as not to kill the bacteria
Also adding Seachem stability will help quickly build up bacteria and help minimise new tank syndrome.

 

will read that article in detail just now.

He did add some sort of bacterial aid to kick of the cycle. Ran that for a week after which he added to small cichlids. These guys stayed in there for a week and then he added about 6 other small to medium cichlids.

I cant remember the model number of the cascade.

At present i think he has the cichlids x 6, arowana(small) x 1, catfish (medium) x1, pleco (large) x 1, parrot (small/medium) x 1 and an oscar (small/medium)

 

Welcome to TASA dogstar (even if it is on behalf of a friend)

Your filter should turn over the total volume of your tank at least twice per hour, three times per hour is better. Therefore his filter should be running at a minimum of 750L/hour. Whether he is using a sump or cannister filter or a combination of the two to achieve this makes no difference really.

With freshwater aquariums your nitrates should ideally read below 24ppm. Water changes should take place at least once a month but IDEALLY once a week changing approximately 20-25% of the water.

The external filter should be not be cleaned out totally EVER. What filter medium is he using? If it is something like floss, the general idea is to rotate how you change the floss, for eg. Every second week or so replace 50% of the floss with new floss and the remaining 50% rinse out in the aquarium water which you have drained out lightly and replace it in the filter. Two weeks later replace the 'older' 50% and rinse the newer floss etc etc etc. But cleaning of the filter would also depend on how long the filter has been running for????

Lights should ideally not be put on for longer than 10-12 hours a day or else he'll start having problems with algae.

Hope this helps.

 

Will check the water turnover of the filter and what filter medium is used, its running at the moment, so i dunno whats in there.

The lights are never on for that long, but at the same time, the switched on and off at irregular intervals i.e. when he come home and goes to bed etc. Is this bad for the fish? My corals need lots of light, so i just run a timer.

I know fish compatibility is quite an issue in marine setups. Given the fish he has any potential issues there?

 

Has a got a planted aquarium??? Also, when speak to him find out what cichlids he has as that will help us with the compatibility issue - some cichlids do well together and others are a disaster!

 

Nope no plants. He wants to get some plants though.

The cichlids, i dont think he knows what type they are. But i will ask, you never know

Thanks for the help, Masa and Tasa rock.

PS, freshwater fish are cheap dude, i might even start a tank if i can find a nice spot for a it.

Okay, UPDATE: so the filter is a External Cannister Filter. Model number to come once the man gets home.

He says it has 3-4 baskets inside which stack up, and the baskets got some black sponge, some white floss and one bag of carbon pellets in the respective baskets.

The cichlids, all he said is they are malawis lol.

 

Correct me here if i am wrong, but shouldn't the guy watch out for the oscar? when the small guy grows and he will in that size tank be a bit aggressive towards the cichlids? My oscars are very aggressive to my pleco's.

 

Wito I don't see anything about an Oscar, but generally they don't do too badly with most Cichlids especially in a large tank.

That being said Oscars are South American, and Malawi's are African...different conditions required. (In before Henk he he)

 

At present i think he has the cichlids x 6, arowana(small) x 1, catfish (medium) x1, pleco (large) x 1, parrot (small/medium) x 1 and an oscar (small/medium)[/QUOTE]

 

The Arowana got taken out by the cichlids. One is particular is quite aggressive. The oscar is pretty chilled just minds his own business. So no more arowana

I forgot to get the details of the cannister filter this weekend.

 

Probably just as well as the arowana gets HUGE and not many people have a tank large enough to house them.