African Cichlid Tank Questions

[Anonymous]

I know some of you dabble in fresh water tanks etc. It's been a while since I've had one. You know, UG filters etc. Can I run a sump instead of a UG or hang on and what about sand beds? Deep? Any good places to read about set ups etc?

Thanks!

Ace

 

[Anonymous]

Did you mean to post this in the FW forum?

Sure you can run sumps and sand beds. I wouldn't mess with UG filters though.

 

[Anonymous]

You can run a wet/dry with really good results. Everytime you do a water change, make sure you ONLY vacuum the sand, and you'll have a great tank. When I had my tank, every water change had tons of fish poop, so it kept the water crystal clear. Also had a synodontis catfish which went well with the alkaline tank.

I had a 55g with AC's, all different types, electric blues, bumblebees, yellow labs, and a bunch of others. I buffed with AC buffer, and did weekly water changes... the tank was awesome...had tons of babies.

I always kept the lights out unless I wanted to view it. I had absolutely no algae too. Worked great.

There you have it.

...I then got bored, wanted to do salt, and the rest is history.

 

[Anonymous]

Did you mean to post this in the FW forum?

Sure you can run sumps and sand beds. I wouldn't mess with UG filters though.

I would have but I didn't realize there was one here.

Cool. I don't want to us a UG. Bad memories.

I broke down my reef and was going to sell the tank but I got the itch to have Africans again.

 

[Anonymous]

You can run a wet/dry with really good results. Everytime you do a water change, make sure you ONLY vacuum the sand, and you'll have a great tank. When I had my tank, every water change had tons of fish poop, so it kept the water crystal clear. Also had a synodontis catfish which went well with the alkaline tank.

I had a 55g with AC's, all different types, electric blues, bumblebees, yellow labs, and a bunch of others. I buffed with AC buffer, and did weekly water changes... the tank was awesome...had tons of babies.

I always kept the lights out unless I wanted to view it. I had absolutely no algae too. Worked great.

There you have it.

...I then got bored, wanted to do salt, and the rest is history.

Thanks Wings!

 

[Anonymous]

Set up a nice vivarium instead!

http://www.vivariaforums.com/

 

[Anonymous]

What is cool about the African tanks is when you get bored with them you can just remove the fish and add salt and have a fowlr.

 

[Anonymous]

How big is your tank? Most commonly sold AC's get pretty big and nasty, so make sure you knwo what you are buying and how big it gets, or you'll end up with one ugly fish that no one esle will take.

 

[Anonymous]

A great resource Ace:

http://www.cichlidae.com/

I'm actually thinkin' I might set up a 29 I have left with a trio of Africans. The water here is perfect for them.

 

[Anonymous]

How big is your tank? Most commonly sold AC's get pretty big and nasty, so make sure you knwo what you are buying and how big it gets, or you'll end up with one ugly fish that no one esle will take.

45 breeder. I've had Tanganyika cichlids before and that's what I think I'm gonna do now.

 

[Anonymous]

Set up a nice vivarium instead!

http://www.vivariaforums.com/

Thanks for the link.

 

[Anonymous]

What is cool about the African tanks is when you get bored with them you can just remove the fish and add salt and have a fowlr.

I'm out of the salt tanks for a bit. We do a have a 5 gallon Nani running now with the sand and a few rocks from my tank. That should hold me over.

 

[Anonymous]

A great resource Ace:

http://www.cichlidae.com/

I'm actually thinkin' I might set up a 29 I have left with a trio of Africans. The water here is perfect for them.

Thanks, LD. I've been itching to do a fresh water tank for a while.

 

[Anonymous]

I miss my tanks, I really do.

 

[Anonymous]

What is cool about the African tanks is when you get bored with them you can just remove the fish and add salt and have a fowlr.

I'm out of the salt tanks for a bit. We do a have a 5 gallon Nani running now with the sand and a few rocks from my tank. That should hold me over.

What what WHAT?

I never even got to see pics of your latest tank with stuff in it?


What is up with that man?

8O

 

[Anonymous]

What is cool about the African tanks is when you get bored with them you can just remove the fish and add salt and have a fowlr.

I'm out of the salt tanks for a bit. We do a have a 5 gallon Nani running now with the sand and a few rocks from my tank. That should hold me over.

What what WHAT?

I never even got to see pics of your latest tank with stuff in it?


What is up with that man?

8O

Hey Bry,

Yeah, I decided to break down the equipment because of what's going on and the electricity bills etc. Mostly because I couldn't spend the time with the tank. So I sold all the LR and kept the polyps which Tanya put back in the 5 gallon nano. I'm trying to sell the 660 ballast with caps bulbs etc and the tank as well. Then I started thinking how much I miss freshwater and really like Africans. I've had them before and they were a l of of fun to take care of and I got the itch to start the tank again. Go figure.

Here she is right before tear down:

 

[Anonymous]

That's a shame, it was really coming along...

 

[Anonymous]

That's a shame, it was really coming along...

Yeah, it was. everything was starting to look very nice. Oh well, a 45 salt is not my style anyway. I need something bigger.

 

[Anonymous]

UG's are worthless with any digging fish bio wheels, wetdry's, and canisters will serve you very well

 

[Anonymous]

Ace, with the 40 b's floor space a cool option might be the shell dwelling africans of lake Tanganyika . JAT