Malawi setup

[FishBuddy]

Hi Folks,

I am thinking about setting up a cichlid (Malawi) tank as well; probably over the Xmas holidays....  I've been shopping for my tank and accessories over the past 6 months...  

After doing a bit of research (tons of reading!!!) and reading feedbacks from people like yourself, I've decided to start off with the Yellow Labs as well; they looked gorgeous....  I'll probably add Peacocks to the tank later on...  Here's what I've gotten so far for my tank:

- 72 gallon bow tank (4 feet wide) with Aquaglo tube canopy.
- 40 lbs of crushed coral.
- 50 lbs of pool filter sand (for free from a pool store, believe it or not!!!)
- tons of rocks from the Kanata Centrum (near BA).  I've soaked these rocks in concentrated aquarium salt water for a week and then baked them in my oven in 450F for over an hour; nothing remotely lives after that I hope.....  If it does, then it deserves to live!!!
- an eggcrate from Home Depot that's cut and fitted to the bottom of the tank; the rocks sit on top of it.
- a Jager 250W heater
- 2 maxijet 900s (I've built an underwater jet system for the tank with 4 output from each of the corner of the tank!)
- dual output air pump.
- Fluval 404 canister.
- time for 8 to 10 hours of light.
- African cichlid conditioner.
- Java fern and moss; looking for Anubias soon.

I'll be cycle the tank empty for about a month before putting any fish in there...  I'll also keep my eye on the ammonia and nitrite/nitrate, water hardness, etc...  to make sure they are safe enough for my cichlids....

Is there any other things that I should be awared of???  Thanks a bunch...

[darkdep]

Fishbuddy:  You've definetly done your research; I can tell!  That will be a wonderful African setup, you can keep most Africans in there no problem.  I'd suggest not to get too many Yellow Labs...with that setup you'll move beyond them fairly quick

My suggestion would be to lose the "African Cichlid Conditioner"...I'm assuming this is the store bought stuff that "conditions" your water to be hard and high ph?  Replace with a combination of Baking Soda and Epsom Salts.  Immensely cheaper, and works much better.

Have you taken readings of your tap water?  I'd avoid "conditioning" your water at all to start; especially if you're going to put something as hardy as yellow labs in there to get comfortable with them.  Then when you "know your water" and know what you want to do with it, you add measured amounts of BS/ES with water changes to slowly increase the hardness/ph.  It's much better to do it this way than to blindly trust the magical "African Cichlid Conditioner".

[pegasus]

I'll be cycle the tank empty for about a month before putting any fish in there... I'll also keep my eye on the ammonia and nitrite/nitrate, water hardness, etc... to make sure they are safe enough for my cichlids....

Totaly agree with darkdep on the conditioner. My only other advice, after you got your water cycled is to slowly add fish a couple at a time, introduce new fish at a two week interval (ok maybe every week) and if you get juvies, then stop way before your tank looks to full.  

[Jennywrenn]

I'm blessed with hard water already.....nothing to add....they'll probably like it right where it is.

[darkdep]

Jennywren:  Yes you've got GREAT African water.  Leave it alone.

Most people worry too much about water parameters; it is best to have it "stable" than "optimal" in most cases...most fish (and especially tank-raised) are very adaptable.  

A story:  My water is about 7.6ph, 3d kh out of the tap.  I used it for 8 months on my Cobalt Blue / Yellow Lab tank and everyone was happy and healthy.  Then I decided I wanted to slowly move towards a more "authentic" African water chemistry, and started doing 5gallon water changes, adding 1 tsp of Epsom salts and 1 tsp of Baking Soda to each bucket of replacement water.  After a couple of months the water was up to 8.0 ph and about 12d kh hardness, and whammo, the Cobalts started to breed.  

The point...they were fine before the change, I was able to worry about other things like food, decor, etc for them and then, when I wanted a new parameter to control, I messed with the water.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that all advice on "conditioning" water for any fish needs to be ignored until you know what's coming out of your tap, and all "magic" chemicals (such as the "African Cichlid Conditioner") needs to be forgotten about.  All water parameter messing should be deliberate, understood, and surgical.  

Rant over...wow...

[FishBuddy]

Darkdep & pegasus,

Thanks for the awesome advice....   Since I am new to this, I sure have a lot to learn from you guys!!!!   I definitely agreed that it's best to 'tune' the water to the way you like it using epsom salt and baking soda....  But first is first, I'll check out my water quality this week by taking several samples (over a couple of days) and use the median value...  

By the way, about the epsom salt and baking soda, do you prefer any particular brands???  

pegasus, I do understand that we shouldn't add too many fish all at once...  I currently have a 32 gal with goldfish in it and it took me around a year to bring the number of goldfish up to 9 (I started with 2 juvies).....  And if I were to get some Yellow Labs, I would probably have a group of around 5 (1 M & 4 F).  I noticed you are breeding and selling Yellow Labs and others, so perhaps my first batch might come from you... :-)

[darkdep]

Fishbuddy:  You can't go wrong getting fish from pegasus.  His stuff is excellent.

Your best bet is to get the ES and BS from Bulk barn.  You can get a virtually unlimited supply for a few bucks.  Brand is irrelevant here.

[pegasus]

I use well water and I have no idea on my parameters. I've never used baking soda, still all my adults have breed. When they stop, I check water temperature or what social change has occured recently in the tank. That's about it.
FishBuddy, my door is open, drop in anytime. You don't even have to buy.  

[Mettle]

The catch is you have to drive to Aylmer! HA!  :lol:

I completely agree with the water parameters thing. As you're living in Barrhaven, I'm guessing your water is ver similar if not identical to mine. (I also live in Barrhaven.) The ph should be close to neutral - I believe it comes out at around 7.2 or 7.4. I don't remember the hardness, sorry. But for at first I'm sure this would be more than adequate for simply raising some Africans in.

As darkdep alluded to, changing ph and hardness generally comes into play when you want fish to start breeding. I'm pretty knowledgeless when it comes to Africans, but I know apistogramma dwarf cichlids and discus, for example, get spurred on by a drop in ph for breeding purposes. I'm sure with Africans it's simply the opposite where raising it spurs them on.

So I would suggest one of two things. One, just leave the ph and hardness alone for the beginning. Get everything else right first... Or... Two, if you're going to practice fiddling with ph values and such do it on relatively in-expensive fish that you wouldn't be heartbroken over if you lost just in case something goes wrong.

I would also like to say how refreshing it is to see someone who has done a good amount of research before starting up their tank!

The one thing I did want to mention, however, is in regards to tank cycling. Simply letting a tank run doesn't do a whole lot. There has to be something in there producing wastes. Otherwise it doesn't matter if you let it run for a day or for a year, nothing will change as the good bacteria hasn't built up yet.

I'm sure you've come across it in your research, but here's a handy article on the process of the beneficial bacteria building up, called the Nitrogen cycle:

http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html

(This website, the Krib, has a wealth of FANTASTIC info on it. I recommend reading the entire thing!)

In terms of how to build up that good bacteria, there are a number of ways. This article talks about how to do a fishless cycle which can sometimes take longer but is easier on the fish:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/fishless_cycling.php

Both articles mention getting established filter media and inserting them into your own filters. I know a number of times in the past people have posted in our classifieds section here on the OVAS site asking for established media. Basically all that happens is there's an exchange of brand new media (from you) for used and established media (from the other member).

For instance, you have a Fluval 404. A lot of people on this site have Fluvals or simply have cannister filters that use the biomax media or something very similar to it. This can often be traded out! I normally have some I'm willing to trade off but unfortunately just started my new discus display tank and used it there, so that's the only reason why I'm not offering. But I'm sure plenty of folks here would be willing to help you out. It's a great group of people with a common interest!

The one thing I would note though is that once you put some established filter media into your Fluval you're going to have to either add fish right away (same day type of thing) or go with the fishless cycle method. The reason for this is if you don't have something producing wastes in the tank, or really, ammonia, then the beneficial bacteria from that established filter media is going to die off on you and then you're simply left with some old, dirty filter media instead of the bacteria rich stuff you originally had.

Anyway... I should stop there. I'm ranting and need to go finish a take home exam that is due later today!  :lol:  But I definitely wish you luck and I think you did yourself a favour by coming to the OVAS forums to ask questions and get info. There are a whole load of folks here who are simply nutty for Africans. (I don't get it, haha. ) You'll no doubt receive a ton of info along with some pretty great deals on fish, no doubt.

[kennyman]

I am glad I set up my tank with a marine type substrate that enhances the water chemistry. I never need to mess with the water because my substrate keeps it at 8.2 and buffered. Just as long as I dont do HUGE water changes all will stay consistant.

[darkdep]

There are a whole load of folks here who are simply nutty for Africans. (I don't get it, haha. )

That's because you have yet to set up a nice African tank...you'd be hooked

[Mettle]

You could always give me that 40 gallon and test out your theory.

[darkdep]

Hey, I gave you first dibs

If you every make it over to my place, I'm sure I can convince you

[FishBuddy]

Hey Guys/Gals,

Thanks for the valuable info; I can never get enough of it!!!!!  About the bio-media Mettle, I have 2 crates of established biomax in my goldfish tank and will be transferring one crate of this stuff over to the Africans.  I did thought about that a while back and that's why I put a new set of biomax there...

Oh another thing, and often a controversial issue to many people....  Can the floor of your house be able to support an 800lbs aquarium without any type of reinforcement???  I know that we should place our tank along a load-supporting wall.  I did just that...  However, I've also bought a metal supporting pillar (the red ones which we see in our basement) and jack it up with a couple of 2x6's that span 3 floor joists.  I think that should be good enough...  Am I doing too much here?

[darkdep]

Hoo boy.  That's a hard Q to answer.  There is lots of research and information on this topic (and I'm sure someone more organized than I has links to lots of it), but the short answer is 99.999% likely to be: "You're fine, don't worry aboudit."