My New 60g Tank

[Natedawg63]

Good Day All...

I have recently decided to get back into aquari hobby again after about 12 years from having Mbuna Cichlids last time.

I wanted a SA tank so that I could try Apistos this time. I have it aquascaped now with 3 large pieces of driftwood that are placed vertical because they have "legs" on them - kinda like archways or cave entrances. A link here to the wood:

http://store.seacorals.net/feexlamadrbr.html

I also have the front done with the nice Pagoda rock so that it looks like a rock outcrop:

http://store.seacorals.net/aqgrnapast1.html

The substrate is small natural brown river rock type gravel but I left a sort of trenched area in the front for sand and some black stones that will be planted with a grass. I purchased a SA Habitatplant package that turned out really nice - as soon as I can find my tripod - I will post a pic.

I am using Substrate Gold balls planted beside the roots and Tropica Master Grow for fert - also using the Natural Aquarium Vital for CO2.

The tank is VERY brackish/mucky right now, mainly from the driftwood and adding the Substrate Gold yesterday. I use a Fluval 305 canister for mechanical filter and 2 Marineland HOB Bio-Wheel filters with Seachem Matrix for Bio filtration.

If I want to clear the tank from settlement... what is the best type of filter to get for maintenance - a Diatom filter or maybe a Marineland HOT with the 1 micron filter? I was thinking the System 1 Diatom filter to use during each water change to help keep it clear - any suggestions?

Many thanks for the forum...
Nate

 

[dw1305]

Hi Nate,
Tannin stained water (or at least the low light conditions it produces ) is usually preferred by Apistogramma.

I personally wouldn't do anything now other than, I'd add the sand and take out the rock (unless you know its lime free), I'd add some dead Oak Leaves, some clay flower pots and plant some Java fern and Java moss on your bogwood. I'd then leave the filter running as is, and the plants to establish for several months.
(Have a look at: http://dwarfcichlid.com/Apistogramma.php)

I'd also start a Grindal worm culture, and read as many of the posts on this forum as possible whilst waiting.

When the plants are growing well, pH is stable (at whatever value, if it's higher than pH 7.5 you need to remove the source of carbonates in the tank and/or find "better" water) and you have a nice biofilm established (have a look at: http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/biofilm/devbio.shtml), I'd then change 10% of the water every day for a couple of weeks. You don't say what size the tank is but by then the tank won't require cycling as such, add the fish (species dependent upon your waters pH and hardness). I'd still add the fish in order, a small shoal of dithers (tetras or (pencils preferred by most people)) then a couple of weeks later your pair/trio or male and harem of dwarf cichlids, if I was going to add a group of Otocinclus (or cherry shrimps) as algae eaters I'd wait another couple of months before adding them. I wouldn't add any other fish, although Malaysian Trumpet Snails are highly recommended if your pH is high enough (over 6)

I'd try to keep all disturbance (gardening, cleaning, particularly vacuuming) to the tank to a minimum.

I would say that keeping SA dwarf cichlids is very different from Mbuna, and the secrets are high quality water, lots of small water changes, very light stocking, loads and loads of cover, plenty of live food and stable water conditions. If you really like a very clean, bright tank with sparkling gravel, no algae and lots and lots of fish swimming around, Apistogrammas probably aren't the best fish for you.

cheers Darrel

 

[Natedawg63]

Thanks for the reply!!! Great advice - TY!

My tank is 48x12x24. Not sure about the construct of the Pagoda rock... Will def investigate that. I am using peat pellets in my Fluval and my PH with using tap (around 7.2 tap water) and adding some PH 7 - is running around 6.2< using test strips. I gotta invest in some better testing kits that use chemical reagents for more accurate readings.

I was def planning on letting the plants establish a few months before adding the Apisto to it. I knew using the driftwood and peat filtering was gonna make it a tannin colored tank - what I have is more of a suspended sediment problem - I think from using the clay based Substrate Gold... Was jus wondering if that would settle after awhile since I dont have any type micron filtering in the Fluval. I will get some of the Fluval polishing pads for the last stage in the canister - that will prob help clear the suspended settlement from the tank.

I will check out the links you gave. Should I jus run my Bio Wheels at night, so that they dont disturb the CO2 during the light cycle? Should I invest in a few of the submerged sponge filters also?

Thanks again for the reply.

Nate

 

[dw1305]

Hi Nate,
Sounds a nice big tank, Apistogramma only tend to be interested in the bottom of the tank, so water depth is largely irrelevant, having said that I've noticed where I've got "driftwood tangles" they will come to the top of the cover. I've always wanted a deep tank to grow emersed Anubias etc up out of the water into the air. I would be keen on an over-tank planted trickle filter too.

I think that the biofilm will flocculate any clays, so the tank will clear without any action on your part if you leave it.

With the filtration I just run (2) big coarse sponge filter (I use one bought for a Koi pond) on a powerhead, it provides a lot of filtration but without too much waterflow. I also only clean 3 or 4 times a year.

I'm not sure about the CO2 question, I'm also a bit of a CO2 agnostic in that I'd rather have a low nutrient, no CO2 tank where plants grow fairly slowly.
I do like the T5 lights although I use a lot of floating plants to cut the light down in the summer, and thin them out for the winter when ambient light is lower.

I'm also fairly careful with my money, so I don't use Aquarium lights, (any T5 6500K fitting & tube will do) I run a cheap filter and I use sphagnum peat (peat moss) in a pillow case rather than peat pellets. I'm also lucky in that I live in an area where although the tap water is very hard we have a lot of free distilled rainwater.

cheers Darrel

 

[Natedawg63]

So... it was the clay substrate reacting with the bacteria colony that had formed in my gravel that has turned my tank into a soupy mess? The tank was clear and tannish before I added the Substrate Gold - now it is like a tankful of suspended solids - all cloudy and mucky. So... just keep the filters running and it will all floculate and settle out in time? I used to work in a water filtration plant as my first full-time job - so I remember we added alum and lime into our incoming water that went to a mixing basin which would allow them to mix together... as the molecules mixed they would attach to suspended solids and form floc - which would settle as it went across the settlement basins before going into the final filters.

Wonder if I should turn the filters off for a day or so... so that the floc can settle out better? Never seen this before... I guess because the low PH nis reacting with something in the clay...

Our water in this part of Alabama contains hardness in the form of limestone water tables... The city I live in is known as the Marble City - we have a quarry nearby. We have a very large Calcium processing plant that provides calcium carbonate products to manufacturers all over the US.

Should I go ahead and invest in a RO unit before I go any further with my tank? I jus hate that those units waste so much water to get the final product... I think there are a few units that dont waste as much - but are very xpensive...

Yikes... hope I can get this resolved... having this mucky water is making me rethink the whole SA tank idea now.

Nate

 

[Natedawg63]

To clarify a bit on my tests this AM show:

GH very low on test strip - around 0ppm - very soft

KH approx 100ppm

PH around 6.5

Gotta order a better testing kit today for sure... these lil strips jus not good enough for proper testing.

Nate

 

[dw1305]

Hi Nate,
It's the same idea as with the adding lime (or alum) to cause the clay particles to flocculate. In that case it's the chemical interaction of the added multivalent cations (Ca2+, Al3+) with the negatively charged clay minerals that cause the flocs to form. In the case of the biofilm it's a physical process where the biofilm (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, rotifers etc.) effectively gums the clays together, and they settle out. If you run the filter this will largely happen in the filter, (and you will get some mechanical filtration as well), if you don't the clays will settle, but initially into a layer that may become re-suspended when you turn the filter back on, but eventually will remain permanently out of suspension. I find that using fine sand the Apistogramma's tend to manage to sift it all over the plants, when they are having a root around in the bottom (they are geophagines "earth eaters").

Here near Bath (UK) it's very similar, all the geology is limestone and our tap water is "liquid cement", fortunately it rains a lot all year so I can collect plenty of rainwater. In the summer if it does become dusty, the first rain forming will collect a lot of dust and be alkaline by the time it reaches the water butt.

The harder your tap water is the more water your RO unit will use for each litre of "pure" water.

Can you borrow an electronic pH and conductivity meter from a school, college or get the water tested in a lab? if the water your testing is tap water I would suggest your strips are probably no good.

Our tap water here is a perfect match for Lake Malawi, but Mbuna etc. have never really interested me (I like plants too much), although I do like some hard water cichlids, Paracyprichromis, Shellies etc.

cheers Darrel