Water Changes in African Cichlid Tank

I

igetbombed

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Jan 10, 2006
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Hello,

I have read A LOT of differing opinions on how often to do water changes in an African Cichlid tank. Can someone clarify, because once a week seems like too much, but once a month seems like not enough. I was thinking of going with once every other week.

Also, how about the filters? I have a big eheim canister filter, and I have a large penuin hang on the back filter.

The LFS told me the Eheim needs to only be cleaned every 6 months?? And that the on the back filter is once a month. Your thoughts??

Last but not least - how do I clean the filters properly?? I was warned by friends of mine if you completely clean the filter, then you essentially take your tank back to day 1 of setup and will kill everything inside.

I know these are a lot of questions - but your thoughts are greatly appreciated.
 
certain African cichlids, notably those from Lake Tanganyika and more specifically, Tropheus species, definitely do not appreciate large scale water changes (10-20 percent is about right) but the less you change, the more frequently you need to change it.

Africans are particularly sensitive to dissolved metabolites in the water. the rest of the Africans both from malawi and Tanganyika will appreciate weekly water changes of about 50 percent. if nitrates are 10 ppm or less, you're doing fine.
 
Thanks.....

for your 2 cents on the water change thing. I refuse to keep tropheus because they are a pain in the a--. I could never in a million years keep them, nor would I care to try - too expensive, and too hard to keep.

I guess my rule of thumb will be to test the water often, and let that dictate when to do a water change?? I only have about 8 juvies in right now (1 inch or less), and the tank has been up and running for like 3 weeks now. The first water change will be today, as nitrate came up a bit (meaning it was detectable for the first time).

But what about my other ?'s above - re: the filter etc.
 
rinse the filter media in the tank water you remove at water changes. for floss type media, never simply discard all of it at once but rather, when you feel it's time to change it, cut a piece of it off the one you're going to discard and place it behind the new one. floss should be replaced when the water flow seems to be slowing down. sponges last for years and never need more than rinsing. other media such as ceramics and such should virtually never be replaced ... just rinsed.

i do filter maintainance on my Aquaclear sponges monthly and on my cannisters, about quarterly.
 
I have a 55 gal african tank and as they get larger i currently do about a 35% water change every 10-14 days to keep the Nitrates under control. Just check your levels and figure out at what rate you need to change to keep the Nitrates from getting too high.

On the canister - i think 6 months might be a bit long - i go about 3 months. Cleaning the coarse media that catches all the solids by rinsing under running water - this should not really harm the bacteria that has collected there. And on the sponges (there are two in my fluval) i replace one with a nice new one and re-use the other one just rinsing it in some of the discarded water to get the dirt out of it. Never just replace all the media as the filter is where most of the activity is taking place unless of course you have an UGF also.
 
igetbombed said:
....I have read A LOT of differing opinions on how often to do water changes in an African Cichlid tank. Can someone clarify, because once a week seems like too much, but once a month seems like not enough. I was thinking of going with once every other week....
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Water changes are performed to remove the build up of nitrates and other waste products and dissolved compounds from the tank. If doing a water change ever other week keeps your nitrates in check (10-40ppm or below), your schedule is fine. If your nitrates exceed 40ppm, you'll need to conduct water changes more frequently and/or increase the percentage of water changed out.

The actual effective water change interval and percentage for your specific tank is dependent on your bioload, feeding habits, quantity of waste in the substrate, etc.
 
Heres my routine - once a week I do a 20-30% water change with a python. Once thats done, fill up a 5 gal bucket with similar temp tap water, add prime and 1/2 tbsp of rift lake salts, add to tank. Repeat until tank is full. Right now I'm running an Eheim 2028 and a 2228 (90 gal tank) - alternate cannister cleanings so I've always got a solid bio base.
 
Hi,
I am fishless cycling a 55g tank at the moment, nitrites just started to decrease so almost there. Going to keep Mbunas. My question is this...my tapwater has 30ppm nitrtates so bringing them down with water changes is really hard to do. Should I add nitrazorb or a similar product to bring them down? Thanks.
 
The current feeling in the hobby is that it is the dissolved organic compounds that need to be kept under control and that the nitrates are just an indicator of your DOCs. Since your water starts with 30ppm nitrates just make that your base level. If you would normally shoot to keep nitrates below 20pp, then you would look to keep yours under 50ppm.
 
mooman said:
The current feeling in the hobby is that it is the dissolved organic compounds that need to be kept under control and that the nitrates are just an indicator of your DOCs. Since your water starts with 30ppm nitrates just make that your base level. If you would normally shoot to keep nitrates below 20pp, then you would look to keep yours under 50ppm.
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Ahhhhh, so it's not the actual level of nitrates that is a concern but the increase in the level. That's great to know. I'm in the same boat with my tap water starting off with about 10 ppm of nitrates. I was really confused as to how to do water changes to reduce the level in my tank if I'm replacing it with water that may add to the level. Thanks for the info.
 
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