help! 92 gallon bow african tank

[capecodaquarium]

hey guys first post here.
i have a 92 corner bow in my fish room. dedicating it to rift lake cichlids.
currently i have a male frontosa, a red zebra, 4 yellow labs apparently offspring of wild caughts, a small aurora, a rubbernose plec, and a large common plec.
i know the frontosa shouldnt be in there with the malawi's but he seems to be doing fine. i have had him since he was tiny so i cant bring myself to get rid of him.

i put 2 teaspoons of kent cichlid chemistry per 10 gallons as directed on the bottle, and api ph 7.5 as directed. i have ph 8.2 but wasnt sure how the 8.2 ph would affect the plecos? also wondering how the kent cichlid chemistry will affect them?
also were these the right things to put in? the kent stuff was made for them, but i am curious to see your opinions of the api ph buffer.
i kind of think i should have left it alone..

ph is 7.2 out of the tap.

 

[Bl80]

hey guys first post here.
i have a 92 corner bow in my fish room. dedicating it to rift lake cichlids.
currently i have a male frontosa, a red zebra, 4 yellow labs apparently offspring of wild caughts, a small aurora, a rubbernose plec, and a large common plec.
i know the frontosa shouldnt be in there with the malawi's but he seems to be doing fine. i have had him since he was tiny so i cant bring myself to get rid of him.

i put 2 teaspoons of kent cichlid chemistry per 10 gallons as directed on the bottle, and api ph 7.5 as directed. i have ph 8.2 but wasnt sure how the 8.2 ph would affect the plecos? also wondering how the kent cichlid chemistry will affect them?
also were these the right things to put in? the kent stuff was made for them, but i am curious to see your opinions of the api ph buffer.
i kind of think i should have left it alone..

ph is 7.2 out of the tap.

I don't use any ph buffers in my tanks. I have 2 lake Malawi tanks ( 140 and upgraded my 55 last night to a FREE 125 set up from my neighbor, YAY ME !!) and a 90 g lake Victorian. My son also has a 40g convict set up. I've never had any problems and fish spit fry like crazy. I believe and have read others that a constant ph is more important than trying to maintain a higher, often leading to fluctuation. My ph is 6.5. " if it ain't broke don't fix it".

 

[joel618]

Its my understanding that as long as the ph is between 7-8 you are fine. The fish will acclimate to the ph. Changing the tank ph all at once will stress them. I use tap water in my Malawi tank, it is close to 8. My pleco and botia Loach acclimated to it fine

 

[joel618]

You can also add different rocks to naturally raise the ph

 

[capecodaquarium]

cool thanks guys, i will stop using the ph buffer. wish i hadnt stressed the fish out like that putting it all in at once. wasnt thinking. they seem to be ok, looks like that cichlid chemistry works, the peacock is showing better coloration. forgot to put him on the list of fish in the tank!

also i use the mardel 5 in 1 test strips and my tap water show no alkalinity/buffering capacity whatsoever. maybe that is why the cichlid chemistry works..adding minerals to the water?
i am still learning about water chemistry

i also still have a bare bottom. thinking about getting a bag or two of the florida crushed coral from fosters and smith, or would sand be a better choice so they can dig

good to know the pleco will adapt. also didnt think a loach could live with cichlids. i was lead to believe it would be killed or harassed. now i know i have a home for my clown loach when he gets big

 

[Bl80]

I used black Blasting sand in all my tanks with mo issues and only about 4$ a bag of so.... If you like the light color pool filter sand is a popular choice. I put mine in a pillow case to rinse... Another method is In a bucket running water and stirring with either method.

 

[Mogurako]

hey guys first post here.
i have a 92 corner bow in my fish room. dedicating it to rift lake cichlids.
currently i have a male frontosa, a red zebra, 4 yellow labs apparently offspring of wild caughts, a small aurora, a rubbernose plec, and a large common plec.
i know the frontosa shouldnt be in there with the malawi's but he seems to be doing fine. i have had him since he was tiny so i cant bring myself to get rid of him.

The only time that PH needs to be altered to accommodate African cichlids is if you are receiving imported wild caught fish, then it's best to match the PH, GH, KH and temperature of the water. Otherwise as long as the PH is stable and between 7-8.6 the fish will be fine.

If you are aware there are issues with your stock why not fix it?! That common pleco needs to be rehomed they need a 120-150 gal minimum to house them, the rubber nose is fine. As for the cichlids you have a mix of fish with different aggression levels, dietary and stocking needs. Frontosa can get 10-12" and should be kept in schools no smaller than 4, 1 males to 3 females and need allot of swimming room a 6' tank would be the minimum IMO. Mbuna need to stocked in a 1 male to 4-5 female ratio and be "overstocked" to help keep aggression down and should not be fed allot of proteins because it can cause bloat. Peacocks shouldn't be housed with the hyper aggressive Mbunas and are best kept with other peacocks or a single species breeding colony.

I am not trying to be mean or break you down it's just up to us to be responsible aquarist and provide the best care we can.

 

[capecodaquarium]

thanks for the info didn't know that about the frontosa. stupid lfs providing false info.

i am working on it, learning as much as i can from other people and the interenet, thats why i joined this forum!

 

[joel618]

I would use crushed coral to help buffer your water. I mixed mine w black sand

 

[Mogurako]

I would use crushed coral to help buffer your water. I mixed mine w black sand

His PH is 7.2 out of the Tap that will be fine for his fish as long as it stays stable the there is no need to add a whole buch of extra stuff.

 

[joel618]

I agree. Just saying if he still wanter to try to buffer it a bit

 

[Mogurako]

I agree. Just saying if he still wanter to try to buffer it a bit

I don't think it would buffer the water as much as help stabilize the PH.

 

[capecodaquarium]

decided to go with pool filter sand. got a 50 pound bag for ten bucks. couldnt find any black beauty blasting sand around here. everyone is out of stock. i think i like the pool sand more anyway, more natural looking.
suprised at how much scum came off of it while washing it.
looks really good, not using gravel anymore. im sure the fish like it more!
i'll post up some pics of the tank and my fish room later today.

as far as buffers go, im just going to stick with kent cichlid chemistry for now. no ph buffers except crushed coral in the filter sometime.

 

[Mogurako]

decided to go with pool filter sand. got a 50 pound bag for ten bucks. couldnt find any black beauty blasting sand around here. everyone is out of stock. i think i like the pool sand more anyway, more natural looking.
suprised at how much scum came off of it while washing it.
looks really good, not using gravel anymore. im sure the fish like it more!
i'll post up some pics of the tank and my fish room later today.

as far as buffers go, im just going to stick with kent cichlid chemistry for now. no ph buffers except crushed coral in the filter sometime.

You can always mix the crushed coral with the PFS since they are both that off white color. The kent cichlid chemistry will buffer the PH a bit i worry about how much of a PH swing It would cause.

 

[capecodaquarium]

man looks like i made a big mistake using the api ph 7.5 then. anything i can do?
the cichlid chemistry say it only buffers the ph a tiny bit

 

[Mogurako]

man looks like i made a big mistake using the api ph 7.5 then. anything i can do?
the cichlid chemistry say it only buffers the ph a tiny bit

I never use any kind of chemical that alters PH because it will always end up going back to what it started at stressing out the fish. Honestly I would not add anything to the tank even stop using the kent, it is not necessary. Just mix a little crushed coral in with the PFS or add it to the filter to help make sure the PH stays stable.

 

[capecodaquarium]

 

[capecodaquarium]

ok, will do.

posted pictures but they have to be approved by the moderator?

 

[jsoong]

ok, will do.

posted pictures but they have to be approved by the moderator?

Until you established a track record (of not being a spammer), pics & links needs to be moderated. Being summer, might just take a bit longer than usual for us to get to.

 

[capecodaquarium]

ok, good to know.

oops added a pic of my 29 by accident, i love my galaxy pleco