New to cichlids

[MattBruce]

I'm in the middle of getting my new 65 gallon cichlid aquarium ready for fish. I've never had cichlids before so I want everything to be perfect before adding them. I have two fluvial cannisters filters set up, one rated for 70 gallons and one rated for 25. As well as a small circulation fan. I used aquarium sand as substrate, have treated the water accordingly with tap water conditioner, nutrafin cycle. My water tests keep coming back saying my PH is at about 9.5! How come it's so high and how do I get it lower. I've been using API ph down and it doesn't seem to be working. My tests are as follows:
NO3: 0
NO2: 0
pH: 9.5
KH: 240
GH: 0

 

[dalto]

With kh that high it is going to be difficult to alter ph with chemicals. By the time you have destroyed enough kh to lower ph you may end up with a ph crash.

If you really need to lower ph you will probably need to mix ro water with your tap water to lower kh.

That being said, 9.5 is pretty high for tap water. Are you sure your test kit is correct? Is that well water or city?

What kind of cichlids do you want to keep?

 

[MattBruce]

Thanks for the tip. I think I may have found my problem, I didn't rinse the sand out when I put it in, I tested my tap water and the pH was about 8.0 so I emptied the tank after thoroughly stirring up the sand and refilled it and so far so good. Gonna let it circulate more then get another reading. I'm hoping for African cichlids but I am still not decided on what species I want

 

[ambizro]

You do realize you need to cycle your aquarium right, ideally before adding fish.

 

[MattBruce]

Of course. Hense why I'm making sure everything is okay and set up properly before I add fish

 

[Toad]

They mean fishless cycling, it's going to take you about a month to do, plenty of time to research fish, especially if you're still not sure what you want.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

 

[dalto]

I'm hoping for African cichlids but I am still not decided on what species I want

African rift lake cichlids generally prefer hard alkaline water so you will probably be in good shape with your water once you figure out what is driving ph into the stratosphere.

 

[V227]

Once you get all the water issues solved, good starter African cichlids are: Red Fin borleyi,
Yellow fin Acei, Hongi, Yellow lab, Williamsi blue lips, one or two Peacock cichlids. I've kept all of these fish. They won't get too big for your 65 gal. And they aren't too aggressive. Try to select all male fish. It makes things easier. With Africans, lots of rocks and caves.
With New World cichlids, nothing big. Maybe Fire mouth, Bolivian rams, other dwarf cichlids. You will probably like to add schools of Tetras. With a little experience and a lot of research you can even mix certain cichlids from different bio types. Keep AA updated.