Coyote251
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hi All, I am currently in the process of cycling a new tank which I would like to setup as a cichlid tank. I am not 100% sure what type of cichlid's I will be putting in the tank, but have seen a few local people advertising convicts for a decent price. This might be a good idea due to the fact that I am very new to fish keeping, not a whole lot of sense investing tons of money in fish until I have a better idea of what I am doing. So, the tank I am cycling is a 30g, I currently have some planted plants and a bunch of beach stone,making alot of crevases and caves. I do know that this won't house the fish for long and I am fully prepared to upgrade to a larger tank within the next year.
Onto my questions :
1) I am using the fishless cycling method and am wondering when to start conditioning the water for cichlids? I don't want to affect the cycling process by adding minerals and messing around with the GH/KH as I know that this will affect the PH as well. Should I wait until the tank is fully cycled and then add the cichlid water conditioner and KH booster? Do I even need this stuff?
2) What kind of numbers am I looking for in my water tests? I checked it tonight and the GH was less than 20mg/L and the KH was about 65mg/L. The current PH is about 7.5.
3) What things do I need to be worrying about in preparing this tank for cichlids?
4) How many fish could this tank house safely for the first year if I planned on upgrading to atleast a 80g tank within the next twelve months.
Any help,suggestions or direction to any good resources for cichlids would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Onto my questions :
1) I am using the fishless cycling method and am wondering when to start conditioning the water for cichlids? I don't want to affect the cycling process by adding minerals and messing around with the GH/KH as I know that this will affect the PH as well. Should I wait until the tank is fully cycled and then add the cichlid water conditioner and KH booster? Do I even need this stuff?
2) What kind of numbers am I looking for in my water tests? I checked it tonight and the GH was less than 20mg/L and the KH was about 65mg/L. The current PH is about 7.5.
3) What things do I need to be worrying about in preparing this tank for cichlids?
4) How many fish could this tank house safely for the first year if I planned on upgrading to atleast a 80g tank within the next twelve months.
Any help,suggestions or direction to any good resources for cichlids would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.