On my 225 i have a 55g sump w/ about 60#'s of ceramic media. I also have a 100 micron filter sock that I change out w/ every wc...3x a week...40-60%. Powered by 2 quiet one 6000 pumps for a good 10x turnover rate. And I still feel I should add more filtration.
Cichla owners filtration set-ups, lets see them
- Thread starter Boogiemn1
- Start date
On the subject of water conditions....What temps does everyone keep their cichla tanks at.
I assume temp may have an impact on how they look as well.
I assume temp may have an impact on how they look as well.
At juvie sizes 1-8", i like to keep mine at 86-89. For my larger cichla that are 12-18"+ i keep em anywhere from 82-88.....depends on the season(how warm it is outside and in the house).
im curious to know what your filtration looks like with all them nice pbass you acquired, ken?
On my 100gal growout I have a 55gal wet/dry with 2-100 micron filtersocks and a mag 9.5 as a pump with a couple of mid sized powerheads that push most of the waste back to the overflows. the stock on that tank is 8 wc orino's at 2-1/2''. Once a week waterchanges at 50 percent and alternate changing filtersocks.
There future tank is a 560gal tank with 3-mag18's hidden in the overflow box with custom made prefilters with polyfill. the pumps go to an OHF that has 3- 3 drawer containers that have a total of 6-100micron filtersocks that then go to a 100gal horse trough that is 3/4 full of pot scrubies. The current stock is 2 silver aro's at 8'', 4 sliver dollars at 4'', 2 channel cats at 4''. Once a week waterchanges at 50 percent and alternate changing filtersocks.
Both tanks temp is at 86 degrees and I am prepared to up my waterchanges when they grow into monsters.
There future tank is a 560gal tank with 3-mag18's hidden in the overflow box with custom made prefilters with polyfill. the pumps go to an OHF that has 3- 3 drawer containers that have a total of 6-100micron filtersocks that then go to a 100gal horse trough that is 3/4 full of pot scrubies. The current stock is 2 silver aro's at 8'', 4 sliver dollars at 4'', 2 channel cats at 4''. Once a week waterchanges at 50 percent and alternate changing filtersocks.
Both tanks temp is at 86 degrees and I am prepared to up my waterchanges when they grow into monsters.
I think the better question to ask is what's your water change routine, and what are your average nitrate levels. The purpose of bio filtration is to keep ammonia and nitrites at 0, and that's the easy part. As long as you have plenty of water moving over some sort of media with enough surface area, you'll never see ammonia or nitrites.
The challenge is keeping up with the nitrates produced by the filter due to these big messy fish. If you can manage to keep nitrates at near zero levels, you'll have happy and healthy cichla. Keeping them in constant 40-100ppm of nitrates is not ok IMO. Nitrate is like a poison. Would you want to be exposed to second hand smoke every day all day?
The challenge is keeping up with the nitrates produced by the filter due to these big messy fish. If you can manage to keep nitrates at near zero levels, you'll have happy and healthy cichla. Keeping them in constant 40-100ppm of nitrates is not ok IMO. Nitrate is like a poison. Would you want to be exposed to second hand smoke every day all day?
Your right about the Nitrates for sure J
the second hand smoke tho is another story not only do i please myself with first hand smoke second helping's are even more pleasurable 
