Water changes for big tanks with cichla

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Better check your local laws. In some places it's illegal to do that, it has to go down the drain. I put all of mine into the drain.

My water bill was never too bad.. It went from like $20 to $40 a month with my big tanks. It was my electric bill that took the hit. Two mag 36's, 1 24 and 18 and severeal 950's running 24/7 are HORRIBLE. It went from $100 to $400 or so a month.
 
I was looking into some solar panels to run my heaters during the day but don't think they generate enough power for heaters..

Danh, what about your heaters? How many do you have and what wattage? Do you just have a sump or are you also running canister filters? Sorry about all the questions, I don't want to be shellshocked after buying the tank. Thanks for all the advice guys!
 
Not to derail the room, but i plan on using a solar panel/deep cycle battery plan to run my fish room. Solar panels only have to be strong enough to maintain the amount of power being used in the batteries. Get multiple batteries and always keep em topped off. I'll start a thread when i actually start working on the idea...
 
KLee79;3044784; said:
Not to derail the room, but i plan on using a solar panel/deep cycle battery plan to run my fish room. Solar panels only have to be strong enough to maintain the amount of power being used in the batteries. Get multiple batteries and always keep em topped off. I'll start a thread when i actually start working on the idea...
Click to expand...

Sweet, I'll be on the lookout for tha thread!:)
 
I do water top off in my tank. About 100 Gallons every other day.

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That's a complicated setup you have there R1! no wonder your tanks always so clear! Sorry for the noobish question but, what is everything? O_o
 
I'll get the links to the vids of my setup in a minute.

I had two 800W titanium heaters that I had to add a new circuit for. They pulled 9 amps a piece! I found out that as long as I didn't add too much cold water, the two mag 36 pumps returning the sump and the three 950gph pumps inside the tank that I used as power heads put off enough heat to keep the temp up. In the winter I used two 300w stealth heaters that did the job.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMCqd7btKCU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-QO7fwQBzQ
That filter floss on top of the bio balls is NOT SUFFICIENT. I went to filter socks after that which worked much better. That is wood that you see piled up on the bottom. It eventually accumulated solid poo like that, so I added the extra pumps inside the tank. You can see the drip system on top of the tank. It went through a prefilter, then two carbon matrix filters and into the tank. I just used a fridge icemaker saddle valve and some other compression fittings from Home Depot. I ordered the filter parts. They were like $50 total. You just turn the water on and let it go. The sump overflowed into the drain. I also took the turns out of that one return. Those were the only pieces I could get at Home Depot when I put it together. I also only had the XP4 in there while it cycled.
 
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