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I usually do my water changes on Mondays. It's a perfect time for me because I'm home every Monday all by myself excluding one dog and three cats. The only one that assists me is my kitten Finn.
Today I did my 30 gallon New World Cichlid tank. New World Cichlids I find to be messier eaters than their African cousins. I have three Blood Parrots in this tank, along with one Oscar and two Black Convicts. The Blood Parrots with their interesting shape, are actually deformed through breeding leaving them with an odd shaped mouth. Their mouths don't close making it more difficult to eat and causing more waste in the tank. As much as I love the Parrot fish, it saddens me that they were bred to produce deformities.
I purchased a new little Black Convict yesterday and looking at the tank I new it needed a good water change before introducing this new little one. I began by getting my pails, vacuum and other supplies ready. First I begin removing about 10 gallons of the tank water keeping it in pails as I work. Next I remove the decor, plants and rocks setting them aside but not washing them. There's great healthy bacteria and algae on them that I don't want to disturb.
Now my tank is about 2/3's full of water and my Cichlids. At this point I usually just vacuum the stones allowing the fish to swim around as I work. Today I really needed to do a deeper clean so I moved the fish into one of the pails of water I was saving. That gave me a good opportunity to really shake things up and get the gravel cleaner then I could with the fish still in the tank.
Keep in mind the Cichlids weren't suffering any stress until Finn decided to go fishing. Luckily the pails are 5 gallon pails and Finn's little arms only reach about half way. Mind you he was soaked right up to his kitty pits.
Once I had the gravel vacuumed there was 10 gallons of water left. I began the next step of setting up the landscape. In this tank I like to change things up moving things around yet still creating the same hiding spots. They each have their favorites places to hide and I try to respect that. Everything this is set, filter has been cleaned and changed, bubbler is set and heater ready to go. All I have to do is turn on my power supply.
My next step I begin by pouring the water I saved back into the tank. I continue to fill the tank with fresh water that has been treated with Prime matching the temperature as I go. As soon as the water reaches levels high enough that I can turn my filter on I get that going. I give the landscape a quick check as it could have moved a little as I added the water. Finally I slowly add the final pail of water that the fish are in.
Taking my paper towel and vinegar bottle I clean the glass and wipe down the top/light and I'm done! The entire process takes me around 1.5-2 hours. It's one I love to do because these fish give me so much pleasure.
Today I did my 30 gallon New World Cichlid tank. New World Cichlids I find to be messier eaters than their African cousins. I have three Blood Parrots in this tank, along with one Oscar and two Black Convicts. The Blood Parrots with their interesting shape, are actually deformed through breeding leaving them with an odd shaped mouth. Their mouths don't close making it more difficult to eat and causing more waste in the tank. As much as I love the Parrot fish, it saddens me that they were bred to produce deformities.
I purchased a new little Black Convict yesterday and looking at the tank I new it needed a good water change before introducing this new little one. I began by getting my pails, vacuum and other supplies ready. First I begin removing about 10 gallons of the tank water keeping it in pails as I work. Next I remove the decor, plants and rocks setting them aside but not washing them. There's great healthy bacteria and algae on them that I don't want to disturb.
Now my tank is about 2/3's full of water and my Cichlids. At this point I usually just vacuum the stones allowing the fish to swim around as I work. Today I really needed to do a deeper clean so I moved the fish into one of the pails of water I was saving. That gave me a good opportunity to really shake things up and get the gravel cleaner then I could with the fish still in the tank.
Keep in mind the Cichlids weren't suffering any stress until Finn decided to go fishing. Luckily the pails are 5 gallon pails and Finn's little arms only reach about half way. Mind you he was soaked right up to his kitty pits.
Once I had the gravel vacuumed there was 10 gallons of water left. I began the next step of setting up the landscape. In this tank I like to change things up moving things around yet still creating the same hiding spots. They each have their favorites places to hide and I try to respect that. Everything this is set, filter has been cleaned and changed, bubbler is set and heater ready to go. All I have to do is turn on my power supply.
My next step I begin by pouring the water I saved back into the tank. I continue to fill the tank with fresh water that has been treated with Prime matching the temperature as I go. As soon as the water reaches levels high enough that I can turn my filter on I get that going. I give the landscape a quick check as it could have moved a little as I added the water. Finally I slowly add the final pail of water that the fish are in.
Taking my paper towel and vinegar bottle I clean the glass and wipe down the top/light and I'm done! The entire process takes me around 1.5-2 hours. It's one I love to do because these fish give me so much pleasure.
