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Since I have been having an issue with my ammonia testing high I've been doing water changes of about 30% every other day. Today I was making big changes to rectify my ammonia issues once and for all.
Yesterday I purchased a beautiful Eheim Classic 250 canister filter. What a fantastic little machine. I had it hooked up and running within minutes. I ran it all night with the plan of doing a major water change and population culling this morning. With that in mind, I filled all my 5 gallon pails with water from the basement tap where I can get the water before it goes through our water softener. Hubby helped me carry the pails up to allow them to warm up to room temperature.
I began the siphon procedure. As the water was draining I removed all the rocks and decor because I would never be able to catch the fish I was planning on removing from the tank. Once I had that taken care of I shut down the filters as they were nearing that point. Next I got my vacuum. My vacuum is a 1" in diameter hose about 10 feet long with a 12" piece of a hanger wire shoved in the end to give the hose stiffness. I do have a big vacuum but I like this much better with sand substrate because I can be very accurate and only pick up the waste. If I do suck up sand I just give it a rinse and put it back in the tank.
When I had about 4" of water left in the tank I began culling the herd - ha! Farm talk. I removed 14 fish in total. 3-RedTop Zebras, 3-Rusties, 2-Hybrid Mbunas that I have never really identified and finally 6 little Acei. The Acei I have in my grow-out tank where my Red Top Zebra and my OB Peacock fry are. They are about the same size and all for sale. The 8 others are going somewhere today. If I can't find a home for them I'll take them to the aquarium store for a small store credit. The ones I removed were the largest and most aggressive in my tank.
Having the tank back together it's looking really good. The Cichlids always seem to be hyper after a water change of this size. They have a new aqua-scape to explore and now that the tank bad boys are gone there's a whole new feeling to the tank. I really thought my Blueberry would step up and show some dominance but he's not at all. It's my Red Zebra who seems to be chasing everyone around. It's new so it will take a few days to see this new hierarchy develop. It's amazing to watch the new relationships develop.
I want take a quick sec to thank all the wonderful people who have helped me get through this dilema and solve my ammonia problem. Thank you!! FaceBook FISH TUBE group!! Check out the group!!
Yesterday I purchased a beautiful Eheim Classic 250 canister filter. What a fantastic little machine. I had it hooked up and running within minutes. I ran it all night with the plan of doing a major water change and population culling this morning. With that in mind, I filled all my 5 gallon pails with water from the basement tap where I can get the water before it goes through our water softener. Hubby helped me carry the pails up to allow them to warm up to room temperature.
I began the siphon procedure. As the water was draining I removed all the rocks and decor because I would never be able to catch the fish I was planning on removing from the tank. Once I had that taken care of I shut down the filters as they were nearing that point. Next I got my vacuum. My vacuum is a 1" in diameter hose about 10 feet long with a 12" piece of a hanger wire shoved in the end to give the hose stiffness. I do have a big vacuum but I like this much better with sand substrate because I can be very accurate and only pick up the waste. If I do suck up sand I just give it a rinse and put it back in the tank.When I had about 4" of water left in the tank I began culling the herd - ha! Farm talk. I removed 14 fish in total. 3-RedTop Zebras, 3-Rusties, 2-Hybrid Mbunas that I have never really identified and finally 6 little Acei. The Acei I have in my grow-out tank where my Red Top Zebra and my OB Peacock fry are. They are about the same size and all for sale. The 8 others are going somewhere today. If I can't find a home for them I'll take them to the aquarium store for a small store credit. The ones I removed were the largest and most aggressive in my tank.
Having the tank back together it's looking really good. The Cichlids always seem to be hyper after a water change of this size. They have a new aqua-scape to explore and now that the tank bad boys are gone there's a whole new feeling to the tank. I really thought my Blueberry would step up and show some dominance but he's not at all. It's my Red Zebra who seems to be chasing everyone around. It's new so it will take a few days to see this new hierarchy develop. It's amazing to watch the new relationships develop.
I want take a quick sec to thank all the wonderful people who have helped me get through this dilema and solve my ammonia problem. Thank you!! FaceBook FISH TUBE group!! Check out the group!!
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