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#Post#: 68--------------------------------------------------
Nitrogen Cycle
By: GaryJewett Date: September 20, 2014, 9:24 am
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After getting my 55 gallon tank set up, we have very good well
water, temp, ph , ammonia, nitrates and nitrites all read
perfect. I got 2 small mbunas and a small peackock and after a
week all readings were perfect. I used Prime also. I then went
to KG tropical and got 6 more mbunas and 2 peacocks, all small
and now have 11 small cichlids. As expected my ammonia is
readable and nitrite and nitrate are zero. Fish look great and
always hungry. I added another capful of Prime and will do a
water change when nitrates are readable. I have 2 filters on
tank, each rated for 550 gallons per hour. Am I doing OK or any
suggestions. I was going to add 3 or 4 yellow labs in a couple
weeks.
#Post#: 75--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nitrogen Cycle
By: kgtropicals Date: September 20, 2014, 10:20 am
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You're doing it right my friend:-) I think you'll be fine doing
exactly what you're doing!
Did I read correctly you're processing 1,100 gallons per hour in
a 55 gallon tank? That's some SERIOUS filtration lol.
#Post#: 78--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nitrogen Cycle
By: GaryJewett Date: September 20, 2014, 11:33 am
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I got 2 Fluval U-4's, each good for a 60 gallon tank, and the
box says 550 gph. I've had sump filters, HOB's and canisters and
got the 2 U-4's on Amazon for $80. I saw a lot of videos where
peoples canisters leaked.
#Post#: 100--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nitrogen Cycle
By: GaryJewett Date: September 20, 2014, 1:30 pm
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Sorry, I looked up the specs and the U-4 is 260 gph, so that's
520 total
#Post#: 101--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nitrogen Cycle
By: Jennifer Date: September 20, 2014, 1:35 pm
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You will likely get varied opinions on this, but when I have
fish in a tank, I do not allow my ammonia or nitrites to get
much above registerable and would certainly put 2 ppm as a way
top limit on either of those.
The reason you get varied opinions is that yes, keeping those
levels down via water changes will slow the cycling process down
a bit, but for me personally, I've seen too many fish too badly
affected by ammonia and nitrite to worry about a much speedier
cycle. The good news is, since you were already cycled, your
spikes should be much lower than the initial spikes. In my
experience, a few little gals of water replaced here and there
between other larger water changes takes care of those "mini
spikes" nicely.
I'm not really an African cichlid expert, so John probably knows
more, but I know that it's those nitrite spikes and not so much
the ammonia, that REALLY causes problem with most community fish
and with your more delicate SA cichlids. Of course, I think the
affects of nitrite on fish is highly understated in much of the
hobby.
You are certainly on the right track though.
#Post#: 106--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nitrogen Cycle
By: Stu4648 Date: September 20, 2014, 1:48 pm
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2 Fluval U4s must be taking up a fair bit of room in your tank.
They are a nice filter though, I have one in my 30 gallon. I
would prefer to use a canister filter for anything over a 30. If
you stick to the maintenance schedule and use silicone on the
gaskets you should greatly reduce the likelihood of having any
leakage issues.
#Post#: 112--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nitrogen Cycle
By: GaryJewett Date: September 20, 2014, 2:03 pm
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I never had a leaky canister filter, but could not beat the deal
I got on 2 U-4s. They do take up a little room but the fish swim
behind and around them. Eventually I may switch. Hears a pic
prior to adding fish
#Post#: 121--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nitrogen Cycle
By: Jennifer Date: September 20, 2014, 2:19 pm
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Looking good!
I want to see it with fish though!! ;D
#Post#: 198--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nitrogen Cycle
By: deanmbuna Date: September 21, 2014, 1:18 am
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I am running a couple of cannisters on my 55 gallon right now
(Marineland c-360) and they filter about 600 to 700
gallons/hour. I bought them during a summer sale run by Foster
and Smith and I could not resist buying two of them. The
baskets are large and allow me to run a lot of biological media
in both of them and Chemi-pure Blue in one of the cannister's
trays. My water is crystal clear and my water parameters are
great. Another way to look at it is that if I get a bigger tank
then I already have the filtration for a tank as large as 150
gallons.
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