Nitrates,Altolamprologus Sumbu Shell, How to cool tank water

Q&A About Lake Tanganyika Cichlids

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sujay
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Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2011 4:12 pm

Nitrates,Altolamprologus Sumbu Shell, How to cool tank water

Post by sujay »

Hey Pam! Love the fact I can get my thoughts right off my chest on this website thanks to your expertise! Now nitrates build up between water changes as we know and i see mine normally sit at around anywhere from 0 - 2mg upon testing the day im scheduled a water change or the day before. I normally do a 40% weekly in my Tropheus 140g which is powerfully filtered by the fluval fx 5 and a 305 canister filters. I will always keep to this routine but I just wondered what is the mg of nitrates you don't want to exceed for cichlids such as troph's and sumbu shell compresiceps, obviously the closer to 0 is best.

Just introduced 3 pairs of altolamprologus compressiceps sumbu shell into my 2ft that I asking if you thought was level the other day and what bewties they are! If very shy at the minute. Their colours are fantastic and the females are noticable from the males which I thought might be hard. The males are larger at around 5cm and darker in colour (brown with dark stripes and a yellow tail fin), females are about 3cm ish and quite lighter in colour like a sort of creamy beige. Very beautiful fish with that unmistakeable shovel like trap door compressiceps are known for! I notice when I am out the room they come out of hiding so I'm hoping once they get used to me being around they will get on with me being there fine! Patience is a fish keepers best friend.

Now need some information for my tropheus 140g as i can't seem to get the temp of the tank water down past 26 celcius. I can't open the windows at night due to the town not being as pleasant as one might hope. I'm thinking of buying a fan when going grocery shopping today and using that to cool the ambient temperature of the room down so that the water temp will drop, i know it'll get colder soon but i really would like to get the temps down to 24 - 25 asap (25 at least) as 26/27 is too much though there are no signs of visible irritation.
As for next summer I don't really want to spend the heavy cash required on a chiller for our shortest season so would using the fan in summer evenings work well? Also would turning down the heater prior to the warm days coming work out?
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Re: Nitrates,Altolamprologus Sumbu Shell, How to cool tank water

Post by Pam Chin »

Hi Suyjay,

I am really not good at these questions. I haven't tested my water in years. I am on a routine, where by the time I finish the last tank, it is time to start over again. With all the filtration that you have and with your routine of water changes you know your tank is in good shape. Keep up the good work, I call it preventative maintenance, if you stay on top of it, you won't have any problems. Its when you start to slide...

Regarding the temperature of your 140g tank, if you turn off the heater and it doesn't go any lower, then it is likely that your equipment (lights, tops, filters, etc) is heating your water as well. So look at those and see whata you can do to cut out some of the excess heat.

The sumbus are fun to play with, you will really enjoy them! Give them some time to settle in and I am sure they will do fine!

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Pam
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