What sort of sand did you use there mate?

Looks terrific mate

Thanks for the work, interesting to see what items go for. Keep it up

Hi all i am interested in finding breeders who would be willing to sell me labidochromis chisumulae and otopharynx lithobates. Interested in any other relatively peacefull malawi cichlids and only after young fish. Wont be in Perth till early March so if anyone is breeding or has breed these and interested in selling please let me know what you have.

Its interesting how some people can get answers but when i post nobody is interested in assisting

Hi all.

Am looking for breeders / aquarium stores etc that would be interested in shipping live fish to country areas ( Geraldton ). Current tank is temporary and setting up a larger african cichlid tank but lost quite a few recently for unknown reasons, so will need to restock at some stage but looking for alternatives to driving all the way to Perth.

Any recommendations please.

Looks great mate, done very well for yourself.

The disadvantages of living in the country, would love to have some of those fish in my collection, never mind no harm in dreaming.

Hi all.

Thinking about adding a uv sterilizer to my tank. The tank in question is still in the planning / construction phase, got the tank, its 650/700 Lts and going to be running a pair of Eheim 2217's. Its going to be stocked with African cichids and a few plants , the tempory tank the fish are currently in has algae problems and with out cutting back food even more and starving the fish was thinking about adding a uv sterilizer into the plumbing set up when i get that far, but have never had one and no idea about plumbing it into the return line of one of the Eheim canisters. Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated.

Regards Stewie17

How did you go mate? , cabinetmaker by trade and planning on getting a new 5x2 soon and making my own stand and cabinet. From the date of your post i gather that you have started if not finished, happy to help with advice if needed

Forgot to ask , picked up some shell grit today, however with PH sitting at 8.2 should i hold off introducing it to the aquarium to buffer the water for awhile. I do appreciate the advice i have been recieving guys.

Retested all the conditions nitrites -0ppm, nitrates - 10ppm, ammonia - 0.25ppm, PH -8.2 and temp - 24.5 deg

The ammonia levels was something i hadnt thought off. I am a fan off real plants, and i know most people dont have real plants in an african cichlid tanks but i have 4 reasonable bunchs of amazon sword doing quite well in the tank, was just thinking maybe these plants are stripping the ammonia from the system and hence slowing the bacteria growth so obviously slowing the tank cycle . When ever i have tested the ammonia levels they are always low or 0ppm.

Dont know any thoughts?

No the fish seem fine, my large blue peacock is being a bully to the other three benge peacocks but leaves the 8 smaller electric yellows alone, thinking thats just cause the tank being temporary is a bit small. The nitrites have dropped to 0ppm, nitrates are down to 20ppm after another 40% water change, and installing new Eheim filter, running along with old filter and treating water with a heavy dose of Aqua one Bio starter.

Have to give a big thankyou to Paul at Morley Aquariums for advice and tips , especially with the new Eheim, very smooth and quiet. I was abit worried about canister filters but couldnt be happier at the moment, just hope the fish are.

having nitrite and nitrate problems at the moment using the api kits nothing i have tried or been recomended to try has redused the nitrates and nitrites, waterchanges and treatment with seachem prime are achieving nothing, still reading high nitrates and niterites

Just tested water again nitrates still 5ppm. dosed yesterday with prime 5 x the recomended and has mad no differance, at my witts end, water changes and prime have made no differance

I am guessing but i have probably been overfeeding, recently purchased 4, 12cm peacock cichlids and assumed larger fish required more feeding, doing another water change today

Had thought of that but its a matter of not having saved enough money yet and waiting on a tax return to finance the new tank. One of the downsides of having children preparing for university is lack of cash flow. but will certanly look at thesalt opion .

Thanks guys for the advice, ammonia levels were low which is why i was puzzled. Treated the tank with prime and installed a new / additional nitrite-nitrate pad into the filter, will test water again soon.

May have to put additional thought into my new (planning ) set up . Getting a new 1530x760x610 tank soon and plan in getting a pair of eheim 2217 filters for it. As i said still planning stand and 3D back ground and reasearching best positions for intakes and outputs .

Thanks again

Tank has been running for well over a month

Seeking advice regarding nitrites in my cichlids tank, its only a temporary tank untill i can get a new larger tank with better filtration in a couple of months. using API freshwater master test , NO2 produces results showing nitrites are 5.0ppm. nitrates are 0ppm, high range ph is sitting about 7.5. slowly trying to push the ph up to @8. i have done two 30% water changes in the last two days and made no differance to the test results. The tank isnt heavly stocked ( 8 electric yellows ,3 benga peacocks and 1 blue peacock cichlid in @ 190Lt tank ) and i have four reasonably healthy locking amazon swords growing in the tank. I havnt feed the fish for 24 hours and probably wont for another 24.

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks for the reply Cawdor, i never realized i could be harming the cichlids, fairly new to the fish keeping hobby and certanly the welfare of cichlids. Have been seriously considering another tank so this has probably speed the idea up a bit. I do enjoy DIY projects and was planning on doing most of the cabinet stand etc myself. Have been considering a 6" tank. Any suggestions on filtration for a 6x2x2 tank, i  know a lot of people lean towards canister filters but i have no experience with these, only sumps as my existing tank has a sump. Recomendations on sump size for a 6" tank appreciated.