smidey

with having them at that height i never need to gravel vac, the solid waste get removed by the filters.

my intakes are about 50mm above the normal substrate level although they are generally 75 to 100mm above the substrate as that seems to be the area at either end of the tank that the fish move the substrate from. It's too heavy to be stirred up by the frantic pace the fish swim when chasing each other but they take mouths full of substrate and spit it from half way or higher in the tank. As i said, it doesn't matter if this substrate goes into the canisters, it's too large to get to the top of it.

i'm not interested nor do i care how much they move compared to your geophagus, it's not a "who's got the best sand spitting fish" competition. the facts are they move it around and spit it every where to clear their territories which means a lot of it gets moved around regularly. I get a considerable amount of crushed marble in the filters and that is a lot heavier than sand, fortunately it is too large to be sucked up through the filter system to get into the impeller etc so doesn't do any harm which is why i think it's not a good idea to have a sand substrate but if you choose to use it fine, it's your tank. you don't need incredibly strong current just some flow so the temp is consistent around the tank and if you create enough the waste left over gets removed by the filter and doesn't build up as much in the rock piles etc.

i wouldn't recommend using sand or any similar fine material for africans. they move too much substrate and moving quickly around the tank so will stir it up all the time and if you have good circulation (which you should) then most of it will end up in your filter. I recommend crushed marble or fine gravel, this will still get moved around and stirred up but will drop back to the bottom of your tank faster. I have crushed marble as a substrate which is white and quite a few shells, most of the africans available are solid colours and generally dark so a light coloured substrate and a back ground no darker than navy blue are best i think for contrasting the fish. there are exceptions to this but generally that will work the best.

what is the ph from the tap?

for malawi species you want your ph to be 7.4 or higher. It is far more important to have stable water conditions than trying to adjust conditions because it is far to easy for it to go wrong and swing and hurt or kill the fish you have. I kept my malawians in around 7.5ph and they did very well and my current tangs are in around 7.3ph because i am on tank water. If you are on town supply water then the ph is usually high (7.6/7.8) or something like that and suitable for africans, if it is i wouldn't bother purposely trying to raise the ph but if you wanted to have the limestone for your aquascaping then go ahead. They will raise the ph, how much i'm not sure but it won't be detrimental to the fish i don't think. If you are worried about the not being safe due to contamination of sprays or something i would soak them for a few weeks, some may say boil them or something but i wouldn't bother. I would just scrub them clean, rinse them and put them in but i guess that is my risk. I

hi and welcome from a fellow whangarian

i thought the bio balls and ceramic noodles were for the bacteria not being a mechanical filter media.

What ever mechanical filtration you have it makes sense to me that you take the largest partials out first with the course foam and then the smallest so the fine foam our wool should be as choose to the exit point as possible. I keep my bio balls at the bottom and ceramic noodles at the top, that setup works for me

I don't use wool on any of my canisters anymore and I don't see any difference in water clarity at all, just the course and fine sponges.

problem is i have 30mm poly all round my tank so magnet not really an option.

thanks people, sounds like the sunsun ones are reliable been using one of these, they are wave makers aren't they?

So my wave maker literally went pop just now so i'm on the hunt for a new one. What brand are you using and would you recommend it? I have been using a SOBO one and it was rubbish, what are your experiences with them?

Look a like a hybrid of a yellow and a blue zebra of some sort to me

It will help if you as something in there. I have ceramic noodle in the middle, plastic balls in the top and nothing in the bottom one. Think about the way your filter flows, if it is bottom up have the course sponge at the bottom and filer will at the top.

i have always just done a single 30% change weekly with around 6 times the tank volume per hour and never had any issues with water quality that i can recall. Heavily stocked and heavily fed.

I prefer casserole but what ever :digH: :sml1:

me to, they are tasty

:gpo2:

ah makes sense

if he's your dog you can do what you like

what size were they then? i would have expected them to be breeding by now.

Who else out there are gearing up for opening morning tomorrow?

i think you have it wrong. if you draw a line 1cm and that equals 10.0m then your scale is 1:1000 and if your line is 2cm which equals 10.0m then doesn't that make it 1:500? maybe i am having a mare, it is late haha 10mm (1:1) @ 1:100 equals 1.0m so 10mm (1:1) @ 1:1000 must be 10.0m??

I have three CF canisters that are at least six years old and they have been faultless. I have replaced a couple of the impelors but other than that have been brilliant