UNDER GRAVEL FILTER FOR CICHLIDS???

[newbees]

hi, we are curious to know how everyone keeps their gravel clean in cichlid tanks? we have coral sand in the tank to raise th ph but because of all the rocks etc for the lil suckers to hide in we get really big piles of food and poo, i was thinking that maybe a under gravel filter under the rocks could do but not too sure how well that would work?? please any secrets to the art of cichlid keeping would be muchly appreciated!!!!!

[ryanjury]

Lots of flow will help move the crud around and get it picked up by the filters..

How big is the tank and what filtration are you running on it?

Under gravel filters with africans are generally not a good idea they tend to dig and expose the plates rendering the filter useless but more dangerously causing the established bacteria to die off and possibly cause ammonia spikes that can kill the fish. Also you are running coral sand so it is not going to work with an under gravel filter..

[newbees]

thanks

yea lots of flow would help our tank is 800l and we have a sump flowing 2000l an hr its just hard to get the flow comming into the tank to create enough flow down to the bottom of the tank where all the crud builds up. unless we tried to get a pump or internal filter at the bottom of the tank to work just that area of the tank?

[ryanjury]

TBH your not doing alot of flow if you only have 2000LPH on an 800L tank, is that the max rated output of the pump or the rated output at the head height you are running. I would be inclined (if your overflows can handle it) to add a bigger return pump to beef up the flow and also run the outlet of it to the bottom of the tank to blow the crud out. You can also use powerheads to blow the crud around and allow it to get picked up. Alot of sumps are pretty bad at picking up crud as the overflow and the crud tends to settle on the bottom of the tank not float on the surface.

[smidey]

if your running a sump there must be an overflow? then it doesn't matter how much you blow the crud around it will still be there unless it gets blown up to & over the overflow panel, correct? i would add a canister so it can suck the crud from the bottom of the tank.