Cichlids by Sanderling

Rena’s XP Series Filters and Snails

// October 23rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Filtration

Nitrosonomas and Nitrobacter both produce thin sticky films as they grow and divide on biomedia. These films grab organic fines from the water passing by which feed competing heterotrophic bacteria. Over time, unless actively grazed by detritovores like snails, these films become thick enough and organic rich enough that heterotrophic bacteria colonize them, and begin feeding on the trapped organic fines as well as the film itself. Because the hetertroph population can grow so much faster than the two N’s they eventually outcompete and destroy the colony by consumming most of the available oxygen.

If this happens in your filter it will be evident in milky, stringy discharges (rotting film) at start up after cleaning or if you have unplugged the filter for some other reason. Stringy discharges may be seen periodically while running as well. Generally its nothing to be overly concerned about since the heterotrophs will eventually die off and the media will be again becolonized by the two N’s.

What it indicates is that the media is not optimized for nitrification and your system would benefit from a mechanical prefilter to reduce the amount of suspended organic material channeling through the filter and fouling the thin film created by the two N’s. You can use fine pore filter media but this will tend to clog up and reduce the flow rate through the  filter which can cause other problems, including oxygen depletion and general lack of performance. Alternatively you can use snails to clean the bacteria film!

When using canister filters I prefer the Rena Filstar series due to the quiet and powerful pump and the roomy media baskets. I fill them up with Fluval Prefilter media which is open enough to allow small snails complete access to maintain the bacterial film by actively grazing upon it. The impellor crushes a few up ocaisionally and sends them back to tank as fresh food for the fish.

When I clean these filters out annually, I always make sure to toss a few adult snails back into the filter before putting the lid on. I don’t run with the filter pads, but still have low turbidity in my tanks.

The ability to house snails for this synergistic biofiltration aproach is what sets the XP series of filters apart from the rest of the cannister herd in my humble opinion.

Fish Room Manager’s Special: Metriaclima greshakei

// October 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // Manager's Special

Available for a limited time,  while quantaties lasts, sub adult M. greshakei sometimes refered to as William’s mbuna is one of the more popular representatives of a lively group of fishes- Malawi mbuna. These fish are F-1 offspring from parents collected near Makokola on Lake Malawi. These fish are lively fast growing tankmates that will do well in a rift lake community tank that does not already have conspecific males or fish of a similar colouration.

Keeping a male with as many as three females is recommended, in medium to large aquaria. Provide a lot of rock work and other hiding places. An excellant fish for anyone ranging in expertise with African Cichlids from beginner to expert.

We are now accepting orders for late October, early November 2009 delivery of fish between 2 and 3 inches in length. Prices start at $2.50 CDN for minimum quantities of 25 fish. info@cichlidsbysanderling.com

Our  current Stocklist here.

Turning Sump Design on It’s Head

// October 10th, 2009 // No Comments » // Filtration, Fish Room Projects

I’ve always been a cannister and HOB filtration kind of guy. I also like sponge filters but in spite of more than twenty active years in the hobby I’ve never had a sump. I guess I’d rather use any container big enough to be a sump to keep fish!

All good ideas have their moment however and it was simply a matter of time until I needed the bio-filtration power that only a sump with wet/dry flow capability can offer.

I recently put together a fry growing module for three species of Aulonocara in my fish room. The setup was simple enough; three 110 gallon stock tanks arranged in series filtered by a Fluval FX-5. Rated at 600 plus, gallons per hour, I figured the filter could handle the bio load no problem. As the population of juveniles and sub adult Peacocks approached 500 or so, I realized that with the amount of food I was using, I needed more filtration power than my original setup could provide.

I found a powerful submersible pump rated at 3000 gph. By running the tanks in parallel rather than in series, and collecting the discharge in a sump through separate drains, I could have ten turns per hour in each tank-plenty of filtration!

My fish room is located in the unfinished corner of the basement of our house, usually known as the furnace room. This is only the real estate that my wife has allowed me, unencumbered, to indulge in my hobby. It has become very crowded and finding room for a traditional sump design big enough for a 330 gallon system would be difficult. In fact I only had an area 2 ft square to work with,  squeezed in between my water heater and my new system.

I decided the only logical approach would be to build a stacked system; a bio-tower above a sump, with a return manifold fed from the 3000 gph submersible pump, located in the sump.

I settled upon a 50 gallon sewage basin as my sump. If your considering using one keep in mind they are pricey but there is lttle chance you’ll be tempted to use it as a fish tank and scrap your sump project. They also have the added advantage of having a 4” hub for a drain and a 3″ threaded opening that can bushed to any size you want. There is also a 2″ schedule 40 pipe clearance hole for the discharge line, a removable bolt down access cover, and a bung hole for heater and pump power cords. All in all it is a very neat package, ideal for the application. I got mine at Home Depot for $145 but you may be able to do better at a plumbing supply house.

For those who like to skip to the end to see how the project turned out, I’ve attached a picture of the (nearly) finished product. 

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