Additional Filtration??

[1Sam2]

Hi guys,

I've been reading the forums for some time now but this is my first post.

I have an African Cichlid tank all set-up and running reasonably well for about 6 weeks.

I went away for the weekend and my house mate overfed them and caused an algae bloom. I managed to get this under control within a few days with water changes and SeaChem Prime.

My question is, I am starting to wonder whether I may need additional filtration in my system. My tank details are as follows

AquaOne 980 T Tank (250L)

Overhead trickle filter - 1000 LPH

AquaOne 104f Maxi Internal Power Filter - 2000LPH

Air Curtain

Approximately 22 African Cichlids both Male and Female

The 104f provides a decent current in an anti-clockwise direction. The reason for going with an internal filter is that there is no holes in the hood to fit inlet/outlet pipes for a canister. I also wanted to keep the trickle filter which means drilling holes in the hood is not an option.

I was thinking of adding a second internal filter? Preferably something that doesn't provide too much current as the 104f is taking care of this as is. I could always turn the power down on the 104f if necessary.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Pictures attached. Sorry for the glare.

 

[mjoconr]

Have you checked your NH3/4+, NO2, NO3. The levels of these would give an indication of how effective your BIO filtration is right now.

The size of these filter concern me, what I mean by this is there would not be a lot of room for media to hold your nitrifying bacteria. Any cleaning of these filters would mean a drop in the available bacteria for a period of time, this could cause a jump in ammonia (NH3) or nitrate (NO2).

The water turn over is around 10 times an hour which is more than enough.

One method of fixing this cheaply might be to look at a using Hamburger Matten Filter (HMF). One of your current internal filters could be adjusted to pump the water from one side of the foam to the other.

Do some research about HMF and maybe talk to the guys at http://fish2water.co.nz/. The cost is low and would add a major amount of BIO filtration with very little work.

[Ducksta]

A large air driven sponge filter is probably the best option given you don't want to make modification to fit pipes in.
A large sponge filter would probably take over as the primary bio filter in short order.  They are not great at taking large particulates out of the water but they are a phenomenal bio filter.
I used to run a small fish room almost entirely on air.  Really can't fault it.

ps. That is a huge bio load on a 6 week old tank.  I think you're tank is probably spiking.  The chemical make up of water changing can make water look cloudy - it is probably not algae.  Doing water changes will stow up the damage the process will do to fish, but it will also mean your tank ultimately will take longer to cycle fully and stabilise.

[mjoconr]

It would seem to me that the tank is a display tank so he may not want air pump filter. The HMF would hide all the filteration and end up very clean looking

[1Sam2]

I was a bit sketchy with adding so many fish to the tank.

I had previously cycled it with some standard tropical fish, gouramis, angels and guppies for a few months. Nothing compared to the bioload of the cichlids I know.

 A breeder in town was selling up and sold me his entire fish stock of African Cichlids for a steal. Could not pass up the offer. 

I was considering a sponge filter and given I have extra valves in my air pump this sounds like an easy fix and cost effective fix.

I should have mentioned that the upper cartridge on the 104f is full of bio-filter media and of course the overhead is also.

Thanks heaps for the quick replies guys! Greatly appreciated!