African Cichlid Water Changes

Water quality and diet are the two keys toAfter the tank is refilled and the water has had a
keeping healthy African cichlids. Weather yourfew minutes to mix, it is time to start your water
aquarium is replicating the waters of Lake Malawi,change. I begin on one end of the tank and start
Tanganyika or Victoria; you must maintain thevacuuming the crushed coral I use as a substrate
proper pH and hardness over time. If the waterin my African cichlid tanks. Make sure that you
changes are not done properly, these can migrateget around and under everything that you can. I
to dangerous levels over time.am not suggesting that you dismantle a large rock
I have always changed 20% or more of theformation that you may have in your cichlid tank,
tanks water on a weekly basis. This may be abut if rocks or caves are easily moved it is best
little more than is needed. I have found that toto clean under them. You should be able to
properly clean the crushed coral in my 55 gallonvacuum the gravel in the time that it takes to get
tanks, this is how much is removed by the gravelto one your marks on the side of the aquarium.
vacuum.This will depend on how long it has been since the
I generally keep my cichlids in 55 gallon tanks andlast cleaning, how many fish you keep, the size of
do water changes in increments of 5 gallons. I dothose fish and the feeding habits of those fish.
the water changes in increments of 5 gallons forOnce you have removed a known amount of
ease of adding the salts back when refilling afterwater from your aquarium and have cleaned the
cleaning the tank. I also have little marks on thesubstrate pretty well it is time to start refilling the
side of my tanks to show me when I havetank. First you must adjust the faucet's water
gotten down to 10, 15 or 20 gallons of watertemperature pretty close to water in the tank.
removed.You can just do this by feel. It does not need to
To do these water changes you will need a gravelbe exact, but within 5 or 10 degrees of the
vacuum. I use mine with an attachment thattemperature that you keep your tank set.
hooks to the faucet to create the suction needed.I run the tap water directly into the aquarium and
This can be without the faucet attachment if youadd the dechlorinator and cichlid salts as I am filling
are close enough to a door or use a large bucket.the tank. Add enough dechlorinator for the total
I find hooking it to the faucet to be the easiest.volume of the tank, not just what you have
Before you can start with the water change, youremoved. All of the water must be dechlorinated.
may need to first add water to the aquarium.After adding the dechlorinator, add the cichlid salts
This is very important so that you remove theas the tank fills. If I have removed 20 gallons
same proportion of the original salt content asfrom a 55 gallon tank, I let a few gallons fill up and
you do water. If you have lost an inch or two ofthen add the salts for 5 gallons and repeat this as
water since the last time the water was changed,the tank fills. You can get away with adding it in
the salt is now more concentrated than it was10 gallon increments as well.
initially. If every week the salt concentrationBy doing water changes in this manner, you will
changes by a percent or two, your cichlids willfind that the pH and water hardness remain
start looking ragged and eventually die. To avoidconstant over time. I used to check these things
this, refill the tank to its 'full' state with tap waterafter every water change but learned that I only
before every water change. If this is more than aneeded to do that on a monthly basis. By
few gallons you might want to add a littleremoving water of the same hardness as that
dechlorinator. At this point let the tank acclimatebeing added, your tanks pH and hardness will be
for a few minutes so that the salt concentrationstable.
is constant throughout the fish tank.