We bought a 55-gallon with the intention of keeping cichlids, something I've never done before. Never have had anything about a 29-gallon before, and hadn't hadn't anything for several years. When purchasing, I asked about filter options and was told you can't beat the new cannister filters, something I've never had. We got an Aquatop CF-4000UV, which we were told was more than enough, cycling 370 gallons an hour.
Never having a cannister filter before I set it up with the intake low and near the bottom in one corner. Not sure what you call it, but the outflow tube, about a foot long with holes, I placed on the other side of the tank, underwater, with the holes pointing down. That part may (or may not) be important, because of what happened next.
We'd had the tank up and going a week, and followed the seller's advice about getting it cycled, by using the bacterial add-in. He said with that, there's no reason to wait a couple of weeks before stocking it. We waited a week, first bought 3 small cichlids (only 1 1/2 inches), waited a few more days, and got 9 more cichlids of the same size. They were all fine...for about 12 hours.
We had a massive ice storm here, and literally 4 hours after putting the 9 cichlids in, the power went out. No heat, and obviously no running filter. Kept an eye on them, and 5 hours later they still seemed fine. Went to bed, and when I woke up, only 4 cichlids were still alive, all gasping at the top. No power, started changing water to get some oxygen in, when the power started.
Any thoughts? Was a week to cycle not enough, even with the bacterial stuff added? The salesman said you only needed 5 days or so with it. Was it an oxygen thing, given they were all gasping at the top? Like I said, I had the outflow pointed down, so there was absolutely nothing disturbing the surface tension. Did oxygen just get low? Was it an ammonia spike, since three-fourths of the fish were added just hours before the power went out, and there was no filter running with the power out?
In the meantime, after partially changing water and with the power on, the remaining 4 are back to looking "normal". Only change I've made for now is to alter the outflow from the cannister filter, placing it an inch or two under water but with the holes angled up so the outflow chops up the surface tension. Given what just happened, I'm going to go into a holding pattern for a little while to see how the remaining four do, before adding anymore.
Thoughts?
Never having a cannister filter before I set it up with the intake low and near the bottom in one corner. Not sure what you call it, but the outflow tube, about a foot long with holes, I placed on the other side of the tank, underwater, with the holes pointing down. That part may (or may not) be important, because of what happened next.
We'd had the tank up and going a week, and followed the seller's advice about getting it cycled, by using the bacterial add-in. He said with that, there's no reason to wait a couple of weeks before stocking it. We waited a week, first bought 3 small cichlids (only 1 1/2 inches), waited a few more days, and got 9 more cichlids of the same size. They were all fine...for about 12 hours.
We had a massive ice storm here, and literally 4 hours after putting the 9 cichlids in, the power went out. No heat, and obviously no running filter. Kept an eye on them, and 5 hours later they still seemed fine. Went to bed, and when I woke up, only 4 cichlids were still alive, all gasping at the top. No power, started changing water to get some oxygen in, when the power started.
Any thoughts? Was a week to cycle not enough, even with the bacterial stuff added? The salesman said you only needed 5 days or so with it. Was it an oxygen thing, given they were all gasping at the top? Like I said, I had the outflow pointed down, so there was absolutely nothing disturbing the surface tension. Did oxygen just get low? Was it an ammonia spike, since three-fourths of the fish were added just hours before the power went out, and there was no filter running with the power out?
In the meantime, after partially changing water and with the power on, the remaining 4 are back to looking "normal". Only change I've made for now is to alter the outflow from the cannister filter, placing it an inch or two under water but with the holes angled up so the outflow chops up the surface tension. Given what just happened, I'm going to go into a holding pattern for a little while to see how the remaining four do, before adding anymore.
Thoughts?