Lake Malawi Species • New Tank here in UK

[willeymunda]

I'm setting up a 240 litre (63 US gallon) tank of Cichlids.

Once i have the sand in, the rocks and water with the filter running what do i do next?

What liquids/additives do i need to add to the tank to start developing the bacteria and preparing the water the fish?

[Old Newbie]

Read this and follow precisely to successfully establish nitrifying bacteria.

https://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ ... _cycle.php

[DJRansome]

Welcome to Cichlid-forum!

What are the dimensions of the 63G tank? Are you thinking Lake Malawi? If so the ideal would be a rectangle that is 48" long or longer.

[willeymunda]

Its an Eheim Vivaline 240 so is 48" long. Yes im thinking of Lake Malawi if they would be suitable for a tank that size

[willeymunda]

Read this and follow precisely to successfully establish nitrifying bacteria.

https://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ ... _cycle.php

I've got a 64L tank that i will be shutting down as part of setting up this new set up. Shall i just use the water from there and that that into the 240 litres to help the the baxteria grow etc

[DJRansome]

The water will do nothing, but you could transfer the filter to the new tank to support a small population of fish. Since the new tank is bigger, you may still want to follow the article to build up the bacteria high enough to support all the fish you will have in the new tank.

What are the test results from your tap water? Post the pH, KH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. This will allow us to decide if you need to add anything other than dechlorinator.

[willeymunda]

Haven’t got any water in there yet. It’s only a little filter in my old tank but I can probably transfer the ceramic media to my new FX6 to help.

I thought the water would help? So shall I just fill it up tonight and see at the water says tonight just from the tap water?

[DJRansome]

Just test your tap. Post the results. The old water will do nothing.

Decide if you have to add baking soda or anything else.

Then you can fill the tank (with additives if necessary), put on the old filter and add ammonia for the fishless cycle.

[willeymunda]

Here are my results from the API Freshwater master test kit. What should I do next?

[DJRansome]

We need the results from the tap.

What water was tested to produce the results above?

[willeymunda]

This was the water from the tank, I added the filter media from my previous filter to help with bacteria growth and also added bacteria from a bottle

[DJRansome]

OK then you need to follow the directions on the bottle. The ammonia is way too high for fish but I don't know how the bottled product is supposed to work.

Since you will use tap water for partial water changes, test the tap water and post results here.

[willeymunda]

This is the high range PH test for my tap water

[DJRansome]

Let the water from the tap sit on the counter for 24 hours and retest.

[willeymunda]

These are the latest test results from the tank