[punman]

I am doing research before starting a tropheus tank. I see some people advocating increased turbulence in the water. I was considering using Eheim canisters but they don't break the surface of the water like AquaClears. Would the canisters work or would I need to put air stones in the water too? Or should I skip the canisters and go with AquaClears for the increased water agitation?

 

[IrkedCitizen]

Surface agitation can be achieved with canister filters. you can have the return line pointed at the surface of the water. You do not need a hob filter unless you want one. You can also buy a powerhead which will create more current and point it toward the surface to agitate it.

The more agitation of the surface with any type of fish is good because it allows the gases to escape the water. How you filter your tank is up to you but for tropheus you should aim for 7-10x turnover per hour.

When canisters are packed with media they do not flow the stated GPH that is on the packaging just something to take into consideration.

 

[noddy]

I use an eheim 2217 and two maxi-jet 1200 power heads on each of my 120 gal troph tanks. One of the powerheads is in the middle of the tank (at the back) with two sponge filters attached, and the other powerhead is on the end of the tank with a foam quick filter on it pointing towards the other end of the tank (where the spray bar and intake is located). I would like to add another 2217 to each tank at some point. I love the eheim's and won't use an aquaclear.

 

[jumpman]

Go for Eheims and just point the spraybars slightly up towards the surface to agitate more, I use 2 canisters and a single powerhead for extra water movement on my 4ft tropheus tank.

 

[geoff_tropheus]

What size of tank are you looking to setup?

Aquaclears are cheap, but a lot more noise, and require 5" space from the wall.

Eheim canisters are more expensive, but ultra silent, and only requie about 1/2 to 1" of space from the wall.

You can equip the canisters with spray bar or nozzles and have them agitate the surface. In fact if you look at the drawings of the Canister installation, it shows to put the spray bar either above the water, or immediately below the surface.

Adding a powerhead or two also helps greatly.

The key thing for Tropheus is clean, highly oxygenated water. This means rigorous waterchange atelast every 2-weeks or less, and plenty of surface agitation for gas exchanges both toxic and benefit.

You might even consider a wet dry for use in this tank. Ultimately the best setup in my opinion with a pump and overflow rate of 5X aquarium volume.

Best of luck!

Geoff

 

[punman]

I own AquaClear filters and Eheim filters so I don't need to buy anything. Just move filters around to the desired tanks. I can do either way. I will likely use my 90 gallon with two AC10s for starters but I have not decided at the moment. Still need to decide on the fish.
From pictures I am leaning towards Kiriza, Pemba, Maswa, Halembe, Red Chimba, Lupopa, Moliro. Not all of those - only one.
Will depend on availability and perhaps price to some extent. Are any of those harder to keep than others?
I am doing foai and cyps and have had frontosa. New to tropheus but experienced with Tanganyikans.

 

[geoff_tropheus]

Some variants are more agressive than others. Which basically means you may have a little more agression issues, and/or need to buy larger groups of them to get started.

The ones you picked the Duboisi (Maswa, Halembe) are going to be more even-keeled overall than the others. As far as the sp.black (kiriza,pemba) vs sp.red (moliro, chimba, lupota), they are pretty much the same. I have had many Lupota's kill things, but I think its mainly because of that colony has (2) hyper-agressives. Hyperagressives can exist from time to time in any colony so be aware of that.

They all have the same diet, water conditions, and clean water requirements. Duboisi are more tolerant of a higher and different protein foods.