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Thread: Lincoln

  1. #61
    BPnet Veteran Trinityblood's Avatar
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    Re: Lincoln

    Quote Originally Posted by dakski View Post

    Python syphon into the sink to suction gravel and start water removal. Then a small pump to pump water into the sink.

    The night before I filled two 60G pails with the fresh water for the tank and dosed with all the additives I needed (PH +, salt, dechlorinator, etc.) and dropped heaters in as well. Very important temps are stable going in and out especially when doing such a large water change - has to be right within 1F or less not to stress fish.

    Once the water was taken out and the gravel syphoned, I would use a pump and a long hose to pump the fresh water into the tank.

    All in all, it took about 3 hours including prep. So about 1 hour the night before and 2 hours the day of the water change.

    Very expensive to get all the supplies (pumps, hoses, etc.) as well as additives and the tank was insanely expensive with stand and lid and light, filtration and heaters, etc.

    It was an acrylic tank and was awesome. The company I bought it from now longer makes tanks, but it was great.
    Whew that's a lot of work. Salt? Is it a brackish tank? I'm not very familiar with them. Why did it need PH added?

  2. #62
    BPnet Lifer dakski's Avatar
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    Re: Lincoln

    Quote Originally Posted by Trinityblood View Post
    Whew that's a lot of work. Salt? Is it a brackish tank? I'm not very familiar with them. Why did it need PH added?
    Yes, a tremendous amount of work. Hence, not having the tank anymore.

    Frontosa are from Lake Tanganyika in Africa. The water has a higher salt content than most freshwater and I believe would be considered brackish, even if mildly, but is considered a freshwater lake. It also has a high PH of around 8-9 and harder water than most.

    That's why I had to add all the additives I did. I guess it worked because they bred like rabbits.

    Below is a profile from Cichlid Forum on Mpimbwe Frontosa. There are a few different kinds of Frontosa, but I liked the deep blues on the Mpimbwe. The care is very similar as all are found in Lake Tanganyika.

    https://www.cichlid-forum.com/profil...es.php?id=1512

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  4. #63
    BPnet Lifer dakski's Avatar
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    Re: Lincoln

    Lincoln loves Brine Shrimp. He gets them as a treat 1X a week and Blood Worms 1X a week (1 every 3-4 days) on top of his pellet diet.

    Below is a video of him devouring some F/T brine.



    He got his 2nd water change over the weekend and seems to be doing great. I plan to test the water in the next day or two and will report if anything looks off or if we have nitrates. In the meantime, I added Seed after the water change, but have not been adding it since the initial week dose aside from the first water change.

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  6. #64
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    Re: Lincoln

    Update on Lincoln's Water parameters.

    Today, 5 days after last water change, and about 3 1/2 weeks in, the water parameters were as follows:

    Ammonia: 1ppm

    Nitrite: 0.25-0.5ppm

    Nitrate: 5ppm

    I did a 20% water change today with gravel syphon and added Seed again.

    So the good news is that the tank is producing nitrates from nitrite. The bad news is ammonia was a little high for my liking. Since the tank is already producing nitrites and nitrates, I want to keep ammonia below 1ppm. Between he 20% water change and the gravel syphon, we should be in good shape. My guess is it's down 30%.

    I plan to add the Seed for a few days and also add some extra biological media. That will not be seeded, but it's the porous clay stuff and I will put in a small mesh bag. This should speed up the adoption of beneficial bacteria. Not sure I need it, but it can't hurt.

    My guess is by this time in 2 weeks, we will only be seeing Nitrates.

    In the meantime, Lincoln seems fine and is showing no visible signs of stress. Gills look good, colors are good, and he's eating happily.
    Last edited by dakski; 03-18-2021 at 08:42 AM.

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  8. #65
    BPnet Veteran Hugsplox's Avatar
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    Re: Lincoln

    Quote Originally Posted by dakski View Post
    Update on Lincoln's Water parameters.

    Today, 5 days after last water change, and about 3 1/2 weeks in, the water parameters were as follows:

    Ammonia: 1ppm

    Nitrite: 0.25-0.5ppm

    Nitrate: 5ppm

    I did a 20% water change today with gravel syphon and added Seed again.

    So the good news is that the tank is producing nitrates from nitrite. The bad news is ammonia was a little high for my liking. Since the tank is already producing nitrites and nitrates, I want to keep ammonia below 1ppm. Between he 20% water change and the gravel syphon, we should be in good shape. My guess is it's down 30%.

    I plan to add the Seed for a few days and also add some extra biological media. That will not be seeded, but it's the porous clay stuff and I will put in a small mesh bag. This should speed up the adoption of beneficial bacteria. Not sure I need it, but it can't hurt.

    My guess is by this time in 2 weeks, we will only be seeing Nitrates.

    In the meantime, Lincoln seems fine and is showing no visible signs of stress. Gills look good, colors are good, and he's eating happily.
    I think you have a good plan in place dakski. The Nitrogen cycle is a fickle beast for sure and it took my longer than I'd like to admit to feel like I really had a good grasp on what I was doing with it.

    If Seed isn't working for you quick enough, I've always had a lot of luck using Tetra Safestart Plus. I've speed cycled some tanks when I needed to set up a quarantine tank for some reason with that stuff, and all I can say is I was thankful to have a few bottles on hand.

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  10. #66
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    Re: Lincoln

    Quote Originally Posted by Hugsplox View Post
    I think you have a good plan in place dakski. The Nitrogen cycle is a fickle beast for sure and it took my longer than I'd like to admit to feel like I really had a good grasp on what I was doing with it.

    If Seed isn't working for you quick enough, I've always had a lot of luck using Tetra Safestart Plus. I've speed cycled some tanks when I needed to set up a quarantine tank for some reason with that stuff, and all I can say is I was thankful to have a few bottles on hand.
    I've used startright in the past with good success. I've used before they were bought by tetra and also after, but I didn't think it was as good the 2nd time (much cheaper, didn't need to be stabilized in fridge, etc. and took a little longer, but still worked). I wanted to try something different this time, but if things don't stabilize quickly with Lincoln's tank (I think they will), that would be a good product to go to next.

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  12. #67
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    Re: Lincoln

    Good news and bad news on Lincoln. He's doing fine, don't worry.

    I was planning to do a water change 2 days ago, but have been sick. I got to it today and water parameters were a little nuts.

    Virtually no Ammonia, Nitrites were 2ppm, and Nitrates were about 80ppm. UGH. Good news is the tank is definitely cycling and making nitrates. Bad news is there are lots of them and nitrite too.

    I should have been more on top of this, but it also happened pretty quickly.

    I rinsed out the sponge from the filter (in the old tank water as to not kill the good bacteria) and it was pretty dirty. I also did a 45% water change with gravel syphon and plan to do another 20-30% change either later today or tomorrow.

    Lincoln seems no worse for the wear, but I am sure he appreciated the water change.

    I am on top of it and will continue to be.

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  14. #68
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    Re: Lincoln

    Quote Originally Posted by dakski View Post
    Good news and bad news on Lincoln. He's doing fine, don't worry.

    I was planning to do a water change 2 days ago, but have been sick. I got to it today and water parameters were a little nuts.

    Virtually no Ammonia, Nitrites were 2ppm, and Nitrates were about 80ppm. UGH. Good news is the tank is definitely cycling and making nitrates. Bad news is there are lots of them and nitrite too.

    I should have been more on top of this, but it also happened pretty quickly.

    I rinsed out the sponge from the filter (in the old tank water as to not kill the good bacteria) and it was pretty dirty. I also did a 45% water change with gravel syphon and plan to do another 20-30% change either later today or tomorrow.

    Lincoln seems no worse for the wear, but I am sure he appreciated the water change.

    I am on top of it and will continue to be.
    Tank care is rough when feeling sick. Hope you're doing better! Glad Lincoln is okay.

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    Re: Lincoln

    Just did a second, smaller, water change. It was about 20-25%.

    That should get things under control for now. I'll test again in a few days and plan to do another water change then.

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  18. #70
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    Re: Lincoln

    I was up early today unexpectedly. I tested Lincoln's water and Nitrites were down to 1-2ppm (vs 2ppm yesterday) and Nitrates were about 30ppm, a big improvement especially on the nitrates (which makes sense with 2 water changes).

    I did another 30% water change and added some more Seed, although I am not too impressed with it.

    I also added some ceramic bio media in a mesh filter bag into the filter chamber. I was planning on doing this earlier, but I just got the bags recently.

    I'll keep everyone posted, but Lincoln appears to be weathering the storm fine and I imagine within a week, everything will be where it should be (nitrates only).

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