Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!!

[Jaclin]

  Hi All.  I'm Jaclin and I'm fairly new here.  I have three fish tanks which are a 10 gallon a 20 gallon and a 110 gallon.  The 110 has African Cichlids in it.  I'm totally new to African Cichlids or even Cichlids in general.  I have pictures in the gallery if anyone wants to see them.  :)  

I'm pretty proud of my tank as far as how it all looks.  Right now I have two power heads with at least 20" sponges.  I'm being told by some folks that I should have a canister filter and I'd like to get more opinions on this subject as to what would work best with the 110 tank.

I live in Dickinson, Texas with my darling husband.  I was born in Texas, but not raised here...... but I'm BACK!!!  

Hugs to All,
Jaclin

[oscar-food]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

cool i live in tx city city limits but dickinson phone #
also, i love the tank!

[jbicb3]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

Welcome to the box. What do you have in your other 2 tanks?

Jerry

[Jaclin]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

Hello,

In the other two tanks I have Mollys, Guppies and Neon Tetras.  :)  Some of the orange Mollys just had some babies.  I thought it was fish food floating down and then I saw it swim!  Fish food doesn't swim...... well, not like fish anyway.  lol I enjoy watching them all, but I'm particularly fond of my 110 gallon tank.  :)

xoxoxo
Jaclin

[Jaclin]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

Hi Oscar Food.... Neighbor!  I actually saw you in the map area a few hours ago as I was looking to see who else lived this far south of Houston that is in the group.  That map is really neat.  Stop by and say hello sometime.  I live in Green Caye Village...... which is by the Dickinson High School.  :)

xoxoxo
Jaclin

[Smokin_Cache]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

Welcome to the group.

Do you have water quality problems with the 110? High ammonia or nitrites?

[Jaclin]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

Our tap water does have ammonia in it.  We treat it and everything looks good on the tests.  I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I don't have any issues that can't be easily dealt with.  It is nice to have this resource in case I needed it.... and I have needed it.  :)

xoxoxo
Jaclin

[Obed]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

I do run cannister filters on my planted tanks, but I have sponges in all of my breeding and grow out tanks. Sponge filters work great and are easy to clean. The ones I use are 4" cubes and I put from two to four in each tank, depending on the size of the tank and the bio load. The tanks range in size from 20L to 75's. I usually have around 200 sponge filters going all the time.

[guppymax]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

Welcomme to the HFB.  I don't know whether or not you need a another filter but it is my experience that fish keepers always want/need more stuff. Two filters per tank is good so one can be cleaned and not disturb the biological filtration of the other filter in the tank. I mostly use cheap box or sponge filters. More better lol.

max

[Jaclin]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

Hi Max

Thank you for the welcome.  :)  I have two huge sponge filters right now. Maybe that is plenty?  My tank is crystal clear except for a film of some kind at the top.  I'm not quite sure what it is or what to do about it.  

Hugs,
Jaclin

[armthehomeless]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

...surface agitation can get rid of the film...

[Jaclin]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

...surface agitation can get rid of the film...

Hi.  Pardon my ignorance, but how do you do a surface agitation.    

Thanks!
Jaclin

[Jaclin]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

...surface agitation can get rid of the film...

Hi.  Pardon my ignorance, but how do you do a surface agitation.    

Thanks!
Jaclin

Oh shoot, did you mean for me to run my fingers across the top of the tank?

Thanks!
Jaclin

[armthehomeless]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

well... that wasn't what i was thinking, but that could work :)

if you ever get tired of running your fingers through the water, a possible solution would be to get a powerhead and point it toward the surface.

do you know where the "film" came from? sometimes it comes from putting your hands in the tank alot. the oils from our skin get in the water. if this is the case, i have gotten rid of it by turning my water syphon into a skimmer by keeping the base halfway out of the water. kinda tricky to explain, now that i think about it...

if you think you want to try it, let me know and i'll expound more on how i did it. i'm sure other people have there ways of getting rid of surface film.

washing hands in the sink (not with soap) right before putting them in the tank may help in the future as well.

[Jaclin]

Re: Hi. I'm fairly new to this group and Love Love Love it!

Hi.  I sure do appreciate the information and any time you are up to getting into more detail would be greatly appreciated!

Sweet Dreams!
Jaclin