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giant tank for killis

Hey Iain. I have not observed the gobies eating the hair algae. There seems to be a bit less of it now but that could be down to the reduction in light and ferts. I hope they can survive on the algae that is available to them. Those killis are real buggers, they can't leave anything alone and create a frenzy every time they think something can be eaten. I should feed the gobies something extra I think (should't I??) but they can't get in there with the killis. I tried feeding them wafers, which the killis first tried to eat, then gave up on, but as soon as they saw the gobies try to eat it they went mad for it again:sick:. The Fundulopanchax gardneri in particular are very boisterous, I am thinking about reducing their numbers a little (have about 5-6 pairs or so at the moment) in a bid to calm things down a bit.
 
Love you aquarium. I'd really like to try something like this after my tank runs it's course. Looks so Heathy and I love the fish you have.
 
tim said:
tim Active Member Offline Message Count: 621 this is a lovely aquarium killi journal is a very good sunday morning read keep the updates coming please
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Thanks for the feedback Tim 🙂
Mrmikey said:
Love you aquarium. I'd really like to try something like this after my tank runs it's course. Looks so Heathy and I love the fish you have.
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Cheers Mrmikey, that's good to hear. Through this journal, I am really trying to encourage more people to have a go at keeping killis. They are not difficult to look after and IMO are a really interesting and colourful kind of fish. Ukaps people have beautiful tanks - still unfortunately quite a rarity in comparison to the average aquarium out there - and I think killis would make a great and unique addition to many of these.
20130121_205353-1.jpg
Unfortunately in contrast to the aquascaping movement, the killikeeper community is ageing and unless the keeping of killifish becomes more mainstream in the hobby, many of the rare species currently available won't be around in years to come🙁
 
Hi,
Great photo....they are beautiful fish!
Ive only ever kept golden panchax before and found them stunning, maybe when I fancy changing my nano tank ill look into killis more seriously, not too big, very pleasing on the eye and full of character.
You have an inspiring tank Andre.
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
I need some advice re filtration please. I currently use an Eheim 2180 and 2076. The 2076 recently replaced an old Eheim Pro2 filter and flow has been improved a bit. With reduced lighting, reduced ferts regime (back to standard EI), increased water changes, and the increased flow, I hope the algae issues will become less and the the hairgrass carpet will finally start to thicken with a better distribution of CO2.

One issue that has been slowly getting worse - and has not really improved since the introduction of the 2076 - is the presence of small particles in the water column;

I suspect that this is probably connected to impaired flow/ circulation because of the density of the plants. I wanted to get some advice on this to see whether there is anything I can do to improve filtration without cutting back on the volume of the ferns. I really like having masses of ferns and first want to explore other solutions.

I clean the filters every other week. They are both filled with floss which I rinse out as much as possible in tank water.

Is the problem because the plants are blocking the flow and particles are not reaching the filters, in which case;
a) should I replace the 2076 with a more powerful filter to improve flow, or;
b) should I relocate one of the filter intakes from the left to the centre of the tank (dark blue arrow below) instead to suck up the water between the two islands ?Currently my filter intakes are located in both back corners (represented in light blue arrows below). There are three intakes - at the moment, two are on the left and one on the right.
filterintake-1.jpg
Or is my problem related to the media inside my filters; should I increase biological filtration and replace large sections of the floss with alfagrog or something? Will this reduce the amount of small particles in the water? I have always just only used floss thinking it will still provide some biological filtration and perhaps this lies at the heart of the issue.

Or maybe its a combination of all of the above??

Or is the only solution cutting back the ferns? Not an answer I want to hear!

Looking forward to hearing your views! Thanks, Andre
 
Sounds to me like you need more mechanical filtration, rather than less. At the risk of pimping my own thread several times in one morning, you could try something like this - Cloudy water - a little trick | UK Aquatic Plant Society

Worked for me when I had issues with cloudy water, but at the cost of a certain amount of flow. I now just chop the socks up to use the material; I'm sure you could find equivalent solutions with a bit of ebay searching. Your particles look relatively large so you could try larger micron sizes to minimise flow reduction.
 
I'd partly agree with Tom but also with you that if you have three intakes then pop on in the middle on the back wall. How are your outlets positioned, by spray bar or just using the shepherds crook outlet?? If using just the outlets you need more or less perfect circular flow around the whole tank in order to circulate the particles. Maybe try positioning one of the intakes at the front right or left corner if so.
When I ran both a 2080 and 2078 tigether I had this problem on my big tank until I got the flow and positioning of the intakes just right.
Spray bars along the back with the intakes on the back worked fine but when I decided to use without Spray bars, I had to place one outlet at the front right pointing left and slightly down and the other rear left pointing right to get the flow correct


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BigTom said:
Sounds to me like you need more mechanical filtration, rather than less. At the risk of pimping my own thread several times in one morning, you could try something like this - Cloudy water - a little trick | UK Aquatic Plant Society Worked for me when I had issues with cloudy water, but at the cost of a certain amount of flow. I now just chop the socks up to use the material; I'm sure you could find equivalent solutions with a bit of ebay searching. Your particles look relatively large so you could try larger micron sizes to minimise flow reduction.
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Thanks BigTom for your help, this is very useful. As I needed to increase flow to deal with algae issues and improve CO2 distribution, the sock trick would only be feasible if I was able to increase filtration power at the same time so as not to loose any flow. I have a spare Eheim Pro2 filter (rated at 1100 l/hr or so) so I could perhaps run that separately or in-line with one of the other filters as you suggested.

Useful to know that you don't think I need media for biological filtration in my filters (or not at the expense of floss at the moment any way) as I was worrying whether not having "biological media" was a bad thing.

Alastair said:
I'd partly agree with Tom but also with you that if you have three intakes then pop on in the middle on the back wall. How are your outlets positioned, by spray bar or just using the shepherds crook outlet?? If using just the outlets you need more or less perfect circular flow around the whole tank in order to circulate the particles. Maybe try positioning one of the intakes at the front right or left corner if so. When I ran both a 2080 and 2078 tigether I had this problem on my big tank until I got the flow and positioning of the intakes just right. Spray bars along the back with the intakes on the back worked fine but when I decided to use without Spray bars, I had to place one outlet at the front right pointing left and slightly down and the other rear left pointing right to get the flow correct
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Thanks so much Alastair. Good to know you think an intake in the middle is a good idea then. To give you a better understanding of the way the outlets are positioned, here is an old photo showing the positioning of the spraybars;
20120722_210445.jpg
The spraybar at the back is powered by the Eheim 2180 and the one mounted above the front window is powered by the 2076 (and includes the CO2 output). I understand from Ceg that this was the best way to create the circulation direction I should aim for (over surface from back to front - down alongside front window - back over substrate towards back - and up again), although Ceg also recommended cuting back the plants as well, which like I said, I am trying to avoid. What do you think?
 
And also maybe reduce plants at either side of the tank to allow for circulation towards the filter intakes in the back corners?
filterintakewithedges.jpg
 
It would be a shame to have to cut back the plants to allow the flow through but at the same time the inlets clearly can't take in the bits floating around. Are you getting definite circular flow from top back, down the front and to the rear of the tank??? Do the bits follow this pattern or are they just floating about all over??



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Hi Alastair. The flow is strong along the surface and front window and there I can detect some flow going over the plants in the substrate near the front and particles caught up in this flow obviously go along with it. However, it seems that the circular flow pattern is more visible on the outer regions and that inside the central/main volume of water the flow is less directional.
 
I can't see why the flow would be any less centrally, than on the outer sides of the tank. Try one of the intakes in the middle along the back wall and see if this helps like you thought, but looking at your tank you have more of an open space centrally so flow shouldn't be affected as much I'd have thought


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Hi Andre, any updates on this tank?
Did you manage to resolve the particle problem?
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
Hi Ady,

Thanks for your interest! Can't believe its been five months already since my last update. I have been taking photos every now and then but never got round to uploading them. Tank is pretty much the same although the fish have changed a bit - still all from Cameroon but I have replaced some of the killifish and added a few more anabantoids.

The particle problem remained for quite a while and has still not been fully resolved. Following the above advice, I packed two of the three trays of both my Eheim 2080s with padding to increase mechanical filtration but this did not sort the problem. About 6 weeks ago, I removed a load of cryptocoryne balansae from the back and this obviously improved the flow as the water cleared up a bit. I therefore think it is a flow issue caused by the large and dense volume of ferns.

I read on Dutch Nature style | Page 2 | UK Aquatic Plant Society that Yo-han uses an inline Wave Stream 2200 to increase flow on his Eheims and I was considering doing the same by placing a pump after the outlet of one of my Eheim 2080s. While I expect the increased flow will help filtration and improve the poor plant growth at substrate level, I am a bit concerned about the impact on my fish as most of them prefer still or slow moving waters.

Would it be possible to add a Wave Stream 2200 and somehow regulate the flow if the additional flow proves too much? How would I do this?? Could I use the built in flow regulator on the Eheim 2280 to reduce flow if needed or would this be harmful to either the Eheim or the additional pump fitted onto the Eheim's outlet?

I will post pics with updates after next week.

Regards,

Andre
 
Great looking tank/project. I've enjoyed this thread as I know very little about killifish. Those gobies are fantastic - full of character!
 
Hi
How are you ?
This noon I went in the river shore to find rocks for my next scape.
It's a spot where there is people that go in the river and take out the stones. And it is where also you can find a lot of killis. We call that place Kinsuka, I think that even one killie have this name ?
The only problem is that I am not allowed to take pic on that place. In Congo you are not allowed to take pic at the border of the country and strategic building (airport, big bridge, military building). And just behind this hill there is the military HQ.
So some soldiers come to bother me they wanted to take my phone, saying that I am a spy hahaha. After a small talk and 10€ they let me go lol. Aaaah the joys of that country.

So here are a few shot for you.
5yrehuse.jpg
typajyhy.jpgyqa3y9u5.jpg
 
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