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[Soultwater]

I only know salt but need Freshwater help

I have extensive knowledge (15 years) with salt and reef tanks and build most of my systems including the wet dry filters and protein skimmers. I am living in Germany temporarily and decided to enjoy freshwater again, since it would be a huge waste of time and money building a salt system knowing that I’ll be moving again in a few years. I haven’t purchased a RODI system yet but do plan on that soon. I set up my tank approx 50 gal with gravel and 3 large pieces of drift wood purchased at the LFS. The tank was used and it came with a penguin power filter so I decided to use it for now. My questions are…

What concerns should I have with the wood?
With the drift wood can I keep cichlids?
If cichlids are ok what water additives should I use with them?
What type of fish should I avoid with the driftwood?
What type of water tests will I need with freshwater?
What will I need to do when I start using RODI water?
I have an old overflow box and items needed to build a wet dry system including the pump would you ditch the power filter?

Thanks

[Soultwater]

Here is an update

I should mention the used tank came with 4 fish that have been in my bathroom chilling in a bucket for about a week now. I am not sure about keeping the 2 angles, 1 Plecostomus and the cory cat because I have always wanted to do something with cichlids.

I cleaned the drift wood prior to putting in the tank buy it still changed the color of the water brown. I did a 100% water change last night hoping to get the last of the debris from resealing the used tank + setting up the tank with used gravel + placing the new driftwood, guess the nitrogen cycle will start again from day 1…
The drift wood has no slate on the bottom and wants to float a little. I placed some old led scuba weights in plastic bags to hold the wood down until it gets waterlogged, I didn’t want to introduce let into my new system.

I would be glad to take a few pics if someone can tell me how to post them…

Water Test Results

Tap water
PH = 8 to 8.4
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0
Harness = 300 very hard
Alkalinity = 300 high


Tank water is the same
Tap water
PH = 8 to 8.4
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0
Harness = 300 very hard
Alkalinity = 300 high


The 3 driftwood pieces are quite large and real nice they were only $22 or 15 euro at the LFS.


Don't be shy let me know what ya think

[cjdevito]

What concerns should I have with the wood?

If it came from a shop, the only issues to be aware of are ones you've already seen: the leaching of tannins from the wood, staining the water. This also can lower the PH of the water a bit, but considering how high your tap water PH is I wouldn't be too worried about that.

If the driftwood is of a manageable size, one thing you can do with it to eliminate/reduce the tannins it leaches is to put it in a pot and boil it for a few hours. Another thing would be to sit in a bucket for a few weeks, allowing it time to leach a lot of material out before introducing it into the tank.

Activated carbon will help to reduce the browning of the tank's water.

It'll sink on it's own, eventually. How long it will take depends on the size, shape and type of wood.

With the drift wood can I keep cichlids?

Well, the thing is, there are hundreds if not thousands of species of cichlid, coming from pretty much every sort of region and water parameters out there. The needs of a south american dwarf cichlid will be considerably different from those of an african cichlid from the rift lakes. So it's usually impossible to generalize without having a clearer idea of just which cichlids you mean to keep.

However, in this case, it's safe to say that driftwood should be no problem for anything you plan to keep. It has a slight tendency to depress PH, but that can be compensated for if need be and it has no other effects.

If cichlids are ok what water additives should I use with them?

Depends. What kind of cichlids?

What type of fish should I avoid with the driftwood?

None really, that's pretty much a non-issue. On a thematic level driftwood would be out of place if you're going to try to mimic certain natural biotopes, but that's about the only reason I can think of why it would ever be an issue.

What type of water tests will I need with freshwater?

Based on your second post, I'd say you pretty much have what you need.

What will I need to do when I start using RODI water?

Partly this is going to depend on what you plan to keep, but odds are you're pretty much going to have to remineralize it with an additive. I've no idea what the german products for this purpose are called, but they shouldn't be hard to find.

I have an old overflow box and items needed to build a wet dry system including the pump would you ditch the power filter?

Honestly? Depends on what you're going to keep
If the tank will end up being full of a couple harems of apistogramma, I wouldn't bother with the wet/dry. If it's going to be a very highly stocked african rift lake tank, a wet/dry would probably be very helpful.

[Blue Leader]

I'll just reiterate some that cj said...there are thousands of cichlid species, that occupy every niche you can shake a stick at. From 2' palagic predators, to 1" shell dwellers, to 12" riverine ambush predators, to 1.5" species that live in the surf zone in the Rift Lakes.

[Goldstein]

Based on your water parameters I'd say Rift Lake cichlids would be the easiest to manage without mucking about with water. Mbuna I personally find pretty boring. Peacocks are gorgeous and slightly more entertaining and I really like most of the larger Haplochromines but they need space. Tanganikyans are a little less available , possibly not as colorful but much more interesting in my opinion. Look at a tank of shell dwellers with maybe some Paracyprichromis, possibly a compressiceps or two - maybe even a few of the hardier sand dwelling species though they are more delicate than most other Africans from what I've seen (Xenos anyways).

Some CA and SA cichilds might do 'ok' in your water particularly some of the larger Central Americans which are full or personality / beautiful but much harder to mix or keep in groups than Africans or South Americans. Might also consider adding a pinch of salt and doing Chromides?

[cjdevito]

Something else to consider is that, being in Germany, species availability at the local fish shops is going to be a bit different from that found in the US. I've always heard the german hobbyists have better access to killifish, dwarf cichlids and some of the pseudomogil rainbows than we do, so it might be cool to take advantage of that while the opportunity is there.

[Goldstein]

Something else to consider is that, being in Germany, species availability at the local fish shops is going to be a bit different from that found in the US. I've always heard the german hobbyists have better access to killifish, dwarf cichlids and some of the pseudomogil rainbows than we do, so it might be cool to take advantage of that while the opportunity is there.

Could also do a really nice rainbowfish tank now that I think about it. They are fairly happy in hard, alkaline water.