CLEAR and CLEAN water for African Cichlids: Managing nitrates and algae in your fish tank (Part 1)

[@heffe40]

It certainly can be an expensive hobby but it is enjoyable and relaxing.

[@Kaityscichlids]

For sure!!

[@tomcrossan8263]

Yes - they can turn into a money pit if you are not careful. I sometimes think when I go to a fish shop that they are like a fish tackle shop in that their goodies can catch more customers than fish.

[@mikecole1095]

Hello from the states 😊 congratulations on another informative video. I think you are doing a good job, I’ve been keeping fish off and on since the 70s, back then we just set up a tank, scaped it, waited a week and added fish knowing nothing of the nitrogen cycle 🤪 what a long way we have come. Anyway, it seems that you have done your research and are quite knowledgeable about the hobby. I enjoy your videos keep up the good work 🌹

[@Kaityscichlids]

Hello! Thank you so much :) That sounds similar to what I did when I was younger too!! I had no idea about the nitrogen cycle but things still worked out ok somehow

[@Rooster2628]

I second Mike's statement from the States. I have a 75 gallon cichlid tank. Learning a lot from you!

[@Kaityscichlids]

@@Rooster2628 thank you!!

[@frankvee]

A viable option is running a sump with plants. You would basically have a planted tank underneath your display tank with its own lights and secluded from the display tank so the fish cannot destroy the plants. Of course you will need to choose plants that do well in hard water since you’re running a cichlid tank.

[@Urjfhskioeuwjd]

Why not just go with an Unscripted Aquarium Clarifier (UAC)? Much safer with no UVC bulb to replace. Works just as good as hydrogen peroxide weekly doses and it can handle up to 300-gallon tanks easily. Hope this helps! 😊

[@feebleknievel]

That store looks like paradise.

[@Kaityscichlids]

It's amazing!

[@FranknBerry05]

You're so adorable and awe so wholesome love learning about aquatics and all that comes with having a aquarium I so love your set up and the your African cichlids are beautiful my goodness awesome job I know it takes lot of patience and understanding

[@Kaityscichlids]

Awww, thank you so so much 😊🙏 I really appreciate it!

[@muhammadinadghazwan4675]

Thanks Kaity this is important cause good job you are always awesome

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much 😊

[@carlosmunozlivelovelaugh5171]

Congrats on 3K! Next 4K kaity

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you!! 😄

[@bigmick1062]

Love to see the fish store when it moves.....Your fish stores are much nicer than most here in the USA I use Purigen all the time, great product and works well. You can easily regenerate it by using bleach, then rinsing and soaking in Prime or other dechlorinator....makes it much more economical that way. I have two sets of Purigen.....one that is regenerated and soaked in Prime and the other in the filter......so easy to switch when time comes. You can regenerate it many many times before it needs to be replaced......it normally gets kind of mushy when it's time to replace. Never let it dry out once used, as it ruins the Purigen. Awesome video, very informative.

[@Kaityscichlids]

That's a great idea having the two different lots. Do you know how many times you can regenerate it with bleach before it needs to be completely replaced?

[@bigmick1062]

@@Kaityscichlids A lot of variables but, I've been getting about 15 regenerations before it starts to break down. Two things I've found that prolong life of Purigen...... 1. Never let the Purigen dry out once used, always keep it wet 2. Limit amount of time exposed to bleach.....instructions say 24-hours but that is not necessary. About 2 - 4 hours I've found is more than sufficient to clean out the Purigen and bring it back to a solid white color. I use large glass jars with lids for the regeneration....after a few hours I rinse it out a few times then add water along with a large dose of Prime to neutralize the bleach. I let this sit until the next changeover. If you smell any bleach whatsoever in the jar before removing it you need to use more Prime. Helpful hint: If you get any bleach on your fingers (smells very bad) use a few drops of Prime on your hands and rub them together and rinse with water......no more bleach smell!

[@Kaityscichlids]

@@bigmick1062 thank you so so much!! That is so helpful. I'm definitely going to be coming back to this when I have to regenerate it. 15 regenerations is fantastic. It's really not that costly to use because it lasts for so long

[@Rajskr16]

Love from India!! Recent subscriber of your channel, it's so good as it is.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you Rajashekar!!

[@underwater.tales101]

Great video Katie! Very informative! As someone with 40+ fish in 700lt and low nitrates(a bit over 20 before water change) with weekly changes of 30%, the key is proper filtration. I'm not a big fan of chemicals, especially when there is a natural solution. Unfortunately FX6s don't even have the ability to filter properly a 5 foot overstocked African cichlid tank in my experience and that's simply because of their limited space for media. They're mainly full of sponges which is mostly mechanical instead of biological filtration. That's why I've changed to the big boy (eheim1500xl) which fitted the bio media of two fx6s plus a bit more. The main protection against the nitrates is your media, so investing in a good quality bio media is necessary instead of low quality not fully bio-loaded media(like lava rock etc). I'm using biohome which is arguably one of the best if not the best in the market. I know all this adds up to the cost but have in mind that I'm keeping wildcaught fish, which are very sensitive in water quality. I would recommend watching the pondguru talking about the fx6 on YT. PS. Great store tour! I really enjoyed it!

[@Kaityscichlids]

How interesting!! I just had a look at it, and it says it can produce anaerobic bacteria to reduce nitrates. That's good to know for people who have sumps/large enough filtration systems. Thank you for the info 😊

[@paulrichardson2229]

I hear you when you talk about filtration , I have a 5 ft overstocked cichlids tank and battle high nitrates, the tank is filtered by 1 fx6 and a Sunsun Hw-5000, the Sunsun is same size as the fx6 without all the sponges I filled my Sunsun up with the expensive Biohome media, but my thoughts it’s over rated and way to expensive, I seen no change to my tank with bio home to having fluval fx bio media So to me the bio home is just a gimmick and really is no better than many other good brands

[@underwater.tales101]

@@paulrichardson2229 I agree. I'm not saying it's definitely the best but one of the best in my opinion. Is not that other brands don't have good products, I'm just saying that investing in a good product(like biohome in my opinion) is a lot better than lava stone or any cheap plastic or glass or low porous material. Seachem also does very good bio media products but these are even more expensive if you want to fill big filters.

[@Kaityscichlids]

@@underwater.tales101 I had a look into it and watched a video by Kaveman Aquatics using it in an FX6 (which is what I have) and it didn't work out too well in the canister filter for him. I don't think there was enough space for it, so I'd probably be more inclined to give it a go in a sump. I think one of the pros of canister filters is they're small but have a fast flow rate so if you cut the flow rate by jam packing them full of media they lose a lot of their efficiency. I appreciate you sharing your experience with it heaps though! I always love learning about new ideas/different ways to do things. It's definitely a very interesting concept, I'd never heard of bio media that houses anaerobic bacteria until you mentioned it

[@stevegee8010]

The problem with Biohome is it will need replacing (not all at once) as it becomes clogged and ineffective, and it's expensive to keep doing that. From my own experience I've seen it start to lose efficiency at around two years of use.

[@brendanlawrence18]

Loving your channel! So much knowledge 🤌🏾

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much ❤️

[@lucky414]

Love from Milwaukee, WI USA. I love your fish tank.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much!! 😊

[@nathanhoveyaquatics]

I find if I use 2 small rocks to kinda pinch the plants after planting they don't really mess with them. Now every tank is different and mine is a perfect example. I have what i would say a light/medium planted African Cichlid setup. I don't know what y'all call the plants but here in the 🇺🇸( SouthWest Florida) they are Anubias (multiple kinds in my tank) broad leaf Ludwigia Cabomba Caroliniana and also corkscrew Val. Now when I plant in the open areas they pull them BUT if i plant close to the rocks work or driftwood they leave them alone. You have an amazing tank and some really beautiful fish. 🌱🐠🌿🐡

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much Nathan :) Yes we call it Anubias here too!! I think they are good because you can attach them to the rocks. I do love a nice planted African Cichlid tank

[@tomcrossan8263]

Yes I have planted these the same way in my 500ltr Cichlid tank and the fish leave them alone. In fact I discovered a surviving fry living in the plants and he is about 2 centimetres long

[@Kaityscichlids]

@@tomcrossan8263 that's amazing!

[@seanaustin8516]

Dope video ❤❤❤

[@Andy-px1mj]

Great video as always. That store is already huge. There is nothing even close to that near me in the U.K. I had a disaster cutting my pipe for the fuval UVF on my fX6. I’d not even thought of internal ones.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you Andy 😊 We seem to have a lot of stores around South East QLD here! And yep, that was my concern haha, if I tried to cut the pipe it would definitely end up in a disaster

[@markbee4238]

Nice video Kaity. May I suggest that when you make 2 changes at the same time like this you won't know if it's the purigen or the UV light that is improving your water (and we won't either). It may be better to do one at a time to see the impact of each change. I like the heavier stocked tank though and I also like your store tours.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you Mark!! I did them together because the changes I want them to have are mostly independent of each other, so we should still be able to see the impact of each broadly speaking. The goal for the UVC is to remove green algae from the water (but won't lower nitrates), while the Purigen is to lower nitrates and improve clarity (but isn't going to remove green water). They may overlap a little bit, in terms of less algae = higher nitrates and vice versa. However, I don't think it would be significant enough to matter too much. That was my train of thinking anyway

[@supastihl89]

Great work and editing. 👍🙂

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you :)

[@JonVlogs123]

Wow! Great channel!! 😁👍

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much 😊🙌

[@JonVlogs123]

@@Kaityscichlids You're so welcome 😁🙌

[@jjpro20021]

Very inspiring video ! And what a cool store 😊

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much!!

[@mathieucharton2694]

Hello from France ! keep going like that It would be cool to have a video on the different diseases and how you treat them

[@Kaityscichlids]

Hello!! I can definitely do a video on that :)

[@noelmangion6316]

Great video Katie keep doing what your doing i like watching your videos the tank is looking great and your cichlids are really nice 😊

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much Noel :) I really appreciate it!!

[@Danyal7016]

In the salt water hobby we use a refugium to keep the nutrients low. Plumbing may be required and a separate tank for freshwater macro algae that’ll solve your problem.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Ahh, so that's what a refugium does! The saltwater world is so much more ahead of the game 🤣

[@Danyal7016]

@@Kaityscichlids it’s really convenient I’ve seen few people attempt it to keep it a freshwater tank. Your tank is huge and a refugium will work great and save you money. Just need to trim your macro algae a little bit of maintenance.

[@davidolsen3209]

Thanks for your videos. You are very knowledgeable. Love the content

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much!! 😊

[@johnharrand9765]

Hi Kaity, great video again. I use Purigen in my tank and it does work well, you're right in saying that it's not cheap. You can however recharge it by using a bleach solution, I believe you can do this process two or three times before the Purigen looses its affectiveness. Thanks again for a great informative video. Stay safe and take care. John

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much John 😊 Yes being able to recharge it makes it a lot more cost effective!

[@michaelfagan5229]

@@Kaityscichlids Another GREAT video thanks. I did quite a bit of research on Purigen and have also added it to my 210 gallon AC filtration system. One caution on it and I have read this over and over. If you are recharging it, go overboard with recleaning it and letting it sit between a few cleanings. It appears many users have rushed the recharging process, not removed all the bleach and ended up wiping out a lot of fish. I found a pretty "cheap" source for it ($9/250ML) and probably won't even risk the recharging of it and start with new in 6 months. My "dollar decisions" usually come down to this "How much would it be to replace even a few of my precious AC's, if something goes wrong?" The AC's life usually wins out. :) Thanks again for your AWESOME content and presentation, I refer to you as my "AC Queen" and everyone I have hooked up to your content feels the same.

[@lilterrellatl]

Get you some Seachem Matrix ,also helps with your problem also

[@htarash]

Try seachem matrix as your media in your filter (buy a4 litre bucket from Amazon), with the addition of puregen, i am now pushing to water changes every two weeks. In fact I had a 3.5 week holiday and it was still within 20ppm. But it took couple of months to kick in. This is with 160L tank with 11 discus, 3 Cory cat in the tank.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Wow!! That's amazing!

[@doubletrouble6718]

Nice tank keep it up. From the Philippines.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you 🤗

[@justinrvarga7236]

that was really informative and interesting. Everyone's aquarium system is different. I tried using purigen but find it useless for nitrates but great for clear water. One system I have had nitrates 80 to 160ppm plus lol I used a product from Aqua Forest called Zeo Mix which worked extremely we'll. It can also be used on marine tanks. My nitrates wen't down quite a bit. It has a 6 week life span as we'll.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you 😊 Yes I think I'm having a similar experience with the Purigen. The water is super clear but nitrates I'm not seeing a difference. I'll have to check out the Zeo Mix then

[@henrybowman7887]

I have a 56 gallon tank with mbuna and have had a high nitrate problem as well... I do 40-50% water change every 8-11 days (depending on my work schedule)... I added Anubias plants to my tank... From my research Mbuna do not like them,and they clearly don't mess with them at all... I also added Fluval Clearmax Phosphate Remover pouches to my two Marineland hang on filters ,it traps phosphate, nitrite, and nitrate... Both additions have seemed to keep my nitrates at a much better level than before... I've been doing this for around 2 months now...

[@Kaityscichlids]

That's great to hear!! Yes I've heard from some others that anubias tends to fair quite well in African Cichlid tanks

[@chino7287]

It's so odd that the nitrates jump so high even after weekly 80% WCs. I've kept a 75g African Cichlid tank (~15 fish) for almost 2 years now & do a 50% WC once a month. I always measure the parameters & the nitrates barely reach 10 ppm. I'll keep checking your updates. Keep it up!

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much 😊

[@kbkcichlids811]

nice video, i'd love to paint the background black though. oh btw maybe change your substrate to the Caribsea african cichlids, it helps with the ph and keep it optimal for them so you will use less buffers.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you!!

[@andreashessler838]

Check out BCB bags. You make them using baked clay (non-clumping cat litter or spill control granules) and laterite. You should be good for laterite in Oz. They remove nitrates and phosphates from your water. I have hard water with high phosphates. Killer for algae.

[@ricardoparedes2781]

Hi! Nice tank and if I may, i would recommend you use aqua vitro products. I have a 70 gallons heavily loaded with discs, corydoras, and lots of tetras. I used to use Stability and pristine together with Matrix but parameters were not stable at all. Im now using seed, remediation and alpha by aqua vitro and my parameters are more stable. But i also changed the matrix for marine pure bio spheres and noticed that my algae problem reduced considerably. P. S. I am not using purigen, i am leaving the bacteria do the work in my fluval fx5.

[@GavinStatikGoddard]

You may not like the aesthetic but you could always add an internal hanging planter and grow houseplants from it using lava rocks as a substrate. I have a peace lily in mine, I've seen others use pothos or monstera

[@Kaityscichlids]

I tried having pothos for a while on either end, but it was annoying with my lids. My lids fit pretty snug on top so it was a pain trying to squish them in. I do love the look on some tanks though!

[@GavinStatikGoddard]

@@Kaityscichlids I had to custom build my lid which meant I could cut a small area for the peace lily to grow through, im gonna add some monkey mask monstera this weekend too which should do a great job sucking up nitrates. I can appreciate not everyone wants to start slicing into their lids, especially when they're such a good fit. If my original lid hadn't mangled I'm not sure I'd be so quick to start hacking away at it.

[@MClover420]

I had the Pea Soup problem in my 75 Gallon and the Green Killing machine cleared it up in a week but, the water was still green when I took a picture with the flash on . I’ve had it going since December 7th. Not exactly a fan of putting electronics in water though considering it contrary to what we are normally not supposed to do 🤷🏻‍♂️. The only main issue I have with it is the fact that you can only use it for about 9 months then have to buy the whole part with the UV bulb instead of just being able to replace the bulb

[@666Maeglin]

You could put the Chemnical filtration in a seperate watertight pot container behind one of the regular filter pots. using the water stream by the big filterpot to pump throught thios container. back into the aquarium. If your put it in a bipass system witha vale in front and behind the extra chemical filter pot, you can easily disconnect it if you treat the aquarioum with medicine e.g., This means you do not need to get your big filterpot disconnected to remove the chemical filter material. Also makes it easy to replace yuour chemical ffilter material while keeping the main filter running unimpeded.

[@tomcrossan8263]

Hi - a very interesting video. Just a couple of points. I have 200 and 500ltr Cichlid tanks, so understand about your.water parameters. Purigen looks like it is resin based and if so it could lower your PH while removing nitrates. I found this happened when I used a fine resin to control nitrates. Secondly if you go to your local Home Brew shop you may be able to get very fine mesh bags. I get mine here in the ACT pre packed at $7.00 for 10. Yes 10 and with a draw string! Plus I can also buy it in 1 Meter lengths. I will be interested to see if it does lower your nitrates with no drop in PH.

[@Kaityscichlids]

That's interesting, I will definitely check for a drop in pH. I did have a look at the other mesh bags but the Purigen is so fine I was worried it'd fall through. The other thing about "The Bag" they sell is its meant to tolerate being in the bleach solution to recharge the Purigen, which I think some other materials don't cope so well with

[@rgarcia1563]

What do you think about having a black background that covers ever behind the tank and makes the fish color pop even more? Great videos

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you 😊 I might give that a go at some point! Maybe when I move houses

[@greygoose117]

I have the fluval uvc one on a fluval 407 and I know it’s just a clarifier but my fish have never been healthier. Fluval also has a uvc for the fx4 and fx6 in the works, not sure when they’re releasing it but they definitely are making one

[@Kaityscichlids]

I was surprised they didn't have one available for the FX6 being such a popular filter!

[@fishmunga1014]

I think your tank looks wicked unplanted but what if in an external bio filter you make the first stage the water go through a planted tank within the stand? ps. Your vids are heaps cool, 1 of my fav channels. ;)

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much 😊

[@laurag1076]

Haha Liverpool creek and tech den. Finally names I know cause I'm in Australia. In SA so online. Love both. I just got the email they're moving too haha

[@kenlawton1531]

Must be an Aussie thing, I also used to pronounce Seachem as you do, however I've since learnt (after over 10 years in the game) that it's pronounced Sea Chem as in chemistry, who knew! 😂😂 love your set up BTW, I used to have a 5ft African Cichlid tank and loved it but had to move so sold it. I'll do it again one day when I no longer have to move.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Omg so funny you should say that!! I was literally having a shower after I did the video thinking "Why is it called Seachem? That sounds so weird" Then it dawned on me it's short for sea chemistry haha. I was like I hope no one notices I've been calling it Seachem with the ch 🤣 I'm glad I'm not alone though. And thank you 😊

[@kenlawton1531]

@@Kaityscichlids 🤣🤣🤣🤣 my local aquarium guys must have been laughing at me the whole time🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@jessecoleman4140]

Hi Kaity I love your tank! And I have a quick question.. do you have all males or a mix of males and females? The colors are amazing that’s why I’m curious. Also did you buy gender specific larger fish or unsexed juveniles as you know there’s such a big difference in price. I’m asking because I am looking into stocking my first African cichlid tank and want it to look like yours but also don’t want to break the bank. Any info will help and I really appreciate your videos. Thank you!!

[@Kaityscichlids]

Hi Jesse! Thank you so much :) I bought mine as juveniles mixed males and females, they were super tiny. I let them grow out and after about 5 months and they did some breeding in the tank. Then I started feeding them a food called Absolute Colour which we have here in Australia. It says it's a "no sex hormone" food, but I would beg to differ haha. Now all of my females are colourful like males and don't breed anymore. So I think I started with males and females, but my females are now more male, if that makes sense...

[@scottroberts930]

Love your vids. Thank you!

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much Scott! 😄

[@paulrichardson2229]

Great video Kaity my tank very similar not as large only a 5 ft , but over stocked and I always worry to about my nitrates been high over the week and I do 50% water changes weekly, and dosnt seem to do much to change the nitrate level , I use a similar product to the Purigen called Beta Pet Macropore which I purchase also from the Techden and is way cheaper than the Purigen and does the same job. I have a canister filter that has a Uv light built in but never run it as I didn’t think it did anything to the clarity of water but does help with algae Very interested to see what you think in a weeks time

[@Kaityscichlids]

That's great to know!! I'll have to check out the Beta Pet Macropore. The UVC won't change the clarity but hopefully it'll help with the algae 🤞 The other benefit of the UVC is its meant to help kill bad bacteria so I guess that could be a plus of running it even if you didn't need it for the algae

[@sspreadfire]

Suggestion: build a small sum and then grow many pothos plants with grow light. Or, get a hang in the back filter but instead of doing filtration, just put the roots of pothos in place. That way, no fish has access to nip on plants.

[@Kaityscichlids]

That's a great idea!

[@Shaden0040]

Add floating plants such as watersprite, frognit, rederoot floqaters, salvinia, water lettuce, water hyacinth.

[@mrchristopher1814]

Does anyone know how long the bulb lasts on the GKM24? I got one and it does a good job but the bulb didn't last very long and they're expensive to replace. Btw love the channel Kaity, helped me out alot.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you Christopher!! I think they are meant to last 6-12 months. I probably need to replace mine, you actually just reminded me

[@GTR-SR]

Thanks for sharing 👌🏽🐟

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you for watching!!

[@laurag1076]

Great video. Really large anibius barteri and Java?. U can glue to rock. X

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you!! Yes, I think gluing Anubias is the way to go, I've heard others have success with that in their African Cichlid tanks

[@milkesnowboards]

Thanks great Info 👍

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you 😊

[@ianswenser2986]

Kaity you need to get onto anoxic filtration and bcb bags. They will be your best friend and should reduce your nitrates to zero. Do a phosphate test on your water as the food maybe not helping your algea problems.

[@Kaityscichlids]

I'll definitely have a look into it! I want to grow green algae on my rocks, but I just don't want the algae in the water which is why I'm going for the UVC

[@ianswenser2986]

@@Kaityscichlids Kaity Dr Kevin Novaks on KZbin will answer all your questions. Trust me it works, if you go down that path ask me where to get the media here in Australia

[@tripshobbies2810]

I have 0 N0³ in both my Discus and African cichlid tank with a waterchange once a week, sometimes once every 2 weeks with no chemical filtration or a single Seachem product. Actually every seachem product tends to be the reason you stuck using seachem products. My solutions really simple. Anoxic filtration and without the seachem trash along with the anoxic filtration there's enough organisms to deal with everything, algae, water clarity etc.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Wow!! Well done 👌

[@aheimsvensson1573]

Best way to keep the water cristal clear is to focus on the biological filtration, that creates colloids in the water that will desolve any small particles in the water! Using superfine materials to collect all the particles is a losing game because they will appear faster than you can collect them ex. by feeding....

[@tuco86x]

Have you considered using plants that the roots would go down into the water and the foliage would drape across the top of your tank?

[@Kaityscichlids]

I did consider it but I think I'd find it a bit annoying with the lids. And because of the way my lids are I'd be limited to having only one plant on either end of the tank

[@tuco86x]

Hmm have you considered floating plants? I've been using red root floaters and they've really helped with the nitrates on my 75 gallon

[@michaelstruyf8641]

Im going to try Seachem denitrate in my mbuna tank and see how that goes.. hopefully it will keep my nitrates low👌😁

[@Kaityscichlids]

Keep us updated on how it goes!

[@Ralph-ny1ey]

Not only harmful to fish, but high nitrates can stunt their growth. Big fish just produce so much waste. You can also do a overhead or under planted sump cheaply. Get a planter, small pump, some tubing, and some type of plastic grate for a disposable filter floss and to hold plants in place. If you want to conceal it, you can make one under, but you may have to add lighting for the plants.

[@Kaityscichlids]

It's unfortunately not an option for this tank because it's not designed for a sump. I've got to stick with the canister filters so it'll be interesting to see if the Purigen makes much of a difference as an alternative

[@alevnafiz1676]

API nitrate test kit Is known to be inaccurate, I was chasing my nitrates down for years, until I was recommended to compare the JBL nitrate test kit. I was shocked at the result as I was stressing for no reason. Give it a try and you’ll surprised.

[@Kaityscichlids]

I'll have to give it a go! That would be nice to find out my nitrates are actually low 🤣

[@alevnafiz1676]

@@Kaityscichlids I have around 30 Africans in a 340ish litre ( including the 2 canisters) tank and my nitrates were always giving me grief, didn’t get below 20 after water changes. When I was told about how inaccurate API was and to try JBL I thought I had nothing to lose. My nitrates now hover between5-10 max. I do a 50% water change every week regardless.

[@MrTroenokarso]

Hi, Nice aquarium. Do you have female and male cichlids in your tank.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Yes, I've got both male and female but I colour feed them so the females look like males 😊

[@Shaden0040]

ty gowing anubias and crazy glue them to the hardscape.

[@stevegee8010]

Look into biocenosis clarification baskets/bags (BCBs) to help denitrify your system. You won't get immediate results so carry on with regular water changes and other methods for now and if you're using Prime stop using it.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you for the tip! Why do you say to stop using Prime?

[@stevegee8010]

@@Kaityscichlids Prime inhibits the propogation of anaerobic bacteria. Other dechlorinators appear to be safe, however.

[@paweld-88]

Hi! I don't speak english very well. Can you help me? Will quartz sand or dolomite sand be better? Is the 0.5-1mm or 1-1.5mm fraction better? Is serpentine a good stone for Malawi? PS You have a beautiful aquarium. Best regards from Poland 😃

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much :) I'm not too sure about those sands, I've never used them or looked into the sizes for sand. I use pool filter sand in my tank, and I know some others use aragonite

[@andytuna15]

Hi kaity how big your fish tank and where to buy the fish tank you have now and how much is cost ???

[@Kaityscichlids]

Hi Andy 😊 it's a Waterbox Clearpro 7225. If you go to the Waterbox website it'll tell you your closest retailer for them. It's about 6ft by 2ft by 2ft and costs around $5000AUD for the tank and cabinet

[@samperson8787]

I have that exact uv and after a while it started emitting a white film that would cloud the water. Interested to see how it works for you.

[@Kaityscichlids]

That's interesting! Yes I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out

[@markbaumgardt2868]

I have just a sand substrate with the rock substrate the detritus stays under them which causes a nitrate factory

[@nijmakayastha305]

hi i'm ur new subscriber .how can recharge perigen n when???

[@Kaityscichlids]

Hi Nijma! Thank you for subscribing 😊 it is meant to last between 3-6 months, but sometimes it might last less depending on the bioload. Once it goes a dark brown colour it is meant to be regenerated with bleach diluted in water

[@LuisAlvarado-yp8kr]

Plants love

[@fishmunga1014]

I do have another question for you, have you ever swam amongst the Great Barrier Reef?

[@Kaityscichlids]

I have been there once a while ago!

[@fishmunga1014]

@@Kaityscichlids having Magnetic Island just off townsville (where I live) we use to go out nearly every wkend & used to snorkel around some of the bays. Was so much fun.

[@MRGUSTAVOCHICKENFRING]

What are those spotlights on your tank called?

[@Kaityscichlids]

They're freshwater AI Primes 😊

[@jeffburnett1527]

I'm wondering if chemi pure blue does the same thing ? do know anything about that product ?

[@Kaityscichlids]

I believe it's meant to do the same thing, but I haven't used it before

[@jeffburnett1527]

@@Kaityscichlids ok I'm setting up a 125 long for my cichlids and putting chemi pure blue in my fx6 canister I'm curious to see how it does , keep up the great videos love watching and learning .

[@pareshkeer5616]

Nice

[@freddyaquinteroc6819]

❤❤❤❤ Beautiful 😊

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you :)

[@manslayerdbzgt]

You should think about drilling that tank and putting a sump on it and you can put as much biological that you need in it

[@Kaityscichlids]

If I'm reluctant to cut my FX6 outlet pipe, I'm definitely not drilling my tank 🤣 But in all seriousness I would like to try a sump one day!

[@Andy-px1mj]

A second FX6 would be a much easier option if needed. And one could be entirely for bio media.

[@sauravraj5891]

Can I use overhead sump filter

[@Kaityscichlids]

I've never used one before, but I'm sure it would work!

[@jlmm3968]

I used put my purigen and Chemipure in my cannister, but it becomes a pain to change , I have a overstocked cichlid tank, so I bought a hob aquaclear 110 I put my purigen and Chemipure in there also I buy 50 micron filter pads and put in 110 aquaclear also . It is so much easier to change my purigen ,plus my 50 micron pads catch so much junk and make my water crystal clear, and I can change pads out weekly and it’s not a pain like the cannister filter.

[@Kaityscichlids]

That is an EXCELLENT idea!! It's perfect for it too because I was surprised how little you actually need to add for such a big tank

[@stevenk907]

I always recharge my purigen. I used to have a big bag like yours but it’s got leaked and it was a messed !!! Plz be careful. So I decided to go with small size 100Gram and go with multiple

[@Kaityscichlids]

Oh no!! That would be a nightmare trying to remove it if it leaked out

[@greygoose117]

Try seachem matrix and seachem de-nitrate. You shouldn’t really have to use buffer if you’re using crushed coral / aragonite for substrate. What size is your tank?

[@Kaityscichlids]

If I don't add a buffer my KH is a 5, so I definitely need to. I have limestone and crushed coral in the filter, but the sand is just pool filter sand. The tank is 670L altogether, 6ft X 2 ft X 2ft

[@stevegee8010]

Coral will do nothing if the water is already alkaline, it will only dissolve if the PH falls below 7, so that's the only buffering capacity it has. There's a reason coral skeletons last for thousands of years in the sea and are only diminished from erosion. I'll probably get jumped on by a hundred cichlid keepers now, but before you all linch me look into the actual science of it.

[@greygoose117]

@@stevegee8010 sooo the actual science of it not buffering ph doesn’t work how? It also releases minerals into the water that they need too. Been keeping African cichlids for over 20 years and it’s all I use for substrate, I have close to 30 large tanks in my fish room and I’ve never had a problem with it, or never had it not buffer my water. In all my years of fishkeeping, I’ve never once tested the alkalinity of my water for my fish either. No need to. It’s not even in master test kits either. My tap water ph is 7.4 and above. The only times I ever test for alkalinity is for maintaining chemicals in my hot tub, which is a totally different subject.

[@greygoose117]

@@Kaityscichlids so 180 gallons. I’ve kept cichlids for over 20 years and never needed to test for gh or kh, nor needed a reason to make huge water parameter adjustments. I use the substrate I mentioned, and only add seachem prime for all my tanks, I have close to 30 large tanks in my fish room. I never have a problem with my fish. People think you need all these chemicals to mimic African cichlids natural habitat, but the majority of the fish we buy are captive and farm bred, so they’ve been raised to tolerate totally different parameters. Save your $$$ and keep things simple. I’d bet there’s a lot of waste hiding in and underneath all those Texas holey rocks which is raising your nitrates also. I removed mine from my office lobby show tank and it made a huge difference. It also cut down on algae and brown diatoms in the tank because you can’t clean all those crevices and my bristlenose pleco couldn’t get in those places either. Beautiful tank regardless. Good luck!

[@stevegee8010]

@@greygoose117 It requires acidic conditions before it will dissolve is the science of it.

[@manslayerdbzgt]

Love your videos though

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you!! 😊

[@Ichthyology-]

I know this was 11mts ago but you could try Pothos for more of a natural way to rid nitrates...

[@Kaityscichlids]

It's never too late! I love pothos, I just don't like the look of the roots in the tank. But if I had a sump on the African Cichlid tank I'd definitely put some in there

[@EggSpotTank]

I’ve been using purigen for 6months and literally change my water clarity but I don’t think it will lower nitrates nor UV. 🤔

[@Kaityscichlids]

That's great! It definitely helped with water clarity but I haven't seen a difference in nitrates from it

[@lgtvsmart4078]

Interesting 80% water every week. A lot folks recommended do 30% water change more frequently. I think the reason being beneficial bacteria will be lost and also chemistry. I never did 80% in my 5-7 years experience.

[@laurag1076]

Love

[@cdropbox]

hey this is cool

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you!! 😊

[@metinboruc4778]

Çok güzel olmuş

[@ThaSilentOne420]

That deep sand bed isnt helping anything i know they are popular in the saltwater world but if that sand is disturbed alot by the cichlids its working against ya . Add more bio and consider making a filter based off bio like a 55 gallon under the aquarium made into a wet dry filter thats atleast 60% bio or more . Purigen is more of a bandaid then anything . I ran way more cichlids then the numbers u got in a 120G and once i did the DIY based wet dry filtration and filled it with 60% bio media water was always crystal clear u might also want to look into DIY pond filters if your looking for that sparkling clean clear water . Cichlids was my thing before saltwater 9years ago . Unless u bump up to 2 or 3 canister filters u will be constantly working . Take it from someone who tried everything . I had probably 200 mbuna in a 120G like that . The setup i suggested will keep nitrates super low due to the bacteria have the surface area to breed and live on with the amount of fish. Also allow u to add alot more

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you for the info! For my situation it's not really practical to add another canister filter or a sump to the tank, so Purigen makes sense to give it a go. But I can see how if you had a filtration setup specifically designed to grow anaerobic bacteria it would help a lot. It would be great to try it one day. My cichlids don't disturb all of the sand bed so I am hoping maybe some of the deep oxygen deprived layers that don't get disturbed might grow some anaerobic bacteria 🤞

[@stevegee8010]

@@Kaityscichlids If your ammonia and nitrites are zero but you're getting a lot of nitrates, that indicates your flitration, as far as nitrifying bacteria goes, is doing a good job. So I believe the only extra filtration you may need to consider is to denitrify your system.

[@Kaityscichlids]

@@stevegee8010 100% agree!!

[@michaeleber4752]

Purigen will give you a clear tank, but if you have a black water tank then you cannot use Purigen or charcoal. On the other hand, Purigen will be selective (which charcoal is not) so it will filter out waste biproducts without filtering out medicines.

[@Kaityscichlids]

That is very true!! And a good point to consider 😊

[@Ravin269]

Try annubias or Java fern. superglue to your rocks and they dont touch those plants

[@Kaityscichlids]

I do love anubias but I don't think it would do well with my bright lights!

[@飛雲-o7g]

😘🐟🐟🐟

[@ArunKumar-n]

Hai kaity.. ur tank water looks little green colour is because of high light intensity but nice vedieo on store ....

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you 😊 I'm really excited to see if the UVC will allow me to keep the high light intensity while preventing the greenness I normally get at the end of the week

[@adamk4662]

Techden is NOT on the Sunshine coast!

[@Kaityscichlids]

It is right on the cusp. Close enough 😂

[@freddyaquinteroc6819]

Hola saludos besos 😊

[@tiago.downunder]

Having such a deep sand bed will build up nitrogen.

[@ernestokettle8708]

I see your videos just to hear and see you.. Katty I really like You sweetheart.❤️

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you so much 😊

[@jeancharlesprunier2442]

👍🇫🇷👋

[@SergioBernardoAlmi]

Recharge it don’t throw it away

[@mangold7192]

好吃

[@jam9762]

Beautiful tank

[@Kaityscichlids]

Thank you 😊🙏

[@brianthiel1488]

No replacement for plants. Cichlids screw them up so a plants in a sump would work.

[@Kaityscichlids]

That's the way I think!

[@WhatOfFox]

sorry but you don't know how to add plants for the cichlids, you have to put anubias with large leaves stuck on the stones, if you put fine substrate plants it's obvious which will leave 2 hours later.

[@Kaityscichlids]

Anubias isn't really appropriate for my tank because of the high light, and aesthetically I prefer leaving the rocks for the algae to grow on. Plus parameters wise I chose vallisneria since it likes high pH and hard water unlike Anubias. I'm sure that adding a larger vallisneria in a pot would have helped with the success. Thank you for the info though 😊

[@sabrinakosova2613]

Die Steine gehören nicht zu malawisee 😅 typisch hauptsächlich den Menschen gefällt es wie es denn barschen geht weiß keiner 😂