I wish I knew more about phosphates, but I do believe that some municipal water suppliers add phosphates to the water. I'm not sure about this though. I use a product called Phoscheck in one of my canister filters as an attempt to deprive brush algae, which I have, of nutrients.
oh ya im new to it to so i said ah ry it ,and i have a lot but not a lot of algi well my tank looks clouldy wen u look through it from the side cant see through , a film on the glass , maby more water changes and glass scrubbing ?
High levels of phosphates will couse you algae. Ideal phosphate levels are 0.05 pmm, or less. Yeah do 30-50% water every week and feed your fish good quality live food instead of flakes. Flakes contains phosphates. Whatever you do never over feed them specially not with flakes!
ok well i feed my fish mondays wendsays and sats i feed them stick food no flakes i usualy do 30% water changes every weeck but laty ive been bussy i didnt one 2 days ago ill do a 50% today , i just never tested phoshate . So here comes an other question for chilids what do u guys keep the ph at they toled me 7.0 is fine but my jack dosent seem happy so now i ahve it at 7.5?
Don't know what's best for cichlids. I would ask Miami, Poetic Irony (Brandon, or Gumbii who will be back in a few days from vacation. These people have experience with cichlids.
I feed most of my large fish freeze dried krill, but I'm not a cichlid expert.
ok some of the foods i use to use are as follows, lol thanks for the referral pk.
i used the generic floating cichlid pellets from walmart, i also fed once a week with frozen blood pellets, for flake food any type of cichlid flake or tropical flake is fine, once a month i liked to feed them feeder guppies, and as the cichlids grew they graduated to feeder goldfish. do not i repeat do not by the cichlid pellets that are labeled cichlid sticks, these things will powder up in your tank making your water cloudy and it will cause this powder to get down in your gravel and rot, big big issue with this stuff, so flake food, floating pellets, feeder fish, and frozen blood worms. this is a perfect diet for cichlids and you wont have a happier healthier, more colorful fish....
hope this helps,
Brandon
I agree with most of what Brandon said, but a few more things. I looked at your profile and saw that you listed some African yellow and orange fish. I am assuming that you are referring to two different fish and possible yellow labs and red zebras (yes they are orange despite being called red) as these are very common. Many of the fish from Lake Malawi are herbivores (especially the mbunas like the yellow lab and red zebra) and these fish cannot tolerate diets high in animal protein. They should be fed spirulina-based foods and should never be fed things like blood worms or brine shrimp (even though some people do for some reason). When they are young they can be fed these things along with general tropical flakes, but as they grow these things will not be acceptable. If too much animal protein is in their diet they can suffer from a condition known as Malawi bloat where they will more than likely die unless diagnosed very early on.
For these kind of fish, feed them vegetable like zuchini (rubber band to a rock) or lettuce (clip on the side), feed them spirulina-based foods, and then I also use New Life Spectrum. Mix these up and they will really color up. They will also eat algae off the rocks as this is what is natural for them.
For the larger cichlids that are not from Lake Malawi, Brandon's suggestions work great. If you could clarify what you meant by "African yellow and orange fish" that would help. Thanks.
P.S. I would like to thank you as well for the referal peter. Oh and by the way, you have the coolest thumbnail image in your signature. I always like looking at it - very cool.
