Tanks Mbuna Tank Diary (pics & Video)

This is my first go at a cichlid tank, in fact its my first go at a heated fresh water tank. Both my other tanks are cold. Just thought I'd post a couple of pics.

Whats going to be in the tank!!!

The list i've been working on so far goes (based on what my LFS has to offer) as follows,


4 * Labidochromis caeruleus (kakusa) 1M 3F
3 * Aulonocara maylandi 1M 2F
3 * Cynotilapia afra (cobue) 1M 2F or 3 * Pseudotropheus sp "elongatus yellowtail" 1M 2F


The tank is 180 lts /47 gallons.
I will be using the standard kit filter with a Tetratec EX700 external.
The rock work is devonian "old red sandstone" and lots of it because its free and looks great. Just before there any questions about the stone and water quality, ORS has significantly less quarts and feldspar so water hardness should be ok "should" be.
Substrate is a light crushed coral.
Lighting is "I forget the name and make but its a better bulb that the standard kit bulbs.


Boiling the rocks (big pots, this process took ages)

and doing a spot of rock scaping!!

Added some water, very important!! for fish.

WoW, I love new rocky tank setups

Those rocks must weigh a ton ! have you used one of those egg crate things to distribute weight ? Just wondering anyway

saboy said:

WoW, I love new rocky tank setups

Those rocks must weigh a ton ! have you used one of those egg crate things to distribute weight ? Just wondering anyway

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The rock is directly on the glass. I put the rock in first and then I added the coral. I hope that this will prevent any digging induced rock falls. When I was putting in the foundation rock pieces I picked the rocks with the largest flattest area, this will hopefull spread the weight. I also did another trick to deal with the weight. Because the bottom pannels of most fish tanks are elevated slightly i.e. dont rest on the counter directly, I cut two rectangle pieces of 6mm plymood to make up this space, this will hopefully stop the glass from ever bending too much from the weigh rocks in a single point and cracking.

Hi, welcome to the wonderful world of Cichlids I love the tank setup but IMO in the future you might have to change the formation round to make the crevices a little smaller. you might not do though but I know I did. I have now resorted to slate untill I have the funds for the white ocean rock with ready made holes. I cant wait to see it with fish.

clareuk said:

I cant wait to see it with fish.

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I will post the pics of the fish as soon as they are added. Its going to be about two/three weeks I'm going to try a fishless cycle and see how I get on with it. I'd like to add as many fish as possible at the one time so that I can avoide the rpoblem associated with adding fish at later dates. "so watch this space"

It looks nice, but imo a mix of large and small rocks would look more natural as well as more aesthetically pleasing.

Ok, so I carried out another couple of odds and ends today to get the tank on its way to being habitable.

I am carrying out a fishless cycle on this little puppy so on my way home I picked up some ammonia. I have been reading around as to how much ammonia one should add to help get a good level of bacteria growth and most sources said about 5ppm. The ammonia I purchased had a concentration of 9.5%. “For a moment I tired to work out in my head how many million parts of water I had in the tank”, this gave he a headache so I swiftly stopped. I figured I would just kept testing and putting in ammonia till I arrived at a nice orange colour. “And what an orange colour it was as well” beautiful!!!. I am going to call it ammonia sunset.

Next I hooked up the Tetra Tec ex700 external. I have had this filter running on another tank for the last week and a bit in the hope that it will be inoculated with bacteria. (I had a major brain fart at this stage), I removed the pipes and placed in under the new tank. Without even thinking about what I was doing I plugged it in) My god that is one powerful pump, in only a matter of seconds there was water all over the place. I was very impressed to say the least. (Note to self, do not plug in filter until all pipes are securely fastened). You live and learn!

For my next trick, I removed the media from my fluval 2 in my first tank (I had left the filter unclean for some time with this process in mind). I removed the cap on the internal juwel filter and I rinsed the media in the intake of the filter in the hope that this would also help start up the bacterial colony.

That was all for today, I will add some more ammonia tomorrow.

If you are lucky I might post a pick of the ammonia going into the tank!!!

Some pics

Hello

I'm not a cichlid person, but found this thread all the same. I like the look of the tank, where did you get those rocks from?

Is the stand custom made? It looks pretty solid to me and the place for the filter is neat How did you make it?

Sam

the rocks,tank etc look spot on.keep the pics rolling in.

its looking good now fish are gonna luv it!

Themuleous said:

Hello

I'm not a cichlid person, but found this thread all the same. I like the look of the tank, where did you get those rocks from?

Is the stand custom made? It looks pretty solid to me and the place for the filter is neat How did you make it?

Sam

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Thanks sam

The rocks came from a river near Mulranny, Co.Mayo Ireland. Its about a three hour drive from where I live in Dublin but I think it was well worth it. Plus they were free free free. I'm in that part of the country all the time and I've been eyeing up this stone for a long time.

The stand I put together with odds and ends I had lying around in the shed. For the legs I used spruce 2 by 4's (I had to buy these but its fairly cheap timber. The top is a "cut off" of a counter top left over from when I put in the new kitchen. The bottom is just a cut off from a 6mm sheet of plywood.
The middle shelf is just a piece of tounge and groove flooring. (as i said its made of odds and ends)

I used a router to also give the legs that sort of finished look. In total I'd say the stand cost be about 30 euro, it worked out a lot cheaper than buying juwel stand. Time wise, I spent about two evening after work putting it together. Well worth it and it fits the corner perfectly.

Nice might try this when I need a new stand, looks nicer that the black stands tanks often come with.

Themuleous said:

Nice might try this when I need a new stand, looks nicer that the black stands tanks often come with.

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Yeah it looks ok, plus I have a bit of space to put some other things in there aswell. Speakers and telephones are a must for any stand. PIMP MY STAND!!!

tanks a lot said:

Themuleous said:

Nice might try this when I need a new stand, looks nicer that the black stands tanks often come with.

Click to expand...

Yeah it looks ok, plus I have a bit of space to put some other things in there aswell. Speakers and telephones are a must for any stand. PIMP MY STAND!!!

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you going to lower it, add 521 TV screens, a mixing desk and satellite navigation then?

Themuleous said:

tanks a lot said:

Themuleous said:

Nice might try this when I need a new stand, looks nicer that the black stands tanks often come with.

Click to expand...

Yeah it looks ok, plus I have a bit of space to put some other things in there aswell. Speakers and telephones are a must for any stand. PIMP MY STAND!!!

Click to expand...

you going to lower it, add 521 TV screens, a mixing desk and satellite navigation then?

Click to expand...

I was thinking that I might forget about the sat nav and just put some dubs on the sucker. The fish will be rolling on "phat crome".