Nd Aquatics Mbuna Build

Hi all
 
Just thought id start a little journal about my new tank setup that is in the process of been put together. This will be my first mbuna tank, although im not new to fish keeping, so im sure there will be many questions along the way.
 
The tank is a custom ND aquatics 46 x 18 x 22 withg black silicone and optiwhite front, filtered by an fx6 with heat provided by 2 fluval e200 heaters. An aps wm-3000 will also provide some extra water movement in the tank.
 

Next up was a scape. I managed to get a couple of pieces of egg crate from a friend which was a bonus and it fitted in the tank nice.

 
then the holes got filled with coral sand to the top of the egg crate and the rock scape added. i apolagise for the bad pics i will get some decent ones soon.



 
More coral sand was then spread around and the filter, heaters and wavemaker all added.
 


 
Next up will be the lights on the hardware side of things once i have got hold of some metal to make a rack to allow the lights to slide back and forth allowing maintenance ect a bit easier.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Managed to find some ali u bar this afternoon to construct a simple sliding light rack. The whole thing start to finish took just over an hour to cut to length and build etc.
 
The two main light consist of an iquatics marine white t5 tube and an arcadia standard tropical bulb both of these have arcadia reflectors. there is also a third iquatics marine blue bulb to provide a moonlight effect for a couple of hours every evening, this bulb currently has no reflector.





 
While i was at it i also fitted a 50n gas strut to hold the lid open

 
 
 
 

Looking good

a couple of the night time blue


 

cycle finished earlier this week but looks like i will have to maintenance feed for a week or so due to not having a day off to accept a fish delivery. think i shall be getting my fish from tony african chilids as my lfs selection is pretty poor.

Very nice, I used to keep and breed Mbuna, I found them beautiful and fascinating and I still have a hankering for them...
 
  ...often look in on this sub forum and look forward to following your thread.

so a slight change to the plan, as there was a chance that i would be off of work today, yesterday i took the plunge and ordered my stock from tonys african cichlids knowing that even if i was at work today that my partner would be at home to take delivery and is more than capable of dealing with them on arrival. after placing my order yesterday morning i completed a large water change approx 75% and rehomed my bristlenose which has been sat in a qt tank for the last month waiting patiently for its new home. One late night at work later and as hoped i have the day off and shortly before 10am came the thud at the door. one long chat later with the delivery driver who seemed amazed at what he was delivering and the fish were sat on the floor in front of the tank waiting to be unpacked. A quick temp check showed there was only 1dec c difference in temp between the bags and my tank so the bags were floated in the tank while i had a cuppa, more to calm me down than level the temps, and half hour later were set free into there new pad. All the fish were in excellent condition and already with a fair amount of colour which surprised me a bit considering there ordeal. i must say at this point that i cant recommend tony highly enough to any one looking for mbuna as his fish really are a credit to them. Anyway there all happy swimming around in the dark at the moment and when i switch the lights on later today i will of coarse add the obligatory pics