Juwel Rio 300 Project

[bangit]

Hi, i'm starting a new project and my first venture into African Cichlids! Having previously kept tropical and marine set ups this is a new challenge and somewhere in between the 2. (gave up marines due to the expense mainly and never found standard tropicals satisfying enough, hence the new project)

Thought I'd start a thread given I have numerous questions and will be looking for answers / advice - no point starting a new thread for each!

Tank: Second hand black Juwel rio 300 - 4ft 75g
Substrate: argos play sand.
Rock: ?
Filtration: ?
Lighting: ?
Fish: I'm thinking Mbuna, not sure exactly what yet though.
Powerheads: Hydor Koralia 1 maybe 2

Got the tank off ebay, appeared a good deal, got it home, ballast has gone in lights and the standard filter is broken, great! Good job it was cheap! (the pitfalls of ebay) Anyway, tank and stand in good condition and being leak tested at present with the wife painting the back a lovely black.

In terms of filtration i'm considering the fluval 405, or a similar eheim, any suggestions? The other option is to spend a bit more and go for the monster fluval fx5 but i'm worried this may be overkill for a 75 gallon?
Would a fluval 405 / equivalent with a powerhead or 2 be enough filtration for this tank? Im not planning on going mental overstocking or anything.

Opinions welcomed!

When i work out how to put pictures on i will!

 

[b0b95]

It may be a bit late, but anyways: (im not expert so this is just advice)

you should be aiming for a 10x turnover (750 gph filtration). With an overstocked mbuna tank you will have to do weekly water changes, and have a seemingly insane amount of filtration.

Powerheads are useful(i have one) but not necessary, they will help to prevent deadspots, so i would recommend.

I dont really know the answer to your question about the 405.

For stocking it is largely personal choice. Go to your lfs and right down the mbuna you like that they have, and the experts here will help you with compatibility.