My Cichlid Adventure - 52G/220L Journal

[AshleyNZ]

Have been inactive for a long while now, but I have returned from the grave. 
After a few months of having my tank set up as a tropical community, completed with green-colored silica sand from a pesky algae, and nasty looking plants, I have decided that this is not the setup ideal for me!
 
Here's a current picture of my tank, not looking the best at the moment. 

 
 
Done a bit of research and realised that setting up a peacock tank would be ideal for me, with a pH of 8.2 from the tap that drops to 7.8 after left for 24 hours. The water is on the hard side, making it more ideal! 
 
My lighting for this tank is currently 1 x white 40w tube, 1x pink 40w tube. I'm replacing the pink one with a blue tube, as this is said to make the peacock's colors stand out better. 
 
At the moment I'm buying 25KG of aragonite 1mm sand, to give me a shallow sandbed in my tank (measurements on bottom are 122 x 38cm) of around 2cm. 
 
 
 
I'm looking at buying basalt rocks for the feature in the tank  but have yet to source a supplier. Will update that further on. 
 
 
 
Is there anything I've missed? I am very open to suggestions, and anything of the sort. I will be posting photos as this project develops! 
 

 

[AshleyNZ]

Said goodbye to all my tank contents this morning. No matter how many times it happens, it is still hard. 
 
Emailed a landscaping company to try get some rocks for the feature. Most places i've tried sell it by the ton, so it's hard to find somewhere that'll help me grab like 20 rocks. 
 
Tanks looking awful this morning as I disturbed the root balls in the sand, leaving me with an orange-watered tank. Lovely. Not sure what to do with all that silica sand, might just go in the garden. 

 

[TheTank]

Peacock's are beautiful fish and a great choice!
 
As for the sand, I would save it. . Unless you don't like it and would never use it again. .
 
All I'm able to find on basalt is hot stones for massage therapy. . You picked a tough one to find lol.
 
I just read about people using a wood called Manzanita in their aquariums. I plan on using some of this when I start my large tank.
Check it out you may want to use some yourself. .

 

[AshleyNZ]

Peacock's are beautiful fish and a great choice!
 
As for the sand, I would save it. . Unless you don't like it and would never use it again. .
 
All I'm able to find on basalt is hot stones for massage therapy. . You picked a tough one to find lol.
 
I just read about people using a wood called Manzanita in their aquariums. I plan on using some of this when I start my large tank.
Check it out you may want to use some yourself. .

Binned the sand, was infected with Cynobacteria (blue green algae) and was nasty looking anyway. 
 
Wood in New Zealand is very hard and costly to source, I got a piece of spiderwood for cheap at $80. No wood for this tank, it seems! 
 
Might have to find different rocks, basalt is going to be hard to find!

 

[TheTank]

I know it's subject to size and shape, but wow that's expensive.
Yeah, sounds like you'll have to be creative with your tank deco. .
 
Good luck!

 

[RCA]

Hi, is the wood expensive due to importing rules for NZ?

 

[AshleyNZ]

Hi, is the wood expensive due to importing rules for NZ?

Yes it is. According to other fish keepers, it gets ordered in bulk only twice a year, so that's more thank likely the reason. Unless you have a proper importing facility, licenses ect, you can't get anything in. No fish, no wood. 

That's also why bettas go for $60 in pet stores, as well. 

 

[RCA]

Yeah thought so, I know how hard it is to import into Australia/NZ