My New Setup

[cruncher75]

New to the world of cichlids so heres my first go at it only have 4 fish at the mo tank size is 40inx16x16 using a fluval 204 and a fluval plus 3.

 

[Ginge]

Looks cool like i said im only on hayling island so if you want lots of ocean rock just say. I realy like your tank note sure about the fluval 3 plus? Whats going on with the background near the filter output?

 

[dthoffsett]

Looks very nice. What else are you planning on adding?

1 piece of constructive criticism. I'd be a little concerned about the depth of your sand. At that depth it will easily build up pockets of carbon dioxide. There are a couple of thing you can do about it, stir up the sand every time you do a water change, which is a pain when you have lots of rockwork. Or I'd suggest adding some Malaysian Trumpet Snails. They burrow in the sand, constantly churning it as well as taking care of any food that lands on the bottom. They do breed like crazy, but extras can always be removed.

 

[Ginge]

Should be ok with that sand cant be more than 3" deep if so the fish will sort it how they like it soon anyway. One thing i spotted is that rock is balancing. Are the rocks placed onto the glass if not then you could be in for a disaster as the fish could dig under the rocks causing that one to roll and crack the glass.

 

[cruncher75]

Thanks for the comments guys the fluval 3 im using coz i thought it would keep the water a bit cleaner with a extra filter in the tank.The back ive just put on and spilt a bit of water down the back of the glass and i cant get to it. As for the rocks no there not on the glass ive just tryey pusing them down abit but they seem stable to me how deep do the fish dig.The sand at the deep end is 4in deep i want to get a bottom feeder soon ive just orderd some snails.

 

[Ginge]

The fish dig howevery deep they want to. Are you interested in my rocks?

 

[cruncher75]

Ill leave the rocks m8 really want large pebbles stick em on ebay i bet someone will have em thanks for asking.

 

[mamafish68]

LOL Ginge is a rock pusher now? J/K



The sand depth can be taken care of easily enough with the end of a wooden spoon poked around the bottom to release and build up.

The rocks look great!! I like how you've left an open area on the right.

The heater could be better hidden by the nice bushy plany you have though.

 

[adambrum]

Nice tank , just to go over the digging thing again the fish will dig down the sides of the rocks all the way to the glass bottom causing the rocks to fall not good ,Also the weight of a large rock on a couple of grains of sand is enough to crack the bottom, most people use eggcrate no idea what that is i think its a U.S. thing but if you go into a lfs that sells pond equipment you should be able to find some sheets of black honeycomb plastic(think its for pond filters) put this on the bottom of the tank then the rocks then substrate. hope thats of some help.