need some thoughts

[juanveldez]

okay as many of you know I recently set up my 75 gallon with all of my mbuna and now I I have to turn my attentions to my 55 that houses bert my JD..... right now it is just a mismash of plastic furniture that I have been able to grab from my leftovers from decorating my 75 gallon. so now that everything has been said I thought that I would turn over the decoration ideas to the forum..... here are the rules..... one it has to be able to stand up to a 7.5 inch JD, and two we have to keep the price for everything under 100 dollars

 

[juanveldez]

okay I guess that I will jump start this... I am currently waiting on a bid that I placed on ebay for a large piece of drift wood. now onto some different suggestions.... I am thinking of adding some sand to the substrate, can anybody tell me if plain old playground sand is safe for aquarium use?

 

[CFC]

Childrens playsand is fine to use, just make sure you rinse it well to remove the fine particals in it (found out the hard way recently and the tank took 3 days to clear ).
With a fish like a JD i preffer to keep the decor very simple, after all the fish is the main feature of the tank. A large piece of drift/bogwood or a unusual looking rock in the centre with prehaps a few smaller pieces towards the front are all id have.

 

[juanveldez]

thanks CFC I will definatly look in to getting some sand then I think that bert will love it and I suppose that in about 5 days I will know about the drift wood.

 

[smb]

I agree that I wouldn't add too much to the tank. As far as plants go, none will stand up to a New World cichlid if he wants to "redecorate" his surroundings. I've had a few that don't bother moving/uprooting plants but most will.

A piece of bogwood sounds good as long as it isn't too big. a 55g for a JD is pretty tight confines for swimming but with a piece of bogwood that doesn't interfere with his swimming and he can hide behind would look good.

Do we get to see any pics when you're done?

 

[juanveldez]

of course I am going to be posting pics..... I am thinking of calling this "Trading Spaces Aquarium" but first I will post a pic of the wood that I am waiting on... this way everyone can see the process and have some further imput.

 

[juanveldez]

okay there is a pic of the drift wood in the pic area.....