New 75 Gallon Mbuna tank

[ozgood]

Hey All. I've gotten a good bit of help thus far setting up my first big tank. I'm planning on a Mbuna Cichlid tank.

My equipment thus far is as follows:
75 Gallon tank
Eheim 2215 Classic
Coralife single CF 130w light fixture
2 x 250w Visi-therm stealth heaters.
80# of Eco-Complete African Cichlid substrate.

I went out and aquired a great deal of rocks for $20. I have enough rock for about 4 tanks of this size. I tested all of the rock with both the #1 bottle of Nitrate Master Test kid and Vinegar. No bubbling or anything. I set some rocks in a bucket and didn't seem to affect the water chemistry. Anyhow, I've put some rock in the tank and wanted to get some opinions. What I've done is put down a bed of 1" styrafoam in the bottom of the tank. Rock sits on that. Once I glue them together and such, I'll put the substrate down with the rocks on the styrafoam.

I have a two of the sections closed in the back to make sort of a cave. They aren't totally closed but mostly. A 1" fish could get through but not a 2" or larger. The other two "bridges" I intend to leave open. I hope to put a few large fake/real plants to fill in some of the open area in the top.

What do you think of the setup thus far?

[JoeQuality]

pretty sweet.

maybe add some more rocks on one side to make it a little taller

[Coler]

good start !

If I was you I wouldn't glue them together. It will be a pain when you take them out to clean around/under, and limit your re-decoration options. One common task with mbuna is redesigning decor to shake up the territories a bit.

I would also stack higher on each side - this encourages them up to the upper levels of the water columns - and have more caves/gaps between rocks generally.

Keep us posted - its going to look fantastic !

[Weezer]

Looks good so far, and what Coler said, it's a good idea to mix things up every now and then.........:)

[jpappy789]

That's a great start!!!

[MbunaFishKeeper]

good start agreed, maybe add more rock? i have 25kg of ocean rock in my 30g!
alot more is needed than most people think.
also keep us updated. if you want some "professional help" ask coler he is great at the tank arrangements, he helped me alot with myn.

[ozgood]

I think that I need some more rock as well. I'll be adding some more tonight. Since this is my first time adding rockto a tank like this, I'm a bit nervous about it falling over. If the rish really are from the Rift Valley in Africa then they are probably used to a rock slide or two. I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope to have water in the tank this weekend. This is the third full week with an empty 75 gallon tank in my basement.

[Coler]

check out this thread for a giggle http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115068&highlight=rock+video

Of course, the fact of the smaller surface area of the glass is very relevant...but tanks are stronger than you might think, and your layer of styrofoam is a good idea.

Basically, you want to make sure everything is piled very securely and would resist a bit of a push, and bed the rocks right down in the substrate (i.e. no space between the rocks and the styrofoam) as mbuna will remove sand from around the sides, so you don't want that to cause a collapse.

Good luck on getting it up and running this weekend !

[will74]

If I were you I would put egg crate[the stuff put under florescent lighting fixtures] just in case you drop a rock in the tank. This will keep it from breaking the glass in the bottom of the tank. I use it in all my tanks and it has saved disaster several times, well worth the money and time it takes to install it.

[denial727]

I second the egg crate idea, its only 8-10 dollars I think. Between that and the foam, start piling the rocks on!

[jm1212]

your tank looks great. definitley add more rockwork. with african cichlids, the more rockwork, the better. it will lead to less aggresstion

[Rbishop]

I also wouldn't glue them together, especially for cleaning or the need to break up line of sight or territories.

I would add more to get a more vertical affect on both ends, or in the center.

[ozgood]

So, I didn't work on my tank the week after I first posted. Last Sunday I spent about 6 hours putting in egg crate I got from Home Depot, then put down my styrofoam, rocks, substrate (80# of eco-complete cichlid), and about 60 or so gallons of water. Put together the Ehiem filter. Finally, I cut a piece of the blue filter material from my Eclipse 12 gallon filter. It's a very small amount. I didn't know where to put it so I put it in the tank itself. It's not much and probably isn't doing anything. You can see the little piece of blue hiding in the rocks in the back of the tank.

Monday I stoped by Ace Hardware and put in one cap full of Ammonia. Here are my numbers for the week:

8/7: pH 7.8; Ammonia between 8 and 4; Nitrites 0
8/8: pH 8; Ammonia 4; Nitrites between .25 and .5
8/9: pH 8; Ammonia 4; Nitrites .25; Nitrates between 0 and 5
8/10: pH 7.8; Ammonia 4; Nitrites .5; Nitrates 5

So, you can see by the numbers that things are happening. I know that I'm not done yet. I also don't know why the pH went down today but it's definitely not 8 like yesterday.

Anyway, I hope to get a few plants soon before the fish. Can't wait to get this thing cycled so that I can go fish shopping.

[tarheels910]

Looks good, but if I could make a suggestion. I think a black background would set your tank off.

[ozgood]

Yep. I agree with the black background. I've been wondering how I'd do it. I was going to paint some styrafoam until the styrafoam melted with spray paint. I'm still thinking of maybe putting some black cloth around the foam. My basement will be in the low 60's in the winter so I'd like to have all the sides in foam during the winter months. I still have time for some more rock as well. I have 3 times what I have in there already cleaned and chipped. It's definitely been a slow process. I guess this is the "hobby" part of the fish hobby. Again, can't wait until the hours of watching part starts.

[tarheels910]

Make it easy on yourself. Go to walmart and buy a background but use the black side. Just tape it to the back of your aquarium under the wires.

[Rbishop]

Very nice!

[H3D]

Looking good.

[jamthoyoung]

Looks like it's gonna be a great tank. Can't wait to see more pics!