New African Setup, Advice?

[GobyGuy5]

After enjoying the hobby for around a year, and on the eve of FINALLY finishing my first tank, a fifteen gallon community tank, I think it is finally time to begin making preparations for my second tank, which I intend to be a Tanganyikan biotope. At first my plan was to use an old twenty gallon high tank that I had gotten from a friend, but after doing some posting and research, I realized that it wouldn't be adequate, so I now plan on getting a thirty gallon tank (36"X12"X16").

The equipment/furnishings I plan on getting for it are:
- Emporer 280 Filter (Already gotten at a steal of a price, :D)
I plan on putting a prefilter on it, getting an additional media container instead of using cartridges, and placing filter floss in the first one, and crushed coral and activated carbon in the second one...
- 100 watt Ebo Jager Heater
- A twin-tube all glass canopy
- A single strip light retrofitted with a 55 watt compact flourescent bulb
- Lots of Rocks...
- Authentic Rift Lake substrate or another similar sand-sized substrate.

Questions concerning the setup:
- My water's pH is at around 8.0-8.5 and apparently has alot of buffering capacity considering I have never seen the pH in my community tank fluctuate or go much below 8, however, I was still considering getting Seachem's Tankiyaka buffer to better recreate the fishes' enviornment, advice?
- Concerning equipment and furnishings only, what things could I do to better improve the coloration of my fish? I'm getting a dark substrate, which I have heard helps. I also have many dark rocks which I plan on arranging caves with, etc. in the back. I recently read on the forums that it seems actnic bulbs can help with the coloration of African Chiclids, so I was also considering, but still unsure, about getting a "Smartbulb" for my Compact Flourescent fixture, which is half actinic and half daylight, would this better bring out the colors in my fish?
- Is 55 watts of lighting too much or to little, and would the 24" bulb I planned on using look aesthetically right or would a bulb that ran the whole length of the tank be more pleasing to the eye?

After doing alot of research to figure out what I liked, as well as looking at sizes, etc. I've came up with the following stocking list:

- A pair of Julidochromis Transcriptus
- 1 Neolamprologus leleupi
- 1 Neolamprologus Brichardi
- 1 Chalinochromis Brichardi
- 1 Synodontis Petricola
- ? Shelldwellers? (I was thinking about either a pair or a couple from different species, the specific ones I was looking at were: Lamprologus Occellatus, Lamprologus Speciosus or Neolamprologus leloupi "Pearlscale" (I'm not positive the scientific name is spelled correctly)

I also have many questions concerning my fish choices, bio-load, compatibility and what I could do outside of tank furnishings, etc, to get them to color up.

- Would a pair of fish color up best, and if so, what fish in this list could be a pair in my tank without killing all the other fish?
- Would this list of fish be compatible with each other?
- Could any of the shelldwellers listed thrive in this tank? If so should I get some pairs?
- Finally, some of my biggest questions concern the bioload, how many shelldwellers could I comfortably include just looking at the bioload? Also, assuming I got no shelldwellers, would the bioload be alright or still too high? Also, I've heard much conflicting advice on the timing of water changes and how much water I should change at a time, opinions?

I'm VERY anxious to hear any advice, especially concerning the bioload and stocking list...

Thanks in advance, :) AC is Awesome!

[VoodooChild]

A'ight. I'll see if I can run down the line here...First of all, most of it looks really good. Not enough Tang people out there. But how come so much light? Unless you're planning on planting the tank, you're going to have some algal blooms that will really make you cringe. I'd say throw on the twin tube if you must, with one full spectrum and one actinic, and forget about the 55 w PC. Even with two bulbs you're going to have alot of algae. On second thought, 36" bulbs may be 30 w. If so, go with the PC. Whatever has less wattage. That and the dark substrate along with a good varied diet is about the most that you can do. Your best bet for non-lethal breeding colors would be the brichardi in my opinion. I wouldn't recommend the shell dwellers just because your tank is pretty crowded as it is. It should provide plenty of activity on it's own. Keep in mind though that if you want optimal fry success rates, I'd think again about put a synodontis in there. Personally I think they're cool enough to put in there at the cost of the fry, but that's just me. Otherwise everything looks good! Oh, and I wouldn't worry about the pH. 8.5 is plenty good.

[GobyGuy5]

Thanks for responding Voodoo,

No, I'm not planning on planting my tank, but if I'm to balance out the actnic bulbs for some nice coloration, I figured I'd need at least another full spectrum bulb. Furthermore, I assumed (perhaps naively) that the fish would enjoy snacking on the extra algae? Or, am I looking at a huge algae problem down the road?

On the pairs, did you notice I already planned on including a Juldiochromis Transcriptus pair in my tank? Would they be alright for the tankmates as well? Furthermore, If I were to add an additional Brichardi to my tank for pairs, how would this affect the Bioload?

I don't really care too much about fry, I agree with you that the synodontis is cooler...lol...Synodontis says to the fry-"Some of you may die but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make" :D

Finally, I'm still searching for an answer as to when and how much of a waterchange will they need?

[VoodooChild]

No probs. I didn't see the pair of julies. They're large enough where you may have problems if they spawn. I had a pair of marlieiri that terrorized the tank. You may want to put in just one and consider a pair of brichardis instead. You'll have algae growth well enough with two bulbs, believe me! And there isn't really anything that would be able to take care of algae on it's own, so I'd stick with two bulbs or the one PC. As far as water changes, on my 30 gallon tanks, I change out 5 gallons a week. It's little enough so that I don't even need to turn off my filters and it only takes about 20 minutes, usually less if you don't have to tinker with the water. Doesn't seem to bother the fish much. My Malawi's will even play in the current! Otherwise I'd recommend at least 20% every two weeks. If you do get a spawning pair of anything, I'd probably just do one bucket, in the range of 2-3 gallons, every few days, so as not to disturb them and trigger a killing spree (Julidochromis is apt to do this, at least with their mates).

[dbcb314]

tangs are the best...

[wayne]

Your water looks great, and I wouldn't mess around with it one bit as it makes water changes harder. I do 10% twice a week for my tropheus, seems to be ok

[GobyGuy5]

Thanks alot for answering my questions, I'll go ahead and drop the Juldiochromis pair, and If I do get a pair, It will be the Brichardis.

After learning I'll get an algae problem with two bulbs, I'll go ahead and start a new thread to see if actinics really help with the coloration of Africans or not.

Again, thanks so much for all your help! :)