need help fast.

[stunt 101]

i will be going to home depot soon and i need to know what i will need to set up a 30 gallon african cichlid tank. im planning on getting play sand and/or argonite sand, egg crate and rocks of they have them. what else should i pick up there?
ps i already have the tank, lights, filters.

[Toro Driver]

Hey stunt.
sounds like what I just did with a free forty five my neighbors gave me. All I got from the Home Depot was the sand and spray paint to paint the back of the tank (and siclicone to reseal the tank). I didn't know about the egg crate until I set it up. I got my rocks from a river near here, saved me a ton of money ($100.00-150.00).

I rinsed the sand in a bucket. Just fill the bucket half full with sand and stick a hose in it, once the water runs mostly clear you can be worry free as far as cloudiness from the sand goes.

Good luck.

[snakeskinner]

if you havn't already got the sand, don't. go to a swimming pool supply place and get pool filter sand. just make sure it's 100% silica sand and no additives of any type. this sand is already cleaned and has absolutely no dust when you add it to the tank. in addition, it's larger grained and works better for the fish and to keep from getting kicked up by current. KYle

[Toro Driver]

Snakeskinner, need argonite sand for cichlid tanks, helps maintain the high ph the cichlids like. Its my understanding that silica sand won't do this.

[JSchmidt]

Yup, aragonite sand is helpful to buffer up the water for african cichlid tanks. I use a 5 gallon bucket, filled about 1/4 with sand, then rinse, and rinse, and rinse. The water will still cloud when you put the sand in the tank, but it will clear in several days, sometimes less. (You want all that dust to dissolve, right? That's what adds to your KH.)

You can also use plexiglass, instead of eggcrate, under the substrate to protect the glass from the rock piles. I like using plexiglass because it's less unsightly when the cichlids expose it while digging.

Unfortunately, a 30 is pretty small for african cichlids... you'll be quite limited in what you can keep, but that's another thread.

Good luck,
Jim