So I have come into the possession of an approximately 40 gallon tank through Craigslist. It came with a bunch of stuff, random filters, heaters, gravel, etc that I haven't had a chance to go through. It all looks kind of old and well used, so I might scratch them and go brand new otherwise.
The tank itself is about 36"x17"x16" and I figured that made for a nice footprint for a dwarf cichlid tank, and I love the colors of the mbunas. I am certainly open to stocking ideas. I plan to do black sand for the substrate and a few rock mounds (hopefully I can find some nice ones from a creek by my house) to mabe do a sort of W shape with different heights on each and plenty of caves. I wasn't planning planting the tank as I've read cichlids love to tear up the plants. So maybe a couple fake plants "attached" to the rocks to give some more hiding places and to break up a few more sight lines.
As for filtration, I was kind of thinking of going with either a HOB (Kind of like the Penguin brand) or the older magnum cannister that came with the tank (if it is in salvageable shape). On top of that I wanted to do an UGJ system as I have come to really like the idea. My only issue now is how many jets is good because I think I am over shooting it. I had drawn up a diagram for a closed loop planning on a powerhead in both back corners. I had heard the Rios are pretty good for this. I then drew out 8 jets - basically splitting the tank in half with two on the back in the direction of the filter to its side, two on the front pointed towards the filter on its side, and one on either side pointed towards the back and then two in the middle pointed toward each back corner. After drawing this out it seemed like too much current so I would like to hear some suggestions from people with experience using an UGJ system.
Lastly, stocking opinions are always great. I really like the Yellow Labs colors, but have seen plenty of great cichlid tanks with gorgeous colors. This tank is really going to be more for asthetics than for breeding, so any help on the UGJ and stocking would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
The tank itself is about 36"x17"x16" and I figured that made for a nice footprint for a dwarf cichlid tank, and I love the colors of the mbunas. I am certainly open to stocking ideas. I plan to do black sand for the substrate and a few rock mounds (hopefully I can find some nice ones from a creek by my house) to mabe do a sort of W shape with different heights on each and plenty of caves. I wasn't planning planting the tank as I've read cichlids love to tear up the plants. So maybe a couple fake plants "attached" to the rocks to give some more hiding places and to break up a few more sight lines.
As for filtration, I was kind of thinking of going with either a HOB (Kind of like the Penguin brand) or the older magnum cannister that came with the tank (if it is in salvageable shape). On top of that I wanted to do an UGJ system as I have come to really like the idea. My only issue now is how many jets is good because I think I am over shooting it. I had drawn up a diagram for a closed loop planning on a powerhead in both back corners. I had heard the Rios are pretty good for this. I then drew out 8 jets - basically splitting the tank in half with two on the back in the direction of the filter to its side, two on the front pointed towards the filter on its side, and one on either side pointed towards the back and then two in the middle pointed toward each back corner. After drawing this out it seemed like too much current so I would like to hear some suggestions from people with experience using an UGJ system.
Lastly, stocking opinions are always great. I really like the Yellow Labs colors, but have seen plenty of great cichlid tanks with gorgeous colors. This tank is really going to be more for asthetics than for breeding, so any help on the UGJ and stocking would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
