Setting up a Lake Malawi Tank

[ibr3ak]

Also if you're gonna do a small group of male peacocks try to pick out a more robust species, like jacobs, ob's or various hybrids like gold, strawberry, dragonblood/firefish.

In my experience they can hold their own with mbuna, while others get picked out and on, even by rusties and especially aceis (for some unknown reason my acei went after peacocks only). Right now I only have a single lab and an afra in my peacock tank, these two seem the only quiet ones with various peacocks and haps.

 

[Lady G]

Ok, thanks I'll keep that in mind if I end up getting the peacocks. I think they are so pretty so I want some, but not sure if I will end up with them or not.

 

[Lady G]

Ok, have a question here about the rock...do you think sandstone is ok to use? I found some pieces out by the barn and wondered if they would be ok. After a while I'll walk in the back 40 and see if I can find anything down by the stream..but I'm pretty sure this I found is sandstone

 

[Lady G]

Ok, another new question. I have seen where ppl use egg crate under their rock to relieve the pressure points from the rock on the bottom of the tank. Sooooo as I was pulling the UGF out, I am looking at it and thought, would that work? If I don't connect anything to it and I put it in the bottom, would it serve the same purpose as the egg crate would?

 

[Lady G]

So, I was down to just the last bits of water and sand/rock in the tank..using the dustpan to pull out as much sand/rock as possible I get down to where more water is filling the pan then sand. Now, I had planned on just having my son help me move the tank outside and tip it over...then I got an idea. I have airline tubing so wouldn't that work to siphon out the little layer? Yep, it works and it worked nicely (takes a while but it worked)...but word of advice if you ever do decide to try it...if a child yells for you to look at their babies tower while you are trying to get it started DO NOT TURN YOUR HEAD...sandy, salt water REALLY tastes HORRIBLE!:angryfire:

 

[robbob2112]

Ok, have a question here about the rock...do you think sandstone is ok to use? I found some pieces out by the barn and wondered if they would be ok. After a while I'll walk in the back 40 and see if I can find anything down by the stream..but I'm pretty sure this I found is sandstone

Long as they haven't had any chemicals sprayed on them in the past... I use found rocks from my property all the time.... wash.. boil... bake at 500 for an hour... that is prolly overkill, but I figure it ought to remove anything organic or bacterial in the rocks before I put them in the tank... Warning on the boil/bake... sudden heat changes can cause rocks to fracture/explode ... I boil put them in the oven and once that is done, I leave them there until the next morning so they are room temp.... I made the mistake of taking one out early and running water over it to cool it quick.. it cracked and broke verse exploding, but you get the idea.

 

[robbob2112]

if a child yells for you to look at their babies tower while you are trying to get it started DO NOT TURN YOUR HEAD...sandy, salt water REALLY tastes HORRIBLE!:angryfire:

Eww, you tasted left over poopy fish water... LOL

 

[Lady G]

Long as they haven't had any chemicals sprayed on them in the past... I use found rocks from my property all the time.... wash.. boil... bake at 500 for an hour... that is prolly overkill, but I figure it ought to remove anything organic or bacterial in the rocks before I put them in the tank... Warning on the boil/bake... sudden heat changes can cause rocks to fracture/explode ... I boil put them in the oven and once that is done, I leave them there until the next morning so they are room temp.... I made the mistake of taking one out early and running water over it to cool it quick.. it cracked and broke verse exploding, but you get the idea.

Ok..thanks, I figured I'd wash em and boil em...didn't think about baking them too!

Eww, you tasted left over poopy fish water... LOL

:silly:

 

[mostlycichlids]

I personally wouldnt use sandstone as it will break down and be very messy in the future...Here is a good article to read up on rocks... http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/rock_metals.php

As far as the egg crate goes I have never used it. I would think the egg crate may have larger holes so debris dont get trapped. The ugf might work with the sand but I don't have any hands on experience with it...sorry.

Oh and salty sand water...yuck!

As far as boiling I boil 3-5 rocks for about 15min using about a half cup of salt not sure what the salt is for but it gets the water going good! let cool and rinse and they are ready to go.

 

[Lady G]

Thanks for the article Paul!!!! I was afraid that the sandstone would not work...I'll have to look around and see what else I can find. If nothing else there are several lawn and garden centers around with rock at decent prices.

The salt draws out impurities. At least that is why you use it when soaking/boiling driftwood...I assume it is the same purpose with the rock.

I got my sand today...went to True Value and picked up a 50lb bag of pool filter sand, OMG..they actually had fish, mice, birds, lizards and hermit crabs there!!! The ones that crawl on dry land, not the SW ones...even had a SW supply section never seen a True Value with all that!