Setting up a Lake Malawi Tank

[mostlycichlids]

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!

Wow I never seen a hardware store carry fish either.

 

[jaylin]

Sometimes ... you can find some really cool stuff that was supposed to be a certain shape, but broke and the stores will just give it to you. Also, if you have a rock supply company around - the kind that sells rocks by the ton and all that - sometimes they'll let you pick through their piles of rocks or take scrap stuff away for free or for a few bucks. I found one where the guy didn't know how to charge for anything under a truckload so I walked off with about 50lbs of nice slate pieces for free. Well, I gave the guy $10 for a six pack or something lol. Check around! You never know.

 

[Lady G]

Sometimes ... you can find some really cool stuff that was supposed to be a certain shape, but broke and the stores will just give it to you. Also, if you have a rock supply company around - the kind that sells rocks by the ton and all that - sometimes they'll let you pick through their piles of rocks or take scrap stuff away for free or for a few bucks. I found one where the guy didn't know how to charge for anything under a truckload so I walked off with about 50lbs of nice slate pieces for free. Well, I gave the guy $10 for a six pack or something lol. Check around! You never know.

DUH...I didn't think of that, actually there is one not far from my house!! I'll have to go down there and see what they say. THANKS!

 

[Lady G]

So can anyone tell me how I know if it IS sand stone or not?

 

[Winterose]

well seeing as you have a stone place not to far from your house i would take a piece to them and ask them what it is

 

[Lady G]

well seeing as you have a stone place not to far from your house i would take a piece to them and ask them what it is

Well, I reckon that would be best LMAO!!

So got the tank cleaned :crazy: Now I need to pull the filter off and give it a good cleaning (Yes, I know the light is SW..but for now that is what I have). I think I am going to leave the UGF there, just to start my rock work on...not going to use it as a filter..just was figuring it wouldn't hurt? If anyone thinks it is in fact a bad idea...I can always pull it out before I start.

 

[robbob2112]

Well, I reckon that would be best LMAO!!

So got the tank cleaned :crazy: Now I need to pull the filter off and give it a good cleaning (Yes, I know the light is SW..but for now that is what I have). I think I am going to leave the UGF there, just to start my rock work on...not going to use it as a filter..just was figuring it wouldn't hurt? If anyone thinks it is in fact a bad idea...I can always pull it out before I start.

The only problem with leaving a UGF in there is it will give a place for poop and such to accumulate...Can you say 'nitrate factory'... and if if you have plants, the roots will tend to creep in there and when pieces of roots break off from fish digging or you moving plants they rot ... If you are going to leave it, I would suggest RUGF

I don't use egg crate in mine... I have a fairly thick bed of crushed coral and I just watch to make sure the fish don't dig out from underneath the rocks to bad.... Originally I was gonna do sand, but opted against it after reading about having to stir it from time to time to prevent hydrogen sulfide gas pockets from building up and killing fish...

 

[Lady G]

The only problem with leaving a UGF in there is it will give a place for poop and such to accumulate...Can you say 'nitrate factory'... and if if you have plants, the roots will tend to creep in there and when pieces of roots break off from fish digging or you moving plants they rot ... If you are going to leave it, I would suggest RUGF

I don't use egg crate in mine... I have a fairly thick bed of crushed coral and I just watch to make sure the fish don't dig out from underneath the rocks to bad.... Originally I was gonna do sand, but opted against it after reading about having to stir it from time to time to prevent hydrogen sulfide gas pockets from building up and killing fish...

I will be using sand..so all the poop will be sitting on top LMAO! I wont be connecting the filter to anything so it will not be a UGF or RUGF. Just for support for the rock work and such. IDK, I may take it out?

 

[ibr3ak]

Leave the ugf plates in, they won't hurt, I know some peeps with ac's and reefs that used them instead of eggcrate.

 

[Reddog80p]

I agree with ibr...It's just for support. The sand will fill any voids so the debris would really have a hard time getting down under the plates. Nice cleaning job btw. I have a couple "emptys".... care to help me clean em' sometime .