# New 75 gallon setup



## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

Feels like it's been a long time coming but finally I have the new tank set up. 48 inch, 75 gallon with pebble substrate and Texas Holey rock decor. I did a road trip to the north side of San Antonio for my rock, I just couldn't find any pieces I liked at my LFS. I bought more than what's in the picture but I didn't want to overcrowd the tank. I have it cycling now so in a couple of weeks I'll be getting my fish which will be a mix of Peacocks and Haps. I haven't quite decided but I'm leaning towards getting them online since the LFS doesn't always have enough variety for me to get 12 different males without some lookalikes.










I'll share more pictures once they're in the tank.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Sounds good, why pebbles instead of sand?


----------



## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

DJRansome said:


> Sounds good, why pebbles instead of sand?


Let myself get talked into it by the LFS guy... he only sells saltwater and Cichlids. I'm happy with the way it looks, and not planning to stock it with Mbuna so hopefully the Haps/Peacocks will forgive the deviation


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

It will be more work to clean, haps and peacocks like sand as much if not more than mbuna. But the pebbles will not hurt them.


----------



## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

I'm too far down the road to back out now, tank is cycling, on day 5 and monitoring the ammonia dropping steadily after one false start. I'm hoping to be able to get my fish next week


----------



## Idech (Nov 8, 2020)

JAyliffe said:


> I'm too far down the road to back out now, tank is cycling, on day 5 and monitoring the ammonia dropping steadily after one false start. I'm hoping to be able to get my fish next week


Maybe you don't want to change and if so, fine, but you're not too far. Cycling takes 4-5 weeks so if you change the substrate now, you won't be losing much BB,if any at all. Cichlids really love digging and having sand is an easy way to help get them « entertained » in their tank. By entertained I mean displaying natural behavior.


----------



## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

Caribsea argonite will be arriving later this week. Do I pull all the gravel, or does it make sense to leave some in place? I realize the argonite sand will drop to the floor of the tank over time.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would pull it rather than sift later. You can bag it and leave it in the tank to transfer beneficial bacteria if you need that.


----------



## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

I tore down the tank this week, added the sand and also a background which I think looks good. Here's the new look


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I think you will be glad you did this.


----------



## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

Apart from the additional delay to getting my fish, I already am happy I did it.


----------



## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

Nitrites finally hit zero for the first time today, hopefully I can get the final stages of cycling wrapped up and get those fish!


----------



## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

JAyliffe said:


> Nitrites finally hit zero for the first time today, hopefully I can get the final stages of cycling wrapped up and get those fish!


 :dancing:


----------



## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

Congrats! where's that envious emoji? Did you add anything to help seed your cycle or just add ammonia? I'm still waiting for my Nitrites to drop in my cycle, hopefully won't be too long now


----------



## Idech (Nov 8, 2020)

Your tank looks really nice !


----------



## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

Idech said:


> Your tank looks really nice !


Thanks, it has pride of place in my front room.



Rhinox said:


> Congrats! where's that envious emoji? Did you add anything to help seed your cycle or just add ammonia? I'm still waiting for my Nitrites to drop in my cycle, hopefully won't be too long now


Just ammonia. Looking back at my original post it's about 4 weeks in, including having stalled for a couple of days to fix the original mistake (gravel)


----------



## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

A quick question, should I be concerned at all that my Nitrates haven't gone above 10ppm? I've been feeding the tank with ammonia since it started to cycle that daily, and now it's cycling Nitrites daily too. I will do a water change tomorrow, but I was expecting a slightly higher Nitrate level.


----------



## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

JAyliffe said:


> A quick question, should I be concerned at all that my Nitrates haven't gone above 10ppm? I've been feeding the tank with ammonia since it started to cycle that daily, and now it's cycling Nitrites daily too. I will do a water change tomorrow, but I was expecting a slightly higher Nitrate level.


As long as ammonia and nitrites are returning to 0 after dosing ammonia I wouldn't worry. I don't believe Ammonia concentration to Nitrate concentration is 1 to 1.

But also, if you're using something like the API liquid tests, make sure you're excessively shaking the reagents and the vial after they're mixed. The test is known to give inaccurate results if everything is not shaken extremely well. Even moreso than the directions state, IMO.


----------



## Central (Jun 3, 2021)

The sand is a really great upgrade! What a pain in the butt that is changing out substrate too. Good work - tank looks great!


----------

