# New 75 gallon Mbuna Setup



## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Hi. I just picked up a 75 gallon tank I'll be stocking with mbuna. I've been combing through everything I can find, but I figured I'd throw some things out there for any feedback/suggestions you all may have.

Filtration- I've only ever used HOBs (mainly aquaclears) and was going to go with 2 AC 110s, but after doing some reading, it seems like at the very least a canister HOB combo is needed? Any recommendations are helpful here, some canisters are just out of my price range. I'm also looking for a quieter setup as well.

Substrate- thinking pool filter sand since I see it is widely used?

Heater- was thinking aqueon pro 200w or a 250w

Food- I see that the lower the protein level the better for mbuna, *** seen dainichi and NLS often recommended. Are either "can't go wrong" options? Any others?

scaping- I have access to a lot of wood and rock on my property. I'm going to heavily rockscape and was thinking of doing a smaller portion in wood (already dry and I would well soak it to leach tannins) for some yellow tail acei I'm planning on as I've read they like driftwood. Worth doing the wood?

Anything I'm not thinking of?

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Welcome to Cichlid-forum!



DutchAJ said:


> Filtration- I've only ever used HOBs (mainly aquaclears) and was going to go with 2 AC 110s, but after doing some reading, it seems like at the very least a canister HOB combo is needed? Any recommendations are helpful here, some canisters are just out of my price range. I'm also looking for a quieter setup as well.


HOBs are fine. You can switch to a quieter canister (or two) as budget allows later on if desired.



DutchAJ said:


> Substrate- thinking pool filter sand since I see it is widely used?


Good choice.



DutchAJ said:


> Heater- was thinking aqueon pro 200w or a 250w


I like that heater, go with 250W.



DutchAJ said:


> Food- I see that the lower the protein level the better for mbuna, I've seen dainichi and NLS often recommended. Are either "can't go wrong" options?


Good choices.



DutchAJ said:


> scaping- I have access to a lot of wood and rock on my property. I'm going to heavily rockscape and was thinking of doing a smaller portion in wood (already dry and I would well soak it to leach tannins) for some yellow tail acei I'm planning on as I've read they like driftwood. Worth doing the wood?


Skip the wood. I read the same thing but never observed that they care in a tank, and most of the lake is rocky rather than full of driftwood.


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## tanker3 (May 18, 2015)

Welcome, and DJR has said it all.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Thank you both, much appreciated!

So unless I find a good deal in the next few weeks on a canister I'll do 2 AC110, keep the intakes at least 4" from the sand? I should add a pre-filter too?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I've never had a problem with intakes and sand. I only use a pre-filter for newly spit fry.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

I ended up getting 2 eheim 2217 for a price that fit in the budget and have most everything else in the way (i think)

I was thinking having a basic medicine cabinet stocked would be good? What would be the recommendation on the necessities?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Fish rarely get sick if well cared for and medicines (the good ones...not in the LFS usually) are expensive and expire. If you have salt on hand I'd go with that.

I use maracyn occasionally but on the cyanobacteria (on substrate) on the fish. And because I have demasoni I've used metronidazole occasionally, but it does expire and it is expensive. Maybe if you stock demasoni or tropheus. I would not waste money on any of the meds available in the LFS.


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## ha77 (Dec 8, 2016)

DutchAJ said:


> Thank you both, much appreciated!
> 
> So unless I find a good deal in the next few weeks on a canister I'll do 2 AC110, keep the intakes at least 4" from the sand? I should add a pre-filter too?


Sunsuns/Aquatop sell pretty cheap online. I have had mine for a few months. Waters nice and clear and no issues. I also threw a small sponge from a sponge filter over the input and it fits nicely without having to mod it.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

So I FINALLY got the tank in place and everything set up. I start to fill the tank and I notice a 1-2" crack in the bottom back corner. REALLY BUMMED! I was checking from underneath for any leaks and at first though a dog hair somehow got under the sand...

So tomorrow morning I'll have to call the big box store I purchased from. Should I call call manufacturer too?

Anyone have this happen before?


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## Trademark (Dec 31, 2016)

Is there a leak? Because I saw and assumed the same thing and it turned out be silicone that only needed to be scraped off. I swear it looked just like a crack. Felt like a moron when they just scraped it off.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

No leak, I tried scraping it off. Definitely a crack (3 branching ones)


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Ok, definitely NOT a crack! Thanks Trademark, I retried scraping and it was exactly what you said. That's a relief!


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## Trademark (Dec 31, 2016)

No problem, glad that's all it was.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

http://imgur.com/MaLBr


Here is a picture of the rockwork I have so far. I tried to make a "W" across the tank with 5 substrate patches. Look like it should work?


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## tanker3 (May 18, 2015)

Looks basically OK to me. You want a lot of caves and holes for your fishes.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

tanker3 said:


> Looks basically OK to me. You want a lot of caves and holes for your fishes.


Thanks tanker. So when I have to rearrange eventually should I make a point to add some more rocks with larger caves/holes? I started to lose confidence in my stacking ability being stable past that height...


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Well it looks like the tank cycled much faster than I was expecting (started the fishless cycle 2 weeks ago today. I did add a small bottle of Dr. Tims and a small amount of biomedia (from an AC20) from an established tank. I was expecting to see no ammonia soon based on the last few days readings, but was surprised to see the nitrites reading zero this morning as well. I added 3.5mL/1.5ppm ammonia this morning. I'll make sure both are reading zero tomorrow night and put the order in for this Friday or Saturday if so.

Should I shoot for one last small ammonia addition Wednesday if ammonia and nitrite are back to zero tomorrow?


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

So after the ammonia yesterday morning, my readings are:
Ammonia- 0.25ppm
Nitrite- 0.5ppm
Nitrate- 20ppm

Thinking I should hold off on ordering for Friday delivery?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Yes hold off.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Ammonia and nitrite are both back to zero tonight, I'll do a small water change tonight and add another round of ammonia. Hoping to be ready for the fish Tuesday or Wednesday of next week!

Does that sound likely If the tank is now processing 1.5ppm of ammonia completely in 48 hours?


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## Pdxmonkeyboy (Oct 17, 2016)

sounds good to me. Put a strong dose in there. like 3 or so. don't go over 4


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Well excited to say I put the order in for a Tuesday delivery. Ended up good my with:

12 juvie Chindongo Saulosi and 4 sexed females (I figured since they are male heavy that it will help my numbers be better balanced that way)
6 of both rusties and yellow tail acei, and that will give me room to hopefully manage back to 1m/3f for both if needed.

I'll hopefully be putting up some updates Tuesday!


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Fish coming tomorrow by mail and just did a water change. I can't tell the difference between 5/10/20, what would you call this (I think 10?) and should I do a small change again tomorrow morning before the fish go in?


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Got the first portion of the initial stocking shipment in. The vendor had an issue with the acei, so those should be coming in a couple weeks. He sent 6 female Saulosi (2 extra for free due to the acei issue), 12 juvie Saulosi (one has really nice male coloring already) and 7 rusties (another extra cause of the issue). So I thought I would share some pics!






This is my first experience with both air shipped fish and African cichlids, the vendor was very helpful in answering questions. The adult female Saulosi look kind of washed out, guessing that's normal after shipping?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Wait a month to judge color.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Had plans to post a couple updates with pics to show the group is coloring up nicely, wow it's tough to get good clear pics of these guys! I definitely didn't give enough credit to all the photography work before!


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Well here is the best shot I could get of my only colored up male so far (the vendor included him in as one of the juvies in my order.


This guy looked like this from when he came (week ago), at first a thought he was just settling in but hasn't eaten and stays close to the sand. No poop that I've seen. Ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrate 10ppm, pH 7.8. Should I start to be concerned?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Have the fins regrown at all during the first week?


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

DJRansome said:


> Have the fins regrown at all during the first week?


Do you ask because the fins look nipped in the picture to you? His looked pretty good to my untrained eye from the unbagging (only a few looked moderately nipped up to me). His belly was the only one that looked "full" at arrival, that hasn't changed, starting today he hasn't left the rocks.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Yes the fins look raggedy to me but maybe it's just the soft focus.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Came home today to find that this guy didn't make it. Can that sometimes happen with the stress of a shipment or is it likely indicative of a larger issue? I have to test parameters later tonight, but they've been right on up until now.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would not treat for anything unless and until you know something is wrong. Yes a fish that arrives looking less than 100% can die later.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

DJRansome said:


> I would not treat for anything unless and until you know something is wrong. Yes a fish that arrives looking less than 100% can die later.


Thank you. All the others look great and the only other one I've been looking at (has looked extra thin) seemed to bounce back today (not 100% sure I was ID'ing the proper one, couldn't count all 10 at once).


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Thought I would put up a few pictures of the tank now that it's fully stocked. There are 16 Saulosi, 1m/6f adult and 9 juvie, 7 rusties and 7 yellow tail acei.

Thinking I'll have a final goal of 3m/12f Saulosi and 1m/4f if possible with the rusties and acei. Just remove the outcasts?

Going to work the rock piles a bit higher too, any advice on what you see is appreciated!

I'm not much of a picture taker, here is the best I've got. (Well, for some reason Photobucket is cropping off he right side, any advice there either?)


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## B.Roberson (Nov 6, 2011)

Nice looking fish. I ran a 75 gal for years with 20-25 mbuna. labs, rustys,acei,etc. When i first started fish keeping I ran 2 ac 110's In my case the mbuna would spit the sand all over the place forcing me to clean the impellers constantly. I went to 2 rena xpl for a few years then got tired of the low hum noise. Switched to eheim 2217's. Cant even hear them run,, good choice on the 2 eheims :thumb:


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Thanks! I was close to buying a couple HOBs but found the Eheims on sale for a pretty good price and decided to finally give canisters a try. Glad I did, they are super quiet!


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