# planted mbuna tank



## Mr2Good (May 9, 2013)

i have had success so far with anubus nana plants with my juvi mbuna.... co casualties yet lol

take a look at the pics... i have video link in my footer if you wanna see it live... any suggestions for a new scape?


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Looks good with the green. As for your rock work, I'm a fan of larger, fewer rocks. :thumb:


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## Wilson33 (Feb 19, 2008)

I learned from great sources here that I could buy large rocks cheap at a landscape supply store. If you are like I was, I was buying them at a LFS. I love the look of the plants in your tank! If you do decide on more rocks, then go to a landscape supplier. I got mine for 13 cents a pound.


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## Shahlvah (Dec 28, 2011)

I like your setting. Your mbunas are babies....once they start shifting the sand around and making nests to breed your plants will suffer, they might not touch them but only time will tell. My fish uproot everything...including the plastic plants.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

This was my 90 gallon mbuna tank. I like more rocks than less.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

This was my planted Metriaclima estherae and Sciaenochromis fryeri tank.


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## Mr2Good (May 9, 2013)

yea thanks for the suggestion... the rocks i have now came from landscaping yard.. got 220lbs for $28 bucks not bad lol.. i only used about 180lbs in the tank tho. i had a few larger ones in there but it made the stacks look too man made for my taste and i found that the smaller ones allowed me to have more caves and swim throughs. the pic doesn't show them all.. some of the babies have started carving out their own places... i figure when they get bigger ill get rid of a few fish and redo all the rocks for bigger caves....im currently way overstocked.. i went crazy at my local fish dealer hahahahahaha...


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## Mr2Good (May 9, 2013)

oh i forgot to add.... as for the anubus... i dont have them buried in sand.. i was told that would rott them.. so they are wedged between the rocks.. fish wont be able to move them... maybe nibble... they are already staring to grow new leaves.. if im luck i will be able to split them into extra plants...


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## toddnkaya (Apr 27, 2013)

Fogelhund, is any of that 3d? Stunning tank !!!


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## Mr2Good (May 9, 2013)

man that's a crazy tank i was scared to death adding the rocks i have now.. the big one in my tank is easily 40-60 pounds... how big is the tank in your picture and more importantly how many pounds of rock? i will add more to mine but dont wanna bust it that would be a nightmare ...


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## lph3 (Apr 30, 2013)

Ladies and gentlemen, this is how you set up a mbuna tank!
Nicely done Fogelhund.



Fogelhund said:


> This was my 90 gallon mbuna tank. I like more rocks than less.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

toddnkaya said:


> Fogelhund, is any of that 3d? Stunning tank !!!


Thanks.. well they are all real rocks, no background in this tank at all. I would estimate something like 500 lbs of rocks.


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## Mr2Good (May 9, 2013)

Fogelhund said:


> toddnkaya said:
> 
> 
> > Fogelhund, is any of that 3d? Stunning tank !!!
> ...


thats a normal 90 gallon tank? 500lbs of rock!??!?!? man u must be a body builder or some hug nadz to attempt putting them in there.. did u ever stop and say man i hope this dont shatter hahahahah

at least u have givin me proof that i can add 2-3 times more rock without a issue.... did you use any extra support? eggcrate? special stand? please give me more details before i take on a project like this... im very interested in outdoing you hahahahah


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Mr2Good said:


> Fogelhund said:
> 
> 
> > toddnkaya said:
> ...


There was styrofoam on the bottom of the tank, but you would be surprised how much weight you can put into a tank. There was a video floating around of a 15 gallon tank, where someone stacked about 100 pounds of rocks in the tank, then stood on the rocks for about 300 pounds in a regular 15 gallon.


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## q8vw (Mar 12, 2013)

Here you go... this is the video, of what I know most of tanks have tempered bottom glass, and bottom usually thicker than the walls glass


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

Fogelhund said:


> This was my 90 gallon mbuna tank. I like more rocks than less.


Wow how did the fish respond to that? They love the very little sand? I wanted to try something like that before but with a 55g its hard to with so little width. I might do something like that in a 125g. That's pretty sweet. All rock and very little sand. How was cleaning this tank? Did all the poop end up in those sand traps or did you have to take all the rocks out and clean under them allot? anyways AMAZING set up :thumb: :thumb:


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

There was 3-4" of sand in the tank, so quite a bit of sand. Yes debris would get stuck under some of the rocks, but I'd just siphon it out at water change time. Over filter, regular water changes and all is good.


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

Thats freaking awesome man. Why did you take it down?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

ratbones86 said:


> Thats freaking awesome man. Why did you take it down?


It was in my office at work, I left that company a year ago... had to take it down.


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

you didn't move it to your house? i would have dang. That was a pretty realistic looking tank. I need to get a bigger tank, Well i have one i just need to be able to set it up lol. A 55g tank doesn't leave to many options because its so narrow. How many lbs of rock did you end up with in there? Bet you were sad to take it down i know i would have been lol Ill rate that tank a 10 lol

Back on topic a bit also lol. I tried plants with mbuna's like java fern and anubis and myself, i've had no luck. Always end up ate or they die cus i suck at keeping plants alive apparently lol. I love the look of plants in the tank it helps give more demension to the tank but i have never had luck with it myself. Allot of people do though. Kool thing with this hobby is trial and error. Give it a shot and if it works then enjoy, if not, learned it didnt work or what to try different next time. This is a great hobby and one kool thing about it is that you never stop learning new things with it.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

ratbones86 said:


> you didn't move it to your house? i would have dang. That was a pretty realistic looking tank. I need to get a bigger tank, Well i have one i just need to be able to set it up lol. A 55g tank doesn't leave to many options because its so narrow. How many lbs of rock did you end up with in there? Bet you were sad to take it down i know i would have been lol Ill rate that tank a 10 lol
> 
> Back on topic a bit also lol. I tried plants with mbuna's like java fern and anubis and myself, i've had no luck. Always end up ate or they die cus i suck at keeping plants alive apparently lol. I love the look of plants in the tank it helps give more demension to the tank but i have never had luck with it myself. Allot of people do though. Kool thing with this hobby is trial and error. Give it a shot and if it works then enjoy, if not, learned it didnt work or what to try different next time. This is a great hobby and one kool thing about it is that you never stop learning new things with it.


The tank is sitting in the garage for now. We are planning on moving in the next year, so I didn't bother setting it up. Have enough tanks at home as it is, and I wasn't happy with the stocking and sold off most of the fish when I took it down. Those pictures are of when it was first setup, some five years ago.


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

I love the rock work you did in it and you gave me a bunch of ideas now lol


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