# Tank Journal - 225 Cichlid Habitat



## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

I have a habit of taking on projects. I love aquaria, and have since my first 10g in junior high, got into Cichlids early on and jumped up to a 37 and a 55, until college. After college, the 55 went up again, then the 37 after the 55 failed (center brace), then back to a new 55 for a couple of years until neglect and the UGF syndrome did them in. Last year, I got back into it, fired up the 55, now a year along with over 50 community fish, packed with live plants, and another 10g with 200+ fry. I bought a 92 corner bow cheap and started maintaining his SW tank at his office, after much pondering. A Chinese restaurant I frequent always had a super-dirty 125 SW tank and a nice looking 225 discus tank. The discus tank went under due to poor local water quality during a flood a few years back, and all the discus died. I maintain the SW tank (it is now in much better shape) and I have his 225g as my "clean slate". Here it is:

Display Tank









Sump - intake side









Sump - return side









It's made for SW, dual overflows, acrylic sump, and he doesn't want to pop for a couple canister filters (though I think he should) so we're going with the sump setup. Here's my plan:

I've got 200 lbs of Pool Filter Sand, in the process of rinsing the heck out of it. I've got a bucket of big rocks. He has a bunch of big rocks. Together, we rock. He also has a 5g bucket full of clear glass beads (which used to be the 'substrate' of his discus tank). So far, that's the decor. I also found a huge piece of driftwood, 2 branches about 30" long each on a big chunk of marble for $25 at an LFS that I would love to put in it, but he hmmm'd and haw'd, so it's not going in. I have a cubic buttload of live plants in my 55, so he's getting some of those, at least until they are destroyed by said pending Cichlid inhabitants.

The filtration is the biggest issue I see. Here's what I plan, tell me if there's something else that can be done:

First, the initial fill will be RO/DI water which I make myself. I am assuming at some point, this should be buffered and treated for cichlid preparation, but until the tank has cycled, I see no need for this. But, please advise. I do plan on putting several large media bags of crushed coral in the sump, so maybe nothing or less of something is needed? It goes in the sump rather than mixing it with the PFS, in SW aquaria, I was advised that CC can get dirty faster than Aragonite and cause Nitrate problems. Plus, what else are you going to use a sump that big for??

The big question is the 3 filtration methods: Chemical, Biological, Mechanical.

Let's start with the most important: Biological.

This sump is made to be a wet/dry with bio-balls, he's got about 1/2 of a 5g bucket full of them. I plan to 'seed' them in a bucket with some bio-balls from my Marineland C-360 (which I love) and a couple good squeezes from my 10g sponge filter, in a bucket with a power head and a heater, and some flake food or ammonia, something to feed the bacteria, and let it get set up while I fill and aquascape the tank, and re-pipe the return, get the sump running, all that good stuff. After that, it goes in the sump, essentially a wet/dry trickle filter. So I think that's a good plan, do you?

Next: Mechanical.

As you can see, the sump intake fills up the left side, overflows into a tray with polyfill media in it (both of which are not shown. Sorry). That's all. There's a secondary filter before the pump, obviously to keep bubbles and waste from the pump. Right now, it's jammed with snail shells (they came in with the water during that flood time I mentioned. Ewww.).

Finally: Chemical.

Now I am a huge fan of Seachem Purigen. So I will be using a bunch of that. Probably on the order of 500mL to 1L worth.

Other than that, as mentioned before, the sump will contain big 'ol bags of crush coral for pH maintenance.

Now, since it's been a while, I would like a few points in the right direction. It's going to be Africans, probably Lake Malawi, maybe a few from Tanganyika. Mildly to possibly more aggressive, it's a huge tank, lots of decor, and it's in a restaurant, so the prettier the fish the better will be the driver. Might get some Malaysian Trumpet Snails to dig around in the sand. My favorite fish are Labidochromis caeruleus / electric yellow, Lamprologus Brichardi, Pseudotropheus estherae / Zebras. Maybe he'll think the same? Probably going to get them online, anyone have a suggestion for a good, reputable online seller?

So what else needs to be added to the water on a regular basis, during PWCs, etc?

PWCs will probably be RO/DI water, just because I hate algae and our water around here makes it well. If I go with tap water, it will be filled in a 44g Brute can, heated, Prime treated, and then I may use carbon or zeolite in the sump to fight the algae (or get a bristlenose Pleco)

I may invest in a Aquaripure Denitrator because A) I'm really curious to try one, and B) I have a hard enough time doing 20% PWCs on saltwater 125 tanks (2 of them). A 20% PWC on a 225 with a 30-40g sump, every week? No thanks. It's money for me, but I don't have the time right now.

Got 2 300W heaters, so we're good there.

The light is made for SW also. Coralife, 6 foot, power compact (compact fluorescent) with 2x 96W 10,000K and 2x 96W Actinics. I'm guessing that these are the wrong bulbs for a FW Cichlid setup, possible with plants. What would you put in that fixture??

Feel free to help me out or comment, or just tag along if you like.

Cheers!


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

Looking forward to seeing it complete. :thumb:

Personally, I wouldn't do the RO/DI water. Most of the time it isn't necessary, and it has too much potential for mistakes to happen.


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## reefed_out (Jan 15, 2010)

for the lights, I'd switch to FW coralife 96 watt bulbs. It'll be a very blue/white looking tank otherwise. Also, that is a lot of wattage, so algae will thrive. I'd make sure to limit the time that the lights are on, or just only run 2 bulbs instead of all 4.


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

*Personally, I wouldn't do the RO/DI water. Most of the time it isn't necessary, and it has too much potential for mistakes to happen.*

What kind of mistakes are you referring to? I'm still on the fence about it. Our municipal water comes out of the tap off the pH scale, API shows deep purple. On my FW planted community tank, it settles out to about 7.8 after a couple days, and stay above 7.4 over a week. With the crushed coral in the sump, I would expect it would stay pretty high, but time will tell. My main reason for considering RO/DI was to eliminate phosphates and silicate, which seem to be a problem with our water from time to time. The water quality was the main reason why all of his Discus died off. African Cichlids should be more hardy, I would think, and would prefer the higher pH conditions anyways.

So if I just go with Prime treated tap water, and it comes out at 8.8+ and drops to 7.4-7.8, I'm assuming I would still need to add some kind of buffer or salts. I would like to hear some input on the best brand to go with. Also, what KH level should be maintained? Would the coral help maintain a higher KH as well as pH?

When I kept Cichlids, way back, I didn't bother to ask these questions, nor monitor and maintain levels in my tanks. That has all changed, and I have become a much more educated fish keeper. Here is a shot of my 55 at exactly one year










I never kept live plants before, and used to run a UGF. This tank started on it, then I switched to a Marineland C-360 w/500 mL Purigen for chemical filtration instead of activated carbon. I fertilize, trim, got better lights, all from research online and input from various forums. I would appreciate any info, links to pertinent thread, etc.

I'm aquascaping this tank today, and will probably do a partial fill while I re-pipe the sump. Also, I think the pump he is using is way to small. This is something I noticed when the Discus were still in it, the jets were barely pushing any water. I think it needs to be at least twice it's current size. Is there a particular size that is standard for a 225g with dual overflows?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Floyd R Turbo said:


> The light is made for SW also. Coralife, 6 foot, power compact (compact fluorescent) with 2x 96W 10,000K and 2x 96W Actinics. I'm guessing that these are the wrong bulbs for a FW Cichlid setup, possible with plants. What would you put in that fixture??
> 
> Feel free to help me out or comment, or just tag along if you like.
> 
> Cheers!


I have the freshwater version of your fixture on my 220G 30" high Mbuna tank. Came with 2x 96W 10K and 2x 96W Actinic plus 6x 3/4W LED lunar moonlights. I switched the Actinic bulbs out for 96W 6700K bulbs. I was still unable to maintain even low light Anubias & Java Fern in this tank. I'm not sure of the reason because I can grow them in my 75G tank with the standard fluorescent dual T8 bulbs with no problems.

Heating requirements will depend on the ambient room temperature of the tank location. I am currently using one Hydor ETH 300W heater in-line on my Eheim 2262 filter. My tank is located in an average 68F room and this heater keeps my tank at 78F with no problems. Of course I do have a lot of rock decor & background that acts like a heat-sink.

I also would try to stay with your tapwater instead of doing RO/DI. Lot less fussing with water parameters. If the tapwater became an issue, you could always switch to the RO/DI.

What are the dimensions of your 225G tank? I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on this project.


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

Yeah, the more I think about it, it would be easier, and he can just get a Bristlenose Pleco once the algae starts to take hold.

Dimensions are 72x24x30, so it's a standard 225.

I might be able to take the lights out and put them on his FOWLR tank, which needs new lights. Problem is, I don't know how long they were in use on the 225.


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## csa dad (Jan 17, 2010)

water turn over should be no less than 6x the amount of water in your tank you would probly need a sump capable of pushing atleast 1400gph or depending on how high you have to pump the water maybe 1500 or 1600 gph would be best


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

The mag24 will be just right. The mag18 will be a bit short of the volume you will need to push.


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

Well today, I finished rinsing out the sand, which took about 3 hours (200 lbs). I went in and removed all the old return tubing (which made absolutely no sense, whatsoever, and was rigid and brittle) installed new tubing, clean the base and sump, wiped out the tank, cleaned the lid, adjusted the jets, dumped in the sand, started filling, and then the owner and I added his rock and some of my rocks in for an initial aquascape. We filled it all the way, fired up the sump, and put the lids & light on. HereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a pictorial step by step:

Empty, clean tank









Added sand, 200 lbs









Fill started









Filled and aquascaped









Lids & lights Ã¢â‚¬â€œ this fixture is 10,000k only, actinics are off









Sump return piping









Sump in operation









I brought the bio-balls home and rinsed them out and picked out the busted ones. Now I am going to clean out my C-360 and swap out Ã‚Â½ of the bio-balls and ceramic rings and mix them in with his and put them in the trickle. I totally spaced out de-chlorinating the water, so I have to do that first. Oh yeah, and put his heaters back in. Also have to take a stick and stir the sand, bubbles trapped in it, which I suppose will work their way out on their own, so maybe not. The cold water here is 55F!! I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t suppose that bacteria on my bio-balls and rings will die from temperature shock, will they? I suppose I could acclimate the bio-balls, but that just seems silly. I also will take the sponge from my 10g and squeeze it out into another sponge or something and stuff that in with the bio-balls. I figure all of that and leave it for a week and the bio-colony will be thriving. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll dose with Ammonia and test it until I start getting Nitrates, then it will be time to stock!

As far as the pump goes, it might be big enough after all. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a pretty generic looking pump, so I have to look closer at it, but I think itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s about 1200 GPH. Before, when the tank was running, I noticed that there was hardly any flow of significance, but then again, it had 4 time the tubing, 3 TÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s, and a UV sterilizer. So I think it may be good for now.


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

Floyd R Turbo said:


> What kind of mistakes are you referring to? I'm still on the fence about it. Our municipal water comes out of the tap off the pH scale, API shows deep purple. On my FW planted community tank, it settles out to about 7.8 after a couple days, and stay above 7.4 over a week. With the crushed coral in the sump, I would expect it would stay pretty high, but time will tell. My main reason for considering RO/DI was to eliminate phosphates and silicate, which seem to be a problem with our water from time to time. The water quality was the main reason why all of his Discus died off. African Cichlids should be more hardy, I would think, and would prefer the higher pH conditions anyways.
> 
> So if I just go with Prime treated tap water, and it comes out at 8.8+ and drops to 7.4-7.8, I'm assuming I would still need to add some kind of buffer or salts. I would like to hear some input on the best brand to go with. Also, what KH level should be maintained? Would the coral help maintain a higher KH as well as pH?


I stick by my less is more philosophy. However, a drop from 8.8 to 7.4 is a bit troubling. Are you using peat moss, CO2, driftwood, or something else that would further lower it? If the water aged down to 7.8 and held firm, I'd say just age it and you're good to go. But, if the PH doesn't want to hold steady, this is a case where I might buffer it. Do you know what the KH of your tap water is?


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

KH of tap water is low, around 4 or 5 dKH, but I'll test it with my Salifert kit tonight to double-check that, it's much more accurate. I tested the tank water tonight and it's around 8.3, but I didn't test it right after the fill. Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 5 (tap water has it).

Decided to install heaters and bring it up to temp before adding bio-balls, read that bacteria indeed are susceptible to temperature and pH shock.

Adding the crushed coral should help stabilize the pH and KH I would think, but that's yet to be determined.


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

Floyd R Turbo said:


> As far as the pump goes, it might be big enough after all. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a pretty generic looking pump, so I have to look closer at it, but I think itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s about 1200 GPH. Before, when the tank was running, I noticed that there was hardly any flow of significance, but then again, it had 4 time the tubing, 3 TÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s, and a UV sterilizer. So I think it may be good for now.


I am thinking you will want at the least what your drains will handle. I have a very similar setup with two megaflow overflows and use a mag18 and mag7 pushing about 1500 GPH total and the BV's on the drains are both mostly shut. could easily handle another 300 gph. A mag24 would still be short be not by much.

Mebbe I have less restrictions on my drains and am able to flow more back to the tank. If you are able to use another pump as a temporary supplement try it and see if you are able to handle more flow, it definately can't hurt. :thumb:


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

Floyd R Turbo said:


> KH of tap water is low, around 4 or 5 dKH, but I'll test it with my Salifert kit tonight to double-check that, it's much more accurate. I tested the tank water tonight and it's around 8.3, but I didn't test it right after the fill. Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 5 (tap water has it).
> 
> Adding the crushed coral should help stabilize the pH and KH I would think, but that's yet to be determined.


Crushed coral should help a bit.

Out of the tap, my water has a ph of 8.2 and a dKH of 5. It ages down to 7.8 with a dKH of 5. At first, I was going to buffer because of the lower dKH. However, it turned out not to be needed so long as I don't get lazy and let my nitrates creep up. My tanks are always a solid 8.0, with a dKH of 6. I do two 25% water changes a week without any aging or buffering, and so far everything is holding steady.


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

Wow. 2x25 is a lot in a 225 w/25 sump - 62.5 gallons twice a week. This is why I'm toying with the idea of getting an aquaripure denitrator.


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

Tested again today, Ammonia 2-3 ppm so did nothing. pH up to about 7.9. Leaving lights off. Gonna add a minuscule amount of finely ground flake food tomorrow.


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

I checked the ammonia again this evening, and it's about the same that it was 2 days ago - 2 to 4 ppm. Given that I am using an API test kit, it could be higher, so I could have misjudged the dosage of the Ace Hardware brand. I will be doing a 50% PWC and scrubbing all the rocks after all. Hopefully the cycle is just stalled, and the bacteria colony didn't get wiped out.


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

** SIGH **

I checked the Ammonia again today and it is the same. API kits are hard to differentiate when it's above 2 ppm, so i may have ODd the ammonia. Probably going to have to do a 50% PWC, or dilute the sample to get an accurate reading. I did crank the heat up, it was around 82, I turned it up so it should go up to 84-86. I will also take my sponge in and squeeze it in the tank to try and re-seed it, when I seeded the bio-balls originally, I took the new ones, pulled 3 or 4 gallons out of my 10 gallon (and siphoned the gravel) and put them in that, then squeezed the sponge in that bucket, then put the rings and balls in there, and let it sit for a few hours and occasionally stirred it up. I put the balls and rings in the tank and dumped the water down the drain, and then didn't get in there until later in the day to put the firt couple tsp of Homelife ammonia in there, so it's entirely possible that the bacteria died off, or that the high ammonia has stalled the cycle. I guess I didn't think about it, but I haven't tested for Nitrite or Nitrate lately. Maybe I should do that, duh.


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## slimbolen99 (Apr 28, 2006)

With such a large tank, I would add 5x more rockwork. You have a lot of space to work with, and the layout you have is nice, but could be awesome. Good luck on the cycling. It takes time and patience.


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## matt-the-geek (Jul 8, 2009)

I really like your tank, i wish I could get on that big but in my apt. I can only have a total of 150 gallons


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

Ok, finally some results, and good news!!!!!!

The pH tested same, 7.9-8.0
Temp is 82.7 on a digital thermometer
Ammoina is at 2 ppm, I cut the sample in half with RO/DI water and got 1 ppm so that's confirmed, it's dropping
Nitrite is at 0.25 ppm
Nitrate is at 10 ppm

Now the Nitrates originally tested at 5 ppm, but I took the tube home and by that time it was 10 ppm, so I don't think the Nitrite->Nitrate bacteria are fully formed, and whatever was there in the seed could have died off, or whatever. The good news is that Nitrites are starting to rise, which means the surfactants were not the bacteria-killing kind.

Going to wait until tomorrow or Friday to dose with Ammonia again, just to be safe, I want to make sure it drops to or below 1 ppm before adding any more.

Also, even though the lights are off, I noticed some brown discoloration on the sand bed, I'm guessing from just ambient light, some brown diatom algae is starting to form. I might consider blacking out the tank to keep this at bay.

I've got a buyer for a bunch of my live plants in my 10 and 55 at home, and whatever else doesn't sell (I have way too many Vals and Asian Marshweed) will go in the tank, and I might toss in a couple root tabs underneath them to help. Hopefully those will help keep the algae at bay also, since they're both fast growers. Just need to replace the 10,000K bulbs with plant-friendly ones. Also, once the cycle is finished, I'm going to loan out a few of my hundreds of swordtail fry to keep the tank going until he's ready to stock it.

Anyone have a reputable online Cichlid site they can refer me/him to?


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

On Thursday 1/28, Ammonia tested about 1.5ppm, I added 1 Tbsp Ammonia, Friday 1/29 tested 5ppm (I cut 1 part tank water to 4 parts RO water), Monday 2/1 it was down to about 2ppm and NitrIte jumped to 1 ppm, and today 2/2 it was down to 0.5 ppm and NitrIte still 1 ppm. I added about 1-1/2 Tbsp ammonia, which should jump the ammonia up to about 4 or 5, and I'll test again tomorrow. Progess!!


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

The pump he has on there now is a Mag Drive 12 / 1200 GPH, it drives 2 jets and there is a T splitter, 4' head and probably 4' horizontal, all vinyl hose under the tank so no 90s. The box for a new MD 12 lists the 4' head GPH as 1100, which equates to between 4 and 5 turnovers of the tank per hour. Is that enough? Is the head more because of the T? I'm guessing yes, but I wouldn't know how much to guess by. I recently replaced a pump on another tank and it was a 125 Reef and they had the same pump, 1200, so that leads me to think that 1200 is not enough for this tank, probably 1800 or even 2400. Still, there's good flow on the sump intake, and 4x/hr is good, but I read somewhere that it's good to over-filter a cichlid tank. Also since there's dual overflows, I figure it could handle the 1800, don't know if the 2400 is a little too much. Any opinions?


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## mg426 (Nov 24, 2009)

Try this out and see what you come up with for the Mag 12

http://www.reefcentral.com/index.php/he ... calculator


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

Interesting calculator. It doesn't list a T though, and I consider a Union a PVC fitting that has a screw type fitting to join two sections of PVC together, so I just treated it as a 90. However, I"m confused about what Number of Pipe Entrances and Exits means. It defaults to 1 on both if you leave it alone.

Anyways, with 4 vertical and 5 horizontal, 1 90, it says 756 GPH, which is only turning the tank over a little more than 3 times per hour.

Mag 18 does 866 GPH, or 3.8 turns/hours, Mag 24 does 1022, or 4.5 turns/hour


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

Over the last few days, the Ammonia drops to 0 the next day after a dose of 2 Tbsp (6 tsp or enough to bring it to 5ppm) and the Nitrite is way off the scale. So now I'm just waiting for that magical day when the Nitrites hit 0 and stay there the next day after an Ammonia dose, then it's big PWC and time to stock the tank!

Does anyone know if an extremely high NitrIte level can stall out a cycle during fishless cycling?


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## TheBanker (Jun 14, 2008)

slimbolen99 said:


> With such a large tank, I would add 5x more rockwork. You have a lot of space to work with, and the layout you have is nice, but could be awesome. Good luck on the cycling. It takes time and patience.


i agree, you should add more rock, or maybe bigger size rocks. Sorry if i missed it, but what are you stocking this with.


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

Ok, now that I"m close to the end of the cycle, I posted a want ad on the Midwest Cichlid Association site and came up with a possible stock list, and here's what i'm thinking:

First of all, Malawi Mbuna for the sociability. Second, trying to find ones in the 1" to 1-1/2" range so I can get more for a lower price and really fill the tank. Third, more rock. So here's what I've found locally so far that I think will work:

Yellow Labs, several sources, 1", 2", 3", etc (lots of these) http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=713
P. Saulosi, 2"+ (one guy has about 1 http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1
Yellow Tail P. Acei (about 100 1") http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1460
P Flavus (about 100 1") http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=889

One guy from Omaha (who has 2000 gal of Cichlid tanks) is bringing a selection of these on Friday AM:
Metriaclima sp. "zebra long pelvic" http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=934
Metriaclima sp. "Msobo" http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=801
Tropheops tropheops (Makokola OB) http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=985
Metriaclima zebra (Thumbi) http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1718
Labidochromis sp. "Hongi" http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=727

Still looking for:

Red/Blue/O/OB Zebra
L. Sprengerae (Rusty Cichlid)

Found one guy with some of these:
Ps Demasoni (Pombo Rocks)
Ps Kingsizei Londo
in addition to some Rustys, Flavus, and Yellow Labs, but they're a group and I only really want the rustys and not the Londo because they dig a lot I read.

If anyone sees any possible conflicts or additions they would make, I can certainly search out some more species.

As for the stock amount, I'm thinking that it's 225g, at 1"/g and max size of 4" avg, that's about 56 fish, so I'm shooting for 60 to 70 to start with, or roughly 6 or 7 from each group, maybe less of some due to # available. I haven't double checked it, but I believe these are all herbivores with a few omnivores, so I can stick to vegetable based food and avoid bloat.

Also I'm going to see a guy tomorrow that apparently has a huge pile of rock that I can take for next to nothing, leftover from old tanks. He currently has 1000 gallons of Cichlid tanks.

And the best news ----- I tested the water today, I put 1 Tbsp of Ammonia in last night, today 0 again, and the best news is that the Nitrites are down to 1 ppm!!! And Nitrates were well over 40, so the cycle is DONE!! I'm going in there tonight to do a huge PWC then will do one more ammoina dose and check it tomorrow, but I expect it will be all good to go for stocking on Friday morning when I pick up the first batch from the guy in Omaha, then I just have to hurry up and get all the rest before they stake a territory.


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)




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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

The fish are in!! The last 2 days have sure been busy ones. Thank the good Lord above that I joined the Midwest Cichlid Association website. I have to throw out a ton of props to the members of that site, in a VERY short time, IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m talking about 2 or 3 days, I had narrowed down my full stock list and found all the rock you see in the picture above.

The rock was provided by scottr Ã¢â‚¬â€œ all 500 lbs of it (11 5 gallon buckets @ 45 lbs each) at no cost. ThatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s right, nothing. Scott also has about 1000g of Cichlid tanks, so if youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re looking for anything, look his way. He has some beauties!

About half the fish came from Fremont NE from lmod58 who has about 2000g of cichlid tanks. These are the 5 species listed in the prior post. From him, I got 6 of each and 3 extra of the Thumbi and Msobo (Deep Magunga), and one extra Makokola for a great price. He breeds many, many species.

I got 7 each of the Flavus and Acei from Floppygumboy from Panora, IA, a nice selection of those for a great price also

I got 8 Yellow Labs from shooter50014 here locally in Des Moines, who also has probably 1000g of cichlid tanks, with some rare species, tons of Synodontis, lots of Victorians. Also a great price!

And tomorrow, I will be picking up the last batch of 18 Saulosi from powerskc locally in Ankeny IA. He also breeds a couple types of bristlenose plecos.

So hereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s the story of the tank build that started last night. I picked up all the rock from scottr on the east side of Des Moines around 3pm, then put it in the tub with hot water and soaked it to warm it up and rinse it off, then put it in buckets and transported to the restaurant. I started by removing all the rocks that were in there, then I moved the sand to the side to clear off about Ã‚Â¼ of the bottom. The brownish rock is a landscaping paver of sorts, scott got them for free at Rhino Materials in Des Moines Ã¢â‚¬â€œ apparently left over from a job. They all have a perfectly flat bottom, so I was able to put a layer of these down on the bottom of the tank, I just worked my way across the tank, moving sand and placing rock like this:










Then I covered those in sand, and started building the exposed layer of rock like this:










And then just kept placing rocks until it looked like the pic above. It took about 2 hours and I pulled about 15-20g out before, and it was about full when I was done.

The fish arrived from Nebraska at 8:30am; he was kind enough to pick up the fish from the guy in Panora on the way (he drove down from Panora and met him @ the interstate) and arrived at the restaurant and got in there about 9:30am, tested the water, started draining the tank, and sucked a bunch of sand out Ã¢â‚¬Ëœcause there was way too much (IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll use it in one of my tanks). As soon as I started filling, I floated the bags and cleaned the sump, pads, rinsed the crushed coral bags, etc. I opened each of the bags after 15-20 minutes and put about Ã‚Â½ cup of water in every so often over the course of about 20 minutes, then dumped the bag water, filled & dumped again and released. Here are the ones from lmod58 (Nebraska) floating










And released



















And the full tank after all released










They crowded in the corners at first, but by the time I got back with the Yellow Labs, they were adventuring all around their new home. The Labs went in about 3:30. Next step: buy food. I suppose I should have planned that a little better. I bet theyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re starving. Off to get some Spirulina flakes!


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## BigFish77 (Feb 1, 2009)

such a big tank your fish look tiny. should be an awesome set-up once everyone gets some more size to them. I just wish you luck keeping the rock piles free of debris over time.
:thumb: :thumb:


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## slimbolen99 (Apr 28, 2006)

Looks so much better with all that rock! You will have some very happy fish. Glad you found the MCA website. There are a lot of good people there. Congrats and good luck!


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

HereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ some more pics.

P. Saulosi floating



















And a few tank shots





































So far 3 fish have found their way into the sump via the overflow and have all been rescued. I have to go get some block filter foam and cover the overflows for a couple weeks until they get big enough!!


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## gtsum (Feb 25, 2008)

looking good!


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## Floyd R Turbo (Jan 18, 2010)

Added the block foam over the overflow slots. The same fish keeps making his way into the sump, one of the makokolas I think!! I've found him there 3 times and the owner has twice. No more hopefully. Test the water, Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 20 Alkalinity 3.8, so have to work on raising that. Right now there's only 5 lbs of crushed coral in the sump, I got a bigger bag for the other 10 lbs and I'm going to move the pump in the sump to another area and position the CC for better flow-through, hopefully that will bring it up. Shooting for 8.0.

The fish are very lively and friendly, especially the Saulosi, the race right to where you are and follow you around, and the little ones come up to see what all the fuss is about. I'm going to have a fun time counting them next time I have a chance to see if there have been any losses, but other than the Yellow Labs getting picked on a bit (and they don't seem any worse) everyone looks fine.


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## oswoldy (Feb 15, 2010)

Nice setup.

Mike


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