# 203 gallon Malawi tank



## VladimirGregr

Hi everybody!

One day I have decided to buy a new tank and return back to "fish keepers" after almost ten years. During the flat rebuilding, I was thinking about the best place for the tank and I began with planning the future look of the tank and all the details about it. I created the 3d visualization of the tank and created this:


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## VladimirGregr

Next step, was to find the company able to make my dream come true. And after few weeks of making the tank has finally arrived:










During the manufacturing of the whole tank including the cabinet and the light cover, I made a contract with other company, that was responsible for creating of 3d background. And I thing, they made a perfect job!:




























And finally, the aquarium filled with water:



















Dimensions are: 200cm*65cm*60cm (79"x 26"x 24") (lenght * height * width), volume is 767L (about 200 Gal)

Light: 4x30W light tube, 2x Philips TLD 865, 2x Dennerle Trocal African Lake

Filtration: Eheim 2080 + DIY water pipes made of PPR - plastic tubes used to create water distribution in the houses etc.

Heating: Eheim 300W with thermostat

Decoration: 50kg white filtration sand (used in swimming pools and garden lakes etc), Nero Ebano stones - very decorative and similar to the background color.

Next week I'm going to buy some fishes, but I'm not sure about the species. I prefer vari-coloured kinds of Malawi cichlids. I'll appreciate every advice about the fishes - species, count etc.

The tank is stocked with:

8x Aulonocara species "rubin red" 
8x Aulonocara stuartgrandi Ngara 
8x Crytocara Moori 
8x Labidochromis sp. Yellow 
8x Melanochromis Maingano 
8x Labidochromis hongi 
8x Placidochromis phenochilus 
8x Pseudotropheus saulosi "Coral"

Hope you like my tank


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## newforestrob

Love it :drooling:


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## nudge

stunning!


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## JimA

Very very nice!


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## vince0

The tank looks great, thank you for sharing!


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## malady

wow I love background like that so natural
must of cost a fortune


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## Gags

Love it ...
Awesome build  
Now enjoy fish keeping


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## irondan

fantastic!!! thanks for sharing


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## gliebig

Beautiful setup you have! :dancing:


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## JAyliffe

Looks magnificent! I love that background :drooling:


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## Corrupted

pretty spectacular. I hope to be rich someday.


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## theoryguru

Fantastic work! :thumb:


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## kojak76

Very nice setup :thumb: Who created that background? I would love to have something like that in my 240 gallon.


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## VladimirGregr

Thanks guys! I appreciate your rating. The background is custom made by the company that makes artificial rocks and stones for gardens, zoo, aquariums etc. here is the link with the gallery:

http://www.umeleskaly.cz/akvarijni-a-terarijni-pozadi/

They can create whatever you want! But the company is from Czech Republic, that may be an issue for you


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## kojak76

Well lets see...I can't even read the site, but man they have the best looking backgrounds I have ever seen!!!!!!!!!! I might just have to find a way....


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## VladimirGregr

Hi! I made a little rock modification on the left side of the tank and took some shots of the tank:


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## infamous

Amazing tank!!!One of the best and most natural looking tanks I have ever seen...Great job!!!


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## VladimirGregr

Because I was pretty unsatisfied with the rocks layout, I made big changes in the tank to emphasis the "cave" in the background. I also changed the water pump behind the background and replaced the old 500l/h for a new Atman At-203 with 2000l/h. So the total filter flow is about 3500l/h. Water seems to be cleaner than before and the water surface is cleaner too. I'm going to make some pictures and add them to the thread.


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## newcichlidz

One day I might save up the money to put something like this together!

How much did all of this cost in US$?

Your tank looks fantastic.


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## mel_cp6

Wow! Absolutely stunning. Everything about it is just awesome. 
Luv the clean look of both tank, stand, canopy and background. 
=D>


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## VladimirGregr

Thanks guys! Complete price "all inclusive" including the chest of drawers on the left side, was about 3000$


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## quentin8

Thats not bad at all, (dont tell my wife this) Money well spent :thumb:


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## haplo440

Really nice Tank!!!!! =D> =D> =D> , great set-up , the background is very nice :thumb: :thumb: and wonderful pictures !!!! =D> =D> =D> and nice fish too :fish:

A tank to be proud! :wink:

See you
Sebastian


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## iwade4fish

=D> =D> =D>


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## Vadimshevchuk

gorgeous tank! why didnt you hide the eheim tube in the background?


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## VladimirGregr

Vadimshevchuk said:


> gorgeous tank! why didnt you hide the eheim tube in the background?


My mistake, I didn't think about it when designing the background. But it is still possible to solve this issue, but it takes a long time and lot of work to fix it. Maybe in close future.


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## VladimirGregr

New aquascape:


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## Morpheen

Absolutely beautiful. I really appreciate when a tank is designed from the start to be natural looking and like a fine piece of furniture. I must say most of the nicest tanks I've seen have been European. :thumb:


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## drexel187

Amazing!


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## Gags

opcorn: :drooling: =D> 
no words 
Wish i could come to house and see those wonderful things


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## VladimirGregr

THX guys!

Fishes are growing and staining slowly but certainly - especially peacocks, so I will update the pictures soon.


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## thatbb6

One of the best tank I've seen!!
How do you clean the fish wastes at the bottom of the tank with all those rocks??


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## VladimirGregr

Now it quite easy, total water flow in the tank is 800 gal/h, so all the vaste is suck in the filter. In the future I plan to remove some rocks.


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## VladimirGregr

Some new pics. Fishes slowly grow up. I removed some rocks again, hope it looks better and fishes have more space for swimming


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## k761110e

Amazing! Wow!

Do you know what kind of rocks those are? I love the darkness and striations in them.


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## VladimirGregr

Rocks are called "Nero Ebano", but it is hard to find. Try your local garden equipment store.


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## Dawg2012

I... Wow... That background  . I'm relatively new and that's the best background I've seen so far. Very nice job. The tank is close to a ten. :drooling:


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## fusion

All i can say is WOW WOW and WOW :thumb:


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## VladimirGregr




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## CrypticLifeStyle

Awesome work


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## halffrozen

Easily a 9.8 tank.

Now you just have to color match the Eheim tubes!


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## TrashmanNYC

:thumb: :drooling: =D>


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## VladimirGregr

Let me introduce you my 767L Malawi tank - evolution 2 :bounce:


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## denske

Looks amazing.


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## ratbones86

nice im glade you hid the intakes!! Looks great!


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## halffrozen

I am smiling.... I am smiling because... I AM SMILING BECAUSE I WANT TO CRY AT HOW BEAUTIFUL THIS TANK IS!!!!!!!!!!!


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## matt121966

bump


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## Filet O Fish

:fish: How about an update picture?


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## VladimirGregr

Update - some fish added - L. Caurellus Yellow (total 17 pcs) and Dolphins (total 12 pcs). Little changes in rocks layout.





















































[/quote]


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## TrickyT

I think this might be the best tank I have seen on here. It is just perfect to my taste. It looks like a slice of the lake.

Superb work. You must be so pleased with it.


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## notchback65

TrickyT said:


> I think this might be the best tank I have seen on here. It is just perfect to my taste. It looks like a slice of the lake.
> 
> Superb work. You must be so pleased with it.


+1 
I agree,awesome tank :thumb:


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## joey13

If this doesn't win TOTM, something is terribly wrong!


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## VladimirGregr

Thanks, but this tank already won the TOTM in July 2012, but it was the old setup with green pipes and lot of rocks


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## VladimirGregr




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## JP_92

I saw this tank before this thread when it had the green filter. It's nice to see it with it covered. I must say I love this tank. The edged corner gives it an unique style. The cabinet with the matching edged shelves and matching trim is absolutely a perfect fit. Then the fact that the aquascape is natural looking brings it to a next level even! Great job on creating it vlad.


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## Bowfront

The tank is beyond amazing, in fact its super! The only thing I feel it needs is a better and more diverse selection of fish. It needs more species and different colors. That tank would be phonomenial with Frontosas in it. Some OB peacocks would be nice as would some Victorians like nyereri or obliquidens.

.


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## jimmie

Nice background bro, I like it, kept it natural, good job, now thats how u set a tank up all natural


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## VladimirGregr

New inhibitants in the tank


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## stalefish83

I'm new to the forum so this is my first peak at this thread... and hoo boy what a peak it was! Like I got a glimpse "behind the veil"! Simply amazing. I have to ask you, though, what made you take out all those wonderful rocks? It was far and away the best looking tank I've ever seen when you had the two separate piles of large rocks. It had such amazing dimension.

Don't get me wrong, it is top notch as it is now. You've honestly made me want to find ponds for my goldfish and convert my 70 to a malawi tank! ...now I just have to convince the wife to let me find "a better home" for our 5 y/o goldfish (who was the fish that got me into the hobby in the first place) ...might be a tough sell, but I'll show her your video and I think we can get the job done :thumb:

Thanks for the update!


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## InfamousAquatics

This tank is inspiring, but you already knew that.


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## poezewoevefloefke

How do you get the water so cristal clear. I have a external jbl filter with seachem matrix and seachem purigen and some sponge.

https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=5622170E

https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=562C52DE

https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=56283158


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## jimmie

poezewoevefloefke said:


> How do you get the water so cristal clear. I have a external jbl filter with seachem matrix and seachem purigen and some sponge.
> 
> https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=5622170E
> 
> https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=562C52DE
> 
> https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=56283158


Try seachem water clarifier ...always work for me...and also carbon media


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## poezewoevefloefke

It's small pieces that float around  but we will try a wavemaker (3000 liter / hour, i have a 250 liter aquarium)


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