# New 90 gallon Mbuna tank



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

So I'm setting up a 90 gallon Mbuna tank. I have tried all sorts of tanks in the past. My last tank was a 90 gallon high tech planted tank. I'm wondering about lighting. For now I want to use the T5HO fixture I had. I'm wondering what would be best for bulbs. My fixture holds 4 bulbs and currently has 56 watt plant bulbs in it. I'm assuming a couple of actinics to bring out the fish colour and then one or 2 56 watt whites for illumination. Do I need 2 actinics or is one enough? What wattage of actinic should I go with? Would you go with one or 2 white bulbs? I don't want to run into algae problems.

Thanks

Jeff


----------



## clhinds78 (Jul 27, 2012)

I probably would only run two bulbs in that fixture otherwise you will have algae problems. I think you can only put HO bulbs in an HO fixture so you are stuck with the 56w bulbs. I would probably go with something like a 6500k and full spectrum bulb like the coralmax colormax ones in order to bring out the colors of the fish. Actinics would be ok, but would only bring out the blue.


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

Well I am finally underway in this project. I have been wanting to do this for a couple of years but life got in the way.

I had kept all the equipment from my 90 gallon planted tank when I shut it down in 2012 because of multiple anticipated moves in a relatively short time (the joys of building a house). I decided to sell off the tank because I didn't like the idea of an empty tank sitting in storage and being moved around multiple times before being used again.

Well the other day I got a great deal on a 90 gallon that is only a couple of years old and in immaculate condition. The person also threw in a Marineland C-360 canister filter that is almost brand new and a 200 watt Eheim heater. I hadn't planned on starting this project so soon but I couldn't pass up the deal on the tank.

So tonight I officially got to work. I have to give the tank a thorough cleaning and then I want to paint the back of the tank black. My last tank was a stick on black background because I hadn't heard about painting the back until it was too late.

Next week (hopefully Tuesday) I'm going rock hunting. I have a couple of spots out in the sticks that I'm going to go searching through and a couple of landscaping places I want to check. I'm going for as natural a look as possible so I want the rocks to be similar. I've also been reading up on the rule of thirds and hardscaping advice for cichlids. So the plan at this point is a larger rock pile on one side, a smaller one on the other and open space in the middle. I'm also going to go with Caribsea Ivory Coast Cichlid Sand for substrate. I'm going to add the substrate after I hardscape the rocks (due to digging that I'm expecting). This makes me a little nervous having the rocks right on the glass but I know it will be fine from the reading I've been doing. I thought about egg crate but lots of people complain that the cichlids dig so much the egg crate ends up showing and looking terrible.

Tonight I figured I'd get a head start on cycling one of the canister filters so I fired up the Marineland with a big rubbermaid full of water. I dosed the rubbermaid with ammonia and added a small dirty sponge from my 15 gallon to help give it a kick start. I figure by starting the fishless cycle now it will lower the time I have to watch the tank all set up and full of water with no fish in it (which might drive me crazy...haha).

So here's my equipment list as it stands now:

-Eheim Pro II canister
-Marineland C-360 canister
-2 x Eheim 200 watt heaters
-T5HO fixture with 4 bulbs (I think I'll go one actinic and one white bulb so I don't get too much algae but I'm looking for advice on this one ie: how many bulbs, will actinics still promote algae growth, ect)
-probably a power head or 2 aimed behind the rocks to ensure debris doesn't pile up there

The first thing I want to change is the light fixture. I'd love to upgrade down the road to LED. Something like the Current USA Satellite plus or the Aquatic Life Edge LED light is what I have in mind.

Now to start organizing all the extra equipment I have from my planted tank and start my "garage sale". Too bad but I won't be able to make the OVAS garage sale. It would have been great timing.

Jeff


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

So time for a progress report. I have finished painting the back of the tank black. Took a number of coats but it looks good.

Yesterday I did some rock hunting and got some great pieces. I'm pretty sure they're sandstone as there were some that I liked but didn't take because they were too brittle. I found a few pieces that have some great formations to form caves when stacked. I've blasted them twice with the pressure washer and I think I'll do it again today. I've read that some people do a bleach bath as well. Is this necesary or overkill?

Here's a photo of what I found. The biggest pieces are about 1.5ft.










My fish less cycle is well underway as well. I have one of my canisters running in a 25 gallon Rubbermaid tub. I am dosing ammonia to 2ppm and it's disappearing within 2 days.

Jeff


----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Hey Jeff...

Your photo is not working. Try looking here-
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=255444

I wouldn't bother with the bleach.


----------



## stalefish83 (May 22, 2014)

I wouldn't risk bleach on sandstone since it's porous. The bleach won't be able to evaporate off the rock. I would love to see some pics of your progress! I look forward to seeing your scape, the rule of thirds is a great guideline!


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

Ya decided against the bleach for that reason, I pressure washed em 3 times and scrubbed em down. Gonna start playing with possible hardscapes just on the floor until I get something I like. I also picked up my sand today.. Went with caribbsea Sahara sand.


----------



## clhinds78 (Jul 27, 2012)

stalefish83 said:


> I wouldn't risk bleach on sandstone since it's porous. The bleach won't be able to evaporate off the rock. I would love to see some pics of your progress! I look forward to seeing your scape, the rule of thirds is a great guideline!


I use a small amount in a large bucket to clean sandstone and then I soak it in a double dose of prime for a few days before even thinking about putting it in the tank.


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

So I started playing around with the rockwork today. The stack in the photo on the left is about 18 inches high and the tank is 24 inches high. The big stack has quite a few caves with backs worked into it. I am open to ideas and suggestions. The foam the rocks are on is about an inch short of the width of the tank and the red line marks the back of the tank.




























Thanks

Jeff


----------



## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Your pics aren't working! Follow the instruction in my signature.


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

Funny I dis follow the instructions and they do show up when I load the page.......


----------



## clhinds78 (Jul 27, 2012)

Jeff1192 said:


> Funny I dis follow the instructions and they do show up when I load the page.......


Where are you posting them from? Make sure they are set to public.


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

Ok let's try this again. 
I was using the images from the host of my aquarium club site. I'll try with Imgur this time.

Here are the photos.....I hope. Feedback would be appreciated.




























Jeff


----------



## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I love those rocks, nice color and nice shapes!!!! Yes, the pics do show up now.

This is an excerpt from the article by Bob Wyllie in the C-F library "First, the rock must be water-resistant. If it has a tendency to crumble or flake underwater then it will make a mess in your tank eventually. This is easily ascertained. Hose the rock down while scrubbing it with a stiff brush to dislodge all loose surface material. Put it in a bucket of water and leave overnight. The next day give it another vigorous scrubbing. If it continues to shed a significant amount of particles, it is probably unsuitable for your aquarium."


----------



## stalefish83 (May 22, 2014)

I had rocks in a tank a while back that had that exact problem. I loved the color and shape, but they never stopped "dusting" my aquarium and it was horrible. I had never heard of leaving it in a bucket overnight after vigorous cleaning to see if it continues to shed... that would have saved me a lot of headaches with that tank. Thanks for sharing, Deeda!


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

Alright I took a bunch of photos as I dismantled my structure layer by layer. Then cut the egg crate, filled the holes in the eggcrate with sand and rebuilt the rock work. I seems to have worked very well as I'm pretty sure I recreated what I had on the floor. It's very very solid so I have no concerns about rocks shifting or falling. I took quite a while playing with the placement of each rock to make sure it was stable layer by layer. So next step is to rinse my sand out and get it in the tank and see what I've got!










Jeff


----------



## stalefish83 (May 22, 2014)

The only thing I might change would be the little pile, the flat rock with the other one stacked on top of it looks a bit unnatural. Any time you have a "bridge" it attracts the eye, distracting it from key focal points, especially since it's the only one. It looks placed, while the rest looks completely natural.

Perhaps you could dislodge the right side of the flat piece, and wedge the top rock between the flat rock and the large right-most rock. You will lose a big cave, but then again you don't really need big caves for the fish you plan to keep, and they have TONS of other places to be.

That's just my 2 cents.  But all in all I think it looks fantastic!


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

Thank you! There was something that didn't look quite right to me about it but I couldn't place what it was. As soon as I took it apart and redid it it's no longer distracting.

Hoping to clean my sand and fill the tank with water today.


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

Today I got all the sand rinsed off, the tank filled and both my canisters up and running. It took a while with my Marineland cause I had accidentally hooked the houses back up backwards (the intake house on out-take port). After some serious cursing at the folks at Marineland (for which I apologized) I realized that it was my error.....oooops.

I did a fishless cycle in a rubbermaid with just the Marineland prior to setup. So I dosed some ammonia and I'll see what my readings are over the next couple of days. I don't want to rush things at this point and want to make sure that I won't go through a mini-cycle after moving things around.

The tank isn't as cloudy as I thought it would be and I'm sure it will clear up in the next day or 2. I still have plants to add (don't worry Errol there will be some green in there) but I wanted to get a photo up. It's looking pretty much exactly as I had wanted it to when I was planning it so I'm pretty happy about that. I may add a few more rocks to the right side down the road and I want to hide the heater on the right better (it got pulled out of place when I was connecting other things).


----------



## pelphrey (Apr 9, 2014)

Looking great! Love 90 gallon tanks. I know it is late, but a tip on painting the background. Use plasti dip. You can easily use 1 can and it peels right off and looks great! Can't wait to see this tank progress. Keep it up!


----------



## stalefish83 (May 22, 2014)

Looks a lot more natural, I'm really diggin it! It'll look great with some plants too. Looking forward to following this for sure!


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

So I've planted it now. It's not cloudy anymore, that cleared up within 12hrs or so. Looks like my fishless cycles is just about complete. The filter seems to be eating through ammonia and nitrites within 24hrs after a slight hiccup when I moved everything around. I dosed the tank with the rift lake buffer recipe in the library and I'm sitting at ph of 8, kH of about 60 and gH of about 180ppm. I dosed ammonia again this morning to about 1.5ppm and I'll see what the numbers look like tomorrow morning. Think I'm just about ready for fish! Can't wait.


----------



## stalefish83 (May 22, 2014)

I'm not real familiar with the plants used, are they going to be OK without being rooted in the substrate? You might also consider clumping the plants a little more so their not quite so sporadically placed, and maybe move that big one so it's not dead-center. Coming along great tho! Can't wait to see it stocked


----------



## stalefish83 (May 22, 2014)

... Maybe move the big one to the left next to the other one, but behind the rock to give it a little dimension. Then clump the four left-most plants together, maybe leaving one a little separated from the main clump, but still close.

I hope I'm not being annoying with my suggestions. They are just suggestions and ultimately you should do what you think looks good. :thumb:


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

Thanks for the ideas. I'm always playing around with my tank so I'll try your suggestions and see see how it looks. The plants are java fern and Anubis so they can't be buried in the substrate and most cichlids won't eat them either. I used to keep high tech planted tanks so plants are the one thing I know what I'm doing with in this new adventure..hahaa.


----------



## stalefish83 (May 22, 2014)

Ok... here I go again (tell me if you want me to shut up) looking at it more I do like most of what you have going on to the left. I would still move the large center plant, but I also think you should move the top-left plant. It kind of makes your stack of rocks look like a kid with a funny cow-lick 

I think the randomness of the smaller plants in your large pile look great, but you want your other larger plants to add to the flow and dimension of your hardscape, not detract from it (it detracts if the plants stand out too much). They should complement each other, not compete for your eyes attention. Stand back and look at the overall shape, and where your eye naturally wants to look, then enhance those features.

EDIT: I should've recognized those plants  . Good choice!


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

Hahah ya definitely see what you mean about the large centre one. Think I'll slide it down with the anubias. Plus it will help hide the heater whichis now horizontal and partially hidden by the rocks. And the cowlick definitely has to go. Now that you've mentioned that it's all I see when I look there.


----------



## stalefish83 (May 22, 2014)

That big piece is a perfect heater hider. good call on that one! Oh man... now the cow-lick plant looks like the back of a ninja turtle mask... which is bad-ass!


----------



## stalefish83 (May 22, 2014)

Oops, can I say that here?


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

So after a quick trip to Montreal (about 2hrs from where I live)I got my first fish for the tank yesterday.

I picked up 5 pseudotropheus sp acei itunji and 5 pseudotropheus sp elongatus chewere. Amongst the chewere were 2 nice young males and 3 females. The itunji can't be sexed.

I brought them home and drip acclimated them for 2hrs before adding them to the tank. They were pretty pale as to be expected but seemed fine. I went out for a couple of hours as my sons had karate. When we got back 2hrs later we went straight downstairs to check out the fish. I can't believe how quickly these guys coloured back up. The one male chewere was even more colourful than he had been in the store. He had also already claimed the small rock pile on the right as his and was chasing everyone away.

I fed them and they also lived up to their reputation as huge pigs as anything I dropped in the tank was devoured in about 3 seconds...haha.

The photos aren't great, I just quickly snapped a few with my phone.

I"m supposed to be meeting someone today who is shutting down his cichlid tank to get some pseudotropheus saulosi.

The fish being drip acclimated










Elongatus chewere dominant male










Acei Itunji


----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Nice looking fish. That female 'acei' looks like it's holding...

I'd grab a few more female 'elongatus' if you get the chance.


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

So I managed to get 18 Pseudotropheus Saulosi today for peanuts from someone looking to change up his tank stock. It's a mix of full grown adults to 1.5 inch juvies. They were drip acclimated for about an hour and seem to have settled in nicely. There is one dominant male who was his breeder that has absolutely amazing colour.

Here's some shots of things so far. I'll have to try the overall tank shot at night when there's less ambient light so I don't appear as a reflection.....haha










Dominant Saulosi male










Saulosi male










Acei Itunji and female Saulosi


----------



## clhinds78 (Jul 27, 2012)

Nice looking fish! What are all the species you have in that tank now?


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

Right now I have pseudotropheus saulosi, pseudotropheus acei itunji and elongatus chewere. I'm hoping to pick up some jalo reefs to finish off my stocking.


----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

I'd caution Jalo with Saulosi. Very similar looking. Could be asking for trouble.

Your tanks looks very cool. Nice job!


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

Really? I would have thought with the completely different coloration it would be ok?


----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Are you referring to Cynotilapia zebroides Jalo Reef?


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

Yup that's the one. I had read quite a few instances of people keeping them with saulosi.


----------



## Jeff1192 (Aug 19, 2014)

So I added the final stock to my tank in the form of a group of 7 juvenile cyno zebroides jalo reef. I'm pretty sure that I've got 1 male and 6 females but time will tell for sure.

I absolutely love my tank and wonder now why I never did an African tank before. These fish have so much more personality than any othee fish I have kept before. And man are they pigs.

I also found a hitch hiker that came with the large group of saulosi that I picked up. Pretty sure he's an electric blue hap. He's pretty young and not showong any colour yet. I know mounts and haps aren't a great mix but I'll keep him for now and watch how he's doing. So far hes right in there with everyone else at feeding time and holding his own.

Jeff


----------

