Progess, Not Perfection (and Pics)

[KhaosInc]

after getting a bit of (well deserved) harassment when posting my last pics, I spent the evening on a major vaccuming and scrubbing of the tank. I do my water changes, and clean one filter a week, but I do get lazy when it comes to scrubbing algea off the front of the tank. Compounded with some pretty nasty scratches over the last 10 years and occational direct sunlight this time of year... the tank can look pretty bad in short order..

Anyway, I have my latest 3 rock 'structures' in, and the front on the tank is clean enough that I can take pics.

Be nice, I could use the encouragement. theres another 100 pounds of rock on order, and I intend to add more bogwood for the plecos as I get enough rock to counteract the PH effect. Just the one 'stump' in the corner for now.

tank is a little cloudy as I've been cleaning/rearranging....

Current occupants

4 yellow labs. (Labidochromis caeruleus)

4 kenyi (Pseudotropheus lombardoi)

4 auratus (Melanochromis auratus)

4 acei. (Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei" )

3 peacock cichlids (I know.. a little tame for this tank, but it was here or the river)

4 red zebra cichlids

4 albino red zebra cichlids

2 'highfin plecos

2 albino chocolate plecos.

2 syno catfish... so far unidentified... and hide to well for a pic.

and one black shark... currently about 14"... LFS won't take him.. and everyone seems happy for now.

Lighting is 400w of basic florecent lighting... looking in to upgrading this soon..

filtration is

2 fluval 404's and one fluval FX5

Heating is 5 misc heaters... approx 750 watts. mostly as I have no where else to put them and its nice backup. tank temp 78 degrees.

PH is sitting about 8.0..

oh yea.. tank is a 300 US gallon

and the pics.

 

[KhaosInc]

as the cichlids grow in to the tank, I intend to add several more of the 'rock towers' and some more bogwood (already have that from a previous tank). More territorys. for them to defend and/or hide in depending on thier mood. and more grazing areas for potential fry. theres alot of 'flirtatios' behavior going on already

 

[chishnfips]

I like the tuffa rock piles I would connect them all up, and not a fan of black gravel, sand or coral sand looks much nicer. But otherwise . I love the black shark

 

[mark7616]

Why do you have 4 heaters next to each other??? and whats with the filter pipes?

 

[Kuhni]

Nice tank and fish. But 400W of basic lighting?? Sounds advanced to me?? you must of meant 40 w

 

[paul_219]

Nice cichild tank. Looks gr8 and beautiful.

 

[kewskills]

looks cool to me

 

[KhaosInc]

I assume it would be 400W of lighting... 10 40w bulbs. the joys of a 8' long tank I guess. As for the heaters, My house has funny voltage, and I have a habit of killing them (surge suppressors not withstanding) and so I have 3 at the temp I want the tank at, and a couple more as back up at a slightly lower setting. While I have 2 thermoniters on the tank, I know Im more likley to notice a light go on on a heater that shouldn't. Mostly though, its because when I scaled down I had extras, and I figured they were safer in the tank, than in a box somewhere. Plus, call it a personal preference, but with the bonus of a larger tank, running several smaller heaters rather than one big one, while not as attractive can make a heater malfuntion much more survivable for my fish. All of them are located right near outlets for the filter, so the water is diffused well.

As for all the filter pipes, theres 3 big filters on the tank.. and I've just done a poor job of hiding them.

There will be more rock in there, but I like it glued down to prevent 'accidents' and I have to be able to lift them in to the tank... at 2' tall.. those things get heavy and its a little awkward standing on the back of the couch... (the tank is almost as tall as I am... )

Thank you all for taking notice.... Im pretty pleased with my progress so far, and more importantly, despite little planning and being poorly prepared (the fish were given to me with no notice) I haven't lost any, or had any issues so far.... knock on wood.

Lots of flirtatious behavior though... so with any luck, there will be some additions to the tank soon...

 

[chishnfips]

I am not picking holes, I hate it when folk do that lol, but how come there is so much algae built up? Does that happen to all cichlid tanks? Only I have a cichlid tank not long setup and am thinking of ways to cut it down. I heard moss balls help to reduce algae?


cheers

 

[PRW1988]

looks nice, but why no plants at all??

 

[wendywc]

Nice fish list. I'm not a fan of tuffa rocks, but I like the setup on the left. Looks clean to me.

Only I have a cichlid tank not long setup and am thinking of ways to cut it down. I heard moss balls help to reduce algae?

I think this is true. When I added low light plants to my tanks and got rid of the fake plants, the algae dropped significantly. I do clean a little more often than I used too, though.