Vision 180 - New Set-up Planned - Advice Please! Photos Added!

[Go_fish]

I am currently running a community tank in a Juwel Vision 180 (litres). No internal filter, but running 2 external Eheims (2213 and 2217) one bio and one chemical. Stock list includes zebras, clown loaches, red tail sharks, 1 firemouth cichlid and a few tetras. Live plants, bog wood and lime-free gravel.

Am planning on 're-building' the tank in the coming few weeks, and would like to keep cichlids. Am planning on sticking with the gravel as I have been told that sand is more difficult to clean, requires raking every other day to prevent it becoming very solid, and can by sucked up by the filters. Am planning on using quite a lot of Ocean Rock (I have been told I need 2 boxes to build a wall at the back at £48 per box), and keeping the current filters running for the time being. I have not compiled a stock list yet - the current fish will remain in the tank until I set up a 2nd system.

So, would you be able to advise me re the following:

1. pros and cons of sand, and other options

2. Is Ocean Rock ok to use? Should I use anything else as well?

Any help and advice would be great

Thanks in advance

 

[Druchii]

I am currently running a community tank in a Juwel Vision 180 (litres). No internal filter, but running 2 external Eheims (2213 and 2217) one bio and one chemical. Stock list includes zebras, clown loaches, red tail sharks, 1 firemouth cichlid and a few tetras. Live plants, bog wood and lime-free gravel.

Am planning on 're-building' the tank in the coming few weeks, and would like to keep cichlids. Am planning on sticking with the gravel as I have been told that sand is more difficult to clean, requires raking every other day to prevent it becoming very solid, and can by sucked up by the filters. Am planning on using quite a lot of Ocean Rock (I have been told I need 2 boxes to build a wall at the back at £48 per box), and keeping the current filters running for the time being. I have not compiled a stock list yet - the current fish will remain in the tank until I set up a 2nd system.

So, would you be able to advise me re the following:

1. pros and cons of sand, and other options

2. Is Ocean Rock ok to use? Should I use anything else as well?

Any help and advice would be great

Thanks in advance

hello Go Fish.

My first malawi tank was a Vision 180 but i always planned for it to be a growinmg tank that i would eventually replace with a larger one as it's down side is it's only 3 foot long....

..that siad you do have plenty of options..

i started out with coral gravel , but found that sand was much better, the cichlids 'sift' it and it cuases less irritation than gravel, also imho it looks way nicer too.

Sand only gets sucked up if you have it too close to the bed floor, i have mine 4" off the deck and i hardly get any sucked up so to speak

Ocean rock is good for malawis as well as it allows you to create several terratories and nooks and crannies that the fish can find safety in, they are also more 'safly' stackable at height over other types like river cobbles, but each person to their own..

I got Ocean tank from my tank for £15 per 35KG - i have 3 bags in my Vision 260, but two would be good for you. if you are in UK they deliver for extra £15, so its £60 for what you need rather than the £90 that you speak of above


Any ideas woht type of malawi you would want to stock it with at this stage??

 

[Cheffi]

I am currently running a community tank in a Juwel Vision 180 (litres). No internal filter, but running 2 external Eheims (2213 and 2217) one bio and one chemical. Stock list includes zebras, clown loaches, red tail sharks, 1 firemouth cichlid and a few tetras. Live plants, bog wood and lime-free gravel.

Am planning on 're-building' the tank in the coming few weeks, and would like to keep cichlids. Am planning on sticking with the gravel as I have been told that sand is more difficult to clean, requires raking every other day to prevent it becoming very solid, and can by sucked up by the filters. Am planning on using quite a lot of Ocean Rock (I have been told I need 2 boxes to build a wall at the back at £48 per box), and keeping the current filters running for the time being. I have not compiled a stock list yet - the current fish will remain in the tank until I set up a 2nd system.

So, would you be able to advise me re the following:

1. pros and cons of sand, and other options
I find sand much easier to keep clean as all the crud sits on the top, whereas with gravel it gets down between and settles underneath. I use crushed coral sand which helps to buffer the ph, looks nice imho and my fish love to sift thru it. I used the fine stuff first which does go up the syphon quite easily whereas cc sand is heavier and you lose less.

2. Is Ocean Rock ok to use? Should I use anything else as well?
I use ocean rock once again it helps buffer the ph, is easy to stack, is available online such as ebay reasonably priced.. Offers good hiding places for newly hatched fry to survive. You could use lava rock, slate but imho large cobbles look the most natural like this: nicks tank

Any help and advice would be great

Thanks in advance

 

[SugarQube]

I am a real newbie after reading lots of posts on sand this is what I went for. It is so easy to keep clean I vac with no problem and as Cheffi says you can see any bits easily to clean up and just sift your hands through once or twice a week. If I can take care of the sand honestly anyone can

 

[Cheffi]

I am a real newbie after reading lots of posts on sand this is what I went for. It is so easy to keep clean I vac with no problem and as Cheffi says you can see any bits easily to clean up and just sift your hands through once or twice a week. If I can take care of the sand honestly anyone can

You have to be female!!! You know people who say I want a brown carpet cause it hides the dirt? Well I have a cream carpet cause I want to see where the dirt is so I can clean it. Same with sand, well unless you go for that black sand thats available.

 

[Druchii]

I am a real newbie after reading lots of posts on sand this is what I went for. It is so easy to keep clean I vac with no problem and as Cheffi says you can see any bits easily to clean up and just sift your hands through once or twice a week. If I can take care of the sand honestly anyone can

You have to be female!!! You know people who say I want a brown carpet cause it hides the dirt? Well I have a cream carpet cause I want to see where the dirt is so I can clean it. Same with sand, well unless you go for that black sand thats available.

did you guess that or Read the name Lisa in her sig?

Sand is dead easy to clean if you don't wanna put your hand in the water, you can rake it with an algae scraper instead, like i do

 

[Cheffi]

I am a real newbie after reading lots of posts on sand this is what I went for. It is so easy to keep clean I vac with no problem and as Cheffi says you can see any bits easily to clean up and just sift your hands through once or twice a week. If I can take care of the sand honestly anyone can

You have to be female!!! You know people who say I want a brown carpet cause it hides the dirt? Well I have a cream carpet cause I want to see where the dirt is so I can clean it. Same with sand, well unless you go for that black sand thats available.

did you guess that or Read the name Lisa in her sig?

Sand is dead easy to clean if you don't wanna put your hand in the water, you can rake it with an algae scraper instead, like i do

no I didn't see the Lisa bit. I use my algae scraper handle to rake the sand too, then all the crud floats up and zap it's up the python or pipe.

 

[SugarQube]

well what can I say. Is it me or does it seem so many people are changing or starting with sand now. If I never came here before I set my tank up I would have just gone for gravel. My daughter has black gravel which does look nice in her tank although she wants to change to sand now too probably because she has also seen how easy it is to look after

 

[Go_fish]

Many, many thanks for all your replies and advice. Just a few questions ...

Druchii - you mention the 'bed floor' - what is this? And where have you got your Ocean Rock from - online store?

If I go with a sand base, is there any advantage of also putting in some crushed coral?

Can I re-use the ocean rock and the sand for a tropical marine tank in the future, or would I need to start with fresh stuff?

Many thanks ...

 

[jayjay]

I don't rake my sand and have never had problems. If your scared of anaerobic conditions forming, I think they can help, reducing nitrate and I've never seen proven evidence of fish dying from it. If your worrying about it compacting don't get really fine sand.

It's also very easy to clean IMO as you can see the mess.

 

[Druchii]

Many, many thanks for all your replies and advice. Just a few questions ...

Druchii - you mention the 'bed floor' - what is this? And where have you got your Ocean Rock from - online store?

If I go with a sand base, is there any advantage of also putting in some crushed coral?

Can I re-use the ocean rock and the sand for a tropical marine tank in the future, or would I need to start with fresh stuff?

Many thanks ...

The 'bed floor' lol - probably a word/term i just made up

Right basically, make sure that your filter input pipe is 4" away from the sand on the bottom on the tank, that way the sand will generally not get stirred up that far.

No point putting Crushed coral in the sand BUT - put the crushed coral in an old pair of tights - wrapp up well and place in one of your external filters, this will cuase the water in the tank to go past it (at high speed) and it will slowly leech its properties into the tank water and 'buffer' the water to retain it's hardness and high pH properties.

There is no reason why you can not re-use the rock and sand in any future tank, marine or tropical as far as i am aware


Hope ive answred your questions, but back to the fish, which ones are you interested in putting in?

 

[Go_fish]

Hope ive answred your questions, but back to the fish, which ones are you interested in putting in?

Druchii - many thanks for all that info. I can tell you are gong to be a great source of info for me, especially as you are a Vision person yourself

Have to be honest with you and say that I have not yet got a stock list - not even started. I have kept cichlids in community tanks before (rams, apistos and currently a firemouth) and have always loved them. IMO some of the most colouful freshwater tropical fish are in the cichlid family. Having said that, I am bored with the whole planted tank / bog wood theme, so fancy a change.

My absolute ideal would be to go tropical marine, but the tank is bordering on too small for that, and I don't want to see about 3-4 fish only in there. So, will probably wait and at some point buy a bigger tank (likely to be the larger Vision as I love the bow front), and set that up as TM.

So, what options? Well, perhaps I can create a species tank, with a little bit of a marine slant (hence the ocean rock and sand - starting to sound like a good option).

I am after the most colourful fish possible - blues, yellows, reds - so perhaps you could send me some suggestions

My other question for you, is whether I can keep any of current stock - i think the answer would be no, but I just wondered. I have 1 bristlenose (albino) and I think I read somewere that this could stay. How about the clown loaches and the red-tail sharks and the firemouth?

Thanks again!

Oh - FINAL question - where's the best place to buy the Ocean Rock from?

 

[Nick Sw]

Go Fish / Lisa what is your tap water like Ph/GH ?

Like Jay Jay has said just avoid very fine grain sand , playsand is ok to use the B&Q stuff seems to be the best just give it a good rinse in a bucket until it runs clear.

If you`ve been keeping Tetras and SA Cichlids they require Soft water with a lower PH where African Cichlids require a Higher PH and Hard water, if you don`t know your water stats it`s probably a good idea to buy a decent test kit with PH/GH/KH aswell.

 

[Druchii]

Marine look hey?

Well this is my tank setup at the mo if this link works

current vision 260

formerly vision 260

original vision 180

I did have coral gravel in , unytil i found it could be buffered in the filter and also that sand looked a million times better


Lots of people claim that the Ocean rock combination with Malawis is a 'poor mans marine' tank.Thats water off a ducks back to me , i just think it looks brilliant

Where abouts are you based as i get my OCeam rock in a place called Weston Super Mare, they are almost wholesalers, but if interested i can PM you the details

As for stocking options as you only have a 3 foot tank (no offence meant ) then you will have to stick to the smaller species, you say you have two ehiem filters so thats bucket loads of filtration..

i'll have a think about it for you, but probably something along the lines of yellow lab and cynotilapia pulpican and another species (5 of each would look nice in that setup)

Reds are a problem thou, most people have 'red zebras' but thety can be aggressive and they WILL grow too big for a 3 footer..

like i said, i shall have a think about some stocking options and come back with some suggestions...

finally where abouts are you located and what sort of range of shops/suppliers are at hand for you?

Hope this helps,

Dru.

 

[Nick Sw]

Justin at least you`ve got the "River Cobbles" background (pic 3) !