Advice on my 5ft setup

Hi all,

Since I've bought my big tank, I've had mixed emotions about where it's at at the moment.

It boils down to the fact that I didn't take my time shopping around and doing some research and bought a batch of mixed Lake Malawi Cichlids, which are doing fine and growing nicely, but I don't get "excited" when I look at my tank due to having a whole bunch of "common" species.

I also initially thought that my water's pH is too high, yet after buffering with coral through the sump, it sits at around 7.9, so under normal conditions it would be perfect for "normal" tropical fish, as the pH drops a huge amount in the tank setup compared to straight out the tap.

So either way, my tank is up for a major overhaul, the main decision I have to make is whether I want to keep Lake Malawi Cichlids or break down my entire tank and start afresh with a "normal" tropical setup with lots of plants, rocks and driftwood.

If I do keep my malawi setup, I will be getting rid of the more common species and start getting some more scarce fish in, as well as rescaping my tank and planting some plants, adding one or 2 more T5 lights, etc, etc.

If I go the route of completely breaking down my tank and removing all the substrate rocks fish, etc, etc, etc and start from scratch, I'll be leaning towards something similar like Zoom's 4ft.. black substrate, nice unique driftwood rocks and LOTS of plants.

The main concern is plant growth.. how much is a CO2 system going to set me back, I all ready have one nice big 1.2m T5 (rating I'm not sure of), but I'll add another 1 or 2 T5 tubes then.

Anyhow, I have to cut this long story short as I have to go to a meeting quickly, but your input so long would be appreciated and I'll come back a bit later and add what I forgot to add and read your comments as well.

Cheers.

 

sounds nice, rememeber big tank means big everything. filter im sure you good there esp with malawis. if you go planted and you want heavily plants with a bit of exotic plants and carpet plants then C02 will be a great addition, but you can go with low light plants etc that dont need the C02, and then you just need to add some ferts etc. again if you want carpet plants etc you will need strong lighting, you say you have one T5 light (1.2 meters is 54 watts), you will need atleast 4 for your tank. planted tanks do look stunning but they need alot of work too. so ultimately its personal choice, plants or fish whats your fancy. if you want a planted tank, you must think planted tank with fish added and not a fish tank with some nice plants .

 

@ Linga >> Thanks for the reply.. I won't go Planted tank.. more a tank with Fish and nice plants, rocks and wood..

I actually think best scenario for me I is to just make my Malawi setup as nice as possible.. I'll sell or swap some of the more common fish I have and buy some rare/more exotic species, completely rescape the rocks, add plants and some more lights. Cost wise it makes more sense as well.

I'll see if I can buy some nice plants this weekend, and I need to go get some more rocks from Nadeem as well!!

Know Malawi setups aren't the favourite on this forum, but damn.. I'll try my best and make mine as nice as possible!!

 

whats keeping you from using unique driftwood and a nice rock feature?? Go online and do a search on other ppls tanks! Soon enough u will understand what u want, and how u want to do it!

As for a planted tank with suitable fish for the plants, every 1 needs one of these!

get a high tech 2ft-blast it with high light, co2 (im sellin entire set for R1200), good ferts, good substrate(can even be normal fine gravel), and a normal tank!

Good thing is, u can hook up the co2 to another nanno at the same time too u save another 1200

MTS?? Haha..

 

@ shihr>Thanks buddy.. I'll definitely be doing a nice planted tank some time.. maybe not in my big tank, but a nano or something for sure. I'm just a bit pressed for space at the moment, but some day!!

I'm going to start with the tank tomorrow though, rescaping and so on.

Also at the mods.. Sorry I posted this in the wrong section, only noticed now, was damn busy at the time I posted it.

 

I updated my tank thread:

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?6304-My-Upgrade-Tank-build-(420L)/page4