Yayyyhh for meeee *1.2m tank sliding top*

Ahah - how long do you leave them in the tank for?

 

About 24 hours. By then there is very little left over.

 

Sooooooooo!!! FINALY!!!!!!!

no more empty tank (took me long enough)

Its a 1.2m tank running on a fluva 304 and a jager heater

here is some pics from start to end.

This is what the tank looked liked after it had a good scrub outside. There was some jukkie black tape as a border under the glass panes around the tank. I scraped it all off painstakingly.
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/6321/dsc00029y.jpg

I resprayed the glass panes and stuck them back with silicone.
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/586/dsc00031l.jpg

Here comes the substrate and decor.
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9062/dsc00039k.jpg

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9852/dsc00043jyb.jpg

Here comes the water
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/7596/dsc00048b.jpg

Here comes the lights
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3028/dsc00083j.jpg

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1958/dsc00053bth.jpg

Bubbles bubbles bubbles .....


No fishes yet ... they will go in at the end of the month

 

Very nice fox.

 

I saw some albino cory's while we where on our Cape Town outing .... Would they be OK in my tank with some Malawis?

I kinda like the look of them better than a Pleco. Cory's is bottom feeders?

 

looking very nice!

Pleco or Cory..

Yes, cory's are bottom feeders and you'll need to provide for their feeding requirments.

Plecos, depending on species grow large and mess up your aquascape as well as greatly contribute to the poop in the tank which puts pressure on your filtration...

So first ask yourself why you want either of these fishies and if they will fit in with the plans for this tank...

PS: what are you using for a stand there?

 

Hi Dolphin

It the good old pool filter sand ... I have not planned to put in any plants

Henk said Malawi + Plants = Food

 

Foxy- That tank really looks stunning! I like the driftwood you using. Very 'sexy'.

That tank would look absolutely stunning fully planted... but you are right.... Malawai + plants = very fat Malawi + no plant.

 

Malawis = high PH - Rift Lakes

Cories/plecos = low PH - Amazon

 

lol ... thank you hank .. it seems you are my barer of bad news

 

not really - its just VERY VERY VERY basic research.....

 

Foxy Smurf, PLEASE can you resize your pics a bit smaller and compress them a bit. Those pics are 1.7MB *each*, ie. not even 4mb capped ADSL friendly nevermind 56k.

 

To reduce size of your pics, use Microsoft Picture Manager. It's very easy to do

Cheers
Dale

 

Foxy there is also a freeware graphics program you can download called IrfanView.
Bloody amazing program and you can resize just by clicking a button.

 

can admin then please remove pics if they are a problem. (sorry)

@ Henk ... I asked because I was not sure. I did do some reading up but got to many different versions. I am a novice in fish keeping and sure I will be asking many more questions, there is LOTS i still do not understand or know. Feels like you are nipping at me for not knowing I still have to learn what you know ... Its not obvisouse to me.

Rather provide me with a link with accurate information to improve my knowlege.



This is what I got of the net .... Letting me think it might just be OK for them in my tank. Other sites I read indicated nearly the same ... they just differt in PH range.


"The Cory Catfish is a very hardy fish, and can tolerate many water conditions. However, they prefer water temperatures between 73 and 81 degrees fahrenheit. The pH of their water should slightly acidic to neutral, with a level ranging from 6.5 to 7.5."

 

malawis live in HARD alkaline (7.5 to 9) water with cories and other South American fish living in SOFT acid water (7 to 3.5)

It is best not to mix fish from various biotopes

oh btw - also dont put "up side down" catfish.... only a few species actually come from the lakes and the rest lives in acid rivers in central and west africa..... b ut the shops seems to think its ok for them to go into the hard alkaline waters in which malawis lives....

How are you planning on keeping your PH up and your Alk up? Remember tanins in wood drops the PH.....

 

Hi

I've converted the pics to links so people can still view them if they want.

 

The only plants that may survive an mbuna tank are plants that don't need to be planted. Try attaching some anubias and java fern to the rocks for them

 

@ Henk ... Thank you very much .. that is a much better explanation as from what I could pull off the net to understand. As for the PH my tank at work have only moopani wood and pool sand, they have been doing fine in PH of 7.3. I will make sure to keep an good eye on my tank at home so make sure it stays around the same.

@ Rowland .. Thank you for the tip I did read that the taste of Java Fern is undesirable. I might give it a go at some point.

 

yes it will be fine with an empty tank. the moment you add fish and food it will drop due to the rotting process of fish shit and uneaten food... the tanins in the wood WILLLLLLLL drop the ph and soften the water.... wil jy nie hoor nie?!

you need to harden the water and push the PH up to 8.... get it stable at 8ish....

You need to add coral or shell or something in that line to buffer the water.... The water in the western cape is EXTREMELY soft and can drop to as low as a ph of 4.... that is why we can breed discus and other south american SOFTWATER fish in our tap water....