The start of my new 55

[pls1210]

My light finally arrived today, along with my filter and glass canopy. A little upset that my glass canopy was not properly packaged and is shattered into a million pieces.

55 gallon Mbuna tank
1. Marineland penguin 350 power filter
2. Current usa satellite freshwater plus light
3. African Cichlid Substrates Rift Lake Sand for Aquarium and 5lbs of dark purple gravel to add a little of my own personal touch.
4. 20lbs of rock to build caves, a few pieces of Texas holey rock and lava rock.
5. Heater?!?!? Not sure what brand yet last one I had malfunctioned and fried several fish so I am kinda picky.
6. Sunsun wave maker.

 

[Rivers2k]

congrats on the new tank very exciting. I just have 2 things. I try not to put tanks next to non shaded windows as it promotes algea growth. Also water evaporates from tanks. I don't know but it might affect your deer head. I don't hang anything that can rust above a tank because it will. I know deer head wont rust but might capture moisture and cause it to rot.

 

[pls1210]

The glass door does have a curtain but I have a toddler so I have to keep the curtain up so she doesn't pull on it. I could switch it with my 30 then it wouldn't be by a window. I hadn't even considered that or the deer head. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Rivers2k]

Your 30 would have the same problem. If that is where you want the tank its fine just wanted to make sure it was something you thought about if you had another place in mind. Algea can be kept under control by keeping up on weekly water changes as to not let the waste build up to much.

I understand needing to kid proof I have 3 kids 5yo and under. My youngest had his crib next to my tank in my bedroom when he was younger now he is 18 months. Every night he helps me feed my fish. He loves fish if he is ever being to quiet we look by the fish tank and there he is.

what stock are you putting in there?

 

[RadMax8]

I have two Eheim Jäger heaters and I think they're the greatest. You can calibrate them so your temp is exact.

Pro tip: on larger aquariums, you can use two smaller heaters rather than one large heater. This way if one fails on, it won't increase the temperature enough to kill your fish.


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[pls1210]

Your 30 would have the same problem. If that is where you want the tank its fine just wanted to make sure it was something you thought about if you had another place in mind. Algea can be kept under control by keeping up on weekly water changes as to not let the waste build up to much.

I understand needing to kid proof I have 3 kids 5yo and under. My youngest had his crib next to my tank in my bedroom when he was younger now he is 18 months. Every night he helps me feed my fish. He loves fish if he is ever being to quiet we look by the fish tank and there he is.

what stock are you putting in there?

I'm not so worried about the 30 it's going to be empty for a while. My stock I'm just going to do a mix of mbuna that I decide I like. I know 100% a yellow lab will be in there, a Pseudotropheus socolofi, an albino socolofi, an ob zebra cichlid and possibly two jewels.

 

[pls1210]

I have two Eheim Jäger heaters and I think they're the greatest. You can calibrate them so your temp is exact.

Pro tip: on larger aquariums, you can use two smaller heaters rather than one large heater. This way if one fails on, it won't increase the temperature enough to kill your fish.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Thanks for the info on the heaters I'm going to look them up on Amazon. After my last accident with a heater I get freaked out if I have to get a new one. Lol how many watts are your heaters?

 

[RadMax8]

I've got a 10 gal which uses 50 W and a 29 gal with a 100 W

Edit: I plan to set up a 75 gal next year and use 2 150 W heaters to protect the tank.

 

[Mebbid]

Theres 2 ways to stock mbunas. 1 male each of a different type or a few schools with just 1 male and the rest females. I would try to stay away from both the albino and regular socolofi and try to stick to just one. Overall about 15 mbuna is a good number for this tank as long as you have a butt load of rocks to make caves.

As to the jewel cichlids, I would recommend against it. They are lightweights compared to the more aggressive mbuna and will get chewed to bits. I had a 3 year old super aggressive jewel cichlid that I tried to introduce to a mbuna tank full of fish that were much smaller than him. They weren't even to breeding age yet. Within 2 days they managed to peck him almost to death. By the second day when I got home and saw the damage he was blind in one eye, his fins were shredded, and there was a lot of damage along his body.

 

[pls1210]

1 male each of a different type is what my plans are!

 

[Mebbid]

1 male each of a different type is what my plans are!

Alright, guess I just got confused by what you were typing.

But just to make sure we are on the same page... Any females you add in there will get beaten to death unless you do an entire school of females of that type. They are harem breeders and the females need to be in a group or get picked to death by the males. This could be anywhere from 4 females for the yellow labs to 15 females for something like a demasoni.

 

[pls1210]

Alright, guess I just got confused by what you were typing.



But just to make sure we are on the same page... Any females you add in there will get beaten to death unless you do an entire school of females of that type. They are harem breeders and the females need to be in a group or get picked to death by the males. This could be anywhere from 4 females for the yellow labs to 15 females for something like a demasoni.

Okay, thanks very much for the info.

 

[pls1210]

After a lot of work it's finally close to finished. It's still a little cloudy from the substrate, which was disgustingly filthy.

 

[Brookster123]

Looking promising man!

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[pls1210]

Looking promising man!

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Thank you.

 

[pls1210]

 

[Brookster123]

Oh no, it seems a clown snuck in over night and puked right in your tank

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[pls1210]

Lol that is kinda what it looks like!

 

[pls1210]

Loving my new tank! Still trying to find the perfect background.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Beautiful tank very nicely done ? I want to try cichlids one day.


Caleb

Might have a slight obsession with my fish