Benjamin's 55g Malawi Cichlid Build

[mrbee2828]

Fits great and I still have room for a removable shelf.

[Mogurako]

I have to say I really like the fact you can disconnect the hoses then pull it on that shelf to do maintenance.

[mrbee2828]

I won't even have to disconnect everything. I can just close the valve and shut off the pump and pull. The overflow will come down to a 90° elbow and have a spray bar right in the rear hole.

[Mogurako]

Originally Posted by mrbee2828

I won't even have to disconnect everything. I can just close the valve and shut off the pump and pull. The overflow will come down to a 90° elbow and have a spray bar right in the rear hole.

Very cool bit of engineering!

[mrbee2828]

No real updates this weekend. I went camping/wheeling in western Virginia all weekend. I snagged a bunch of rocks from the mountains and was going to see if I could use some in the tank.

[mrbee2828]

ok... back to it this week with an update on the plumbing. Everything is glued, painted and now installed. I'm working on the drip tray and media trays today. Hopefully the background install as well. The goal is water this weekend!!!!!!

[Mogurako]

Looking good sir!

[mrbee2828]

I just got the bottom 1/2 o the background in. You can't see that 5/8" inlet at all unless you are on the floor looking up. Note the gap at the bottom. The background was a bit short for the tank but the price was right. I'm doing almost an 1/2" of Fluorite, and another 1"-2" of pool sand and Aragonite. Then from front to back it will get a bit thicker to simulate some dept as well as have the rocks piled up. I'm filling up most of the back portion with 2" of the older gravel I have.

I'm also soaking the rocks I grabbed so I can start scrubbing them good. The look really red right now. The lighting in the house and outside was totally different and the rocks have some redish clay/mud on them from the soil up there.

[mrbee2828]

Here is the powerhead setup behind the wall. It's pulling water from the bottom of the front and shooting it down in the back to help make some circulation. I hooked up the overflow's air tubing to the powerhead input to pull contently in the case air bubbles form.

[mrbee2828]

The background is all done. You can't tell at all from any angle that it's cut. I chopped out a few spots along the top for the overflow and glued scrap pieces from the side trimmings behind them so that you can't really see the water inlets.

[mrbee2828]

The drip tray is taking FOREVER to drill out all the holes. I'm taking my time though so that I don't crack or split the acrylic.

[redsea]

That piece of rock in the back looks great!

[mrbee2828]

I'm getting excited now! 1” of Fluorite for plants in the tank and refugium. 1:2 parts crush coral to pool filter sand. Has a nice light color and mixed texture I think.

[andresdeo]

Looking very good man, following along!

[mrbee2828]

GOT CAVES?????

[Mogurako]

Looks great!

Will a refugium work the same way in a freshwater tank as it would in a salt? I thought the live sand and macro algae is what made it work? Also doesn't the sand go in the middle chamber?

At any rate great looking tank!

[mrbee2828]

The refugium is mostly for salt water yes. You can grow the macro and such to help filter better. However, having this in my case will allow me to grow some other fragile plants which will help filter water more that will otherwise be eaten by the cichlids.

Honestly, I have it more for a true "refuge" from the main tank vs. better/more filtration. Remember it's not a huge tank and I don't have a lot of space. It will allow me to separate any problem fish for a bit or use it for fry in the unlikely / awesome / hopeful event some breed

As for the arrangement, that's not really a set in stone thing. If you really want to use it for filtration then yes, it should probably be in the middle so all the water passes through on it's way back to the tank. I have separate valves to control the flow here as well. Again, it's mostly for fish AND I'm a newbie... we'll see how it works. If it sucks we'll rebuild right?

[mrbee2828]

I'm so amped to get this ready for water that I went ahead and finished drilling the drip tray and cutting the egg crate media trays. They worked out perfect at 6"x10". In the last photo you can see from top to bottom how I will have a mechanical filter, 1 dry bio, 1 wet bio, 1 carbon and on the very bottom probably some more crushed coral. My water is a perfect 7.0 out of the tap so it will be a fight to keep it up with water changes. Also... yeah I made little handles for the top 2 trays. Super easy.. I just used some scrap trimmings, rounded the corners with sand paper and then used weld-on. Only took a few minutes and now I can get it all out easy.

[Mogurako]

Ah that makes more sense, I can wait to see it filled up!!

[mrbee2828]

I just busted one of the corner mounts for the trays. i guess I didn't use enough silicon. Looks like another 24hrs before water is going in