130 Gallon switch to sand

[cj5jeep80]

Hey, I could use a little advice. I currently have a 130 g tank, gravel bottom, that has been operating now for well over a year, housing 5 angelfish. I have since then lost 3 of the five to aggresive disputes. I now have one angel alone in a 40 gallon spare tank, and I have this huge male leopard angel alone in my 130 g. I now would like to turn convert this tank into a rocky, sandy malawi cichlid tank. Now I have a few questions.
I need to know if I should remove this big male, then remove all of my gravel, clean and then put my sand and rocks in, all the while trying to preserve the state of my filter, or should I be best to trash everything and start from scratch?

I currently have one enheim 2217, and plan to buy another. Would this be adiquate? Or any suggestions?

Also wondering about stocking this tank when the time comes. I wonder how many fish to introduce at first, and an idea of how many I should have in total?

I would like to know what sand to use? On a bit of a buget, but I was hoping to use Silica sand or play sand. Any advice would be gr8
Thx a bunch Rick

 

[Freshnoob1]

Saltwater and freshwater have different bacterium. Clean everything out. Things will for sure be easier in the long run.

 

[cj5jeep80]

No salt water here

 

[Freshnoob1]

Oh whoops as soon as i saw angelfish i thought saltwater. Yes id keep the filter running and dirty as possible to keep the bacteria fed

 

[Fishguy2727]

The tank is staying freshwater, so I am not sure what that has to with anything.

It will be easier to clean it out. I only use and recommend Estes Marine Sand (also called Ultra Reef and Stoney River). It is very uniform, clean, and actually gives you color options. I usually use black and white mixed together, but solid black looks great too.

You can add 3-5 small cichlids at first, then give the tank a couple weeks to make sure it doesn't go through a real cycle. With a tank so large you can do what I call a silent cycle, where because of the large volume and small bioload you may never get detectable ammonia or nitrite even though the tank does cycle.

If you can keep up with the water changes to keep the nitrate under 20ppm before water changes I would aim for about 25 mbunas, so start with about 35 because you will inevitably have to take some out because they are too aggressive or get picked on.

I suggest you check out peacock cichlids (Aulonocara spp.). They also come from Lake Malawi but are not nearly as aggressive, they are actually manageable. They are also even more colorful.

 

[cj5jeep80]

Ah great news How long can the tank run with no fish, and also can this big male angel live in a malawi cichlid tank, or should I try him in my 40 gallon with the other angel survivor thx for the quick response!

 

[cj5jeep80]

Great help thanx. So you suggest cleaning and starting from scrath. this means running the tank for a couple of weeks to cycle it before adding any fish and why do you think mbuna are best? thx

 

[cj5jeep80]

Sorry Fishguy I didn't read your post properly . Can you please tell me more about this silent cycle and how I should be going about this? Introducing fish and so on. Thx

 

[Fishguy2727]

There isn't anything to it, the tank is so large that you can add a few small cichlids (I suggest peacocks) to the uncycled tank. The tank is so large that it dilutes their waste so that you may never get any detectable ammonia or nitrite, a 'silent' cycle. You should still double check it to make sure it goes the way it should. Add the first three, let them settle in. Test the water every day for a couple weeks and as long as it goes the way it should you should not have to do anything major for those two weeks, just start your normal water change schedule. If two weeks or more go by with no detectable ammonia or nitrite then you can go ahead and start stocking, adding three or so fish at a time. Adding jut one or two cichlids at a time can cause aggression problems since it allow the other cichlids to easily focus on the one or two new guys.

 

[NyteGTI]

Don't forget to turn the lights out when adding the fish.

Also you said you wanted a big rocky tank? you might want to look at Mbuna's instead. they're more aggressive but if you give them enough caves & rock structures you should be fine in a tank that size.

 

[Fishguy2727]

Peacocks prefer rockwork too, you just don't have to fill the whole tank with rocks to keep them happy.

 

[cj5jeep80]

Hey people thx for all this advice. Fantastic!
mbunas it is! I'm just a little concerned about my water. It's crysal clear at the moment but as soon as I remove all of this gravel, its gonna be pretty ugly looking. Should I try to salvage 50% of this water while changing to sand? Refill the balance with conditioned water?
Or get rid of the water all together?

My filter set up? eheim 2217 enough? not enough? Do I need another, or should I be buying another type?

Another question I have is concerning my test kit. I have the deluxe hagen box which was given to me when I bought the tank.
Plenty of chemicals left I have only needed to replace a nitrate bottle.
I wonder if there is a shelf life to these chemicals? Should I be replacing the entire kit? I have had the kit now for well over a year and no idea how old it was before that. I would hate to have to throw away this great test kit!
thx again for all your help people, I can't wait too get this started.

 

[cj5jeep80]

Peacocks and mbunas?

 

[Fishguy2727]

Just go with the peacocks, they are more colorful and a lot easier to manage.

Start the tank over, no need to worry about holding on to some dirty water or filter media.

Here are some of the peacocks I had:

 

[cj5jeep80]

Just gorgeous! Is that tank strickly peacocks, or a mixture? Males and females? That's another thing. What should I be doing? 1 male 4 females , all male? You'll have to excuse me, I find these cichlids to be rather confusing as far as all the different species go. What to keep with what? I absolutly love the looks of those peacocks, are mbunas good tank mate or not? thx again

 

[Fishguy2727]

I wouldn't mix them. Some people do, but the mbunas are so aggressive that the peacocks just can't settle in properly with the mbunas around. They are from the same lake, but the peacocks are from a lot deeper down and don't interact with the mbunas. The only tank I have seen it done in where the peacocks actually did seem to settle in well was a 220 display at the shop I was running, they actually had the room.

I would do all males. The ones we get from the wholesaler are treated with hormones once so you know what they will look like when they mature, otherwise they are just a bland gray (which the females keep in maturity).

 

[NyteGTI]

Peacocks prefer rockwork too, you just don't have to fill the whole tank with rocks to keep them happy.

yep, which is why I said Mbunas because he wanted a rocky tank. but yea peacocks are gorgeous! some Mbuna can get to these bright colors, but most don't & it's tough to find any in reds

 

[cj5jeep80]

My filter set up? eheim 2217 enough? not enough? Do I need another, or should I be buying another type?

Another question I have is concerning my test kit. I have the deluxe hagen box which was given to me when I bought the tank.
Plenty of chemicals left I have only needed to replace a nitrate bottle.
I wonder if there is a shelf life to these chemicals? Should I be replacing the entire kit? I have had the kit now for well over a year and no idea how old it was before that. I would hate to have to throw away this great test kit!

Yep I love the peacocks! I was planning a tank with lots of rocks piled on top of each other straight across the tank. Probably great for mbunas but should I create a different scene for Peacocks? Less rocks maybe? thx

 

[Fishguy2727]

For peacocks I would do something like three big rick piles, one at each end and one in the middle. Each stack can go all the way to the top.

I would just run a Fluval FX5.

Test kits should be replaced about annually, unless the kit has an expiration date listed.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Do you HAVE to put sand? Couldnt you just leave the gravel and not worry about any spikes and what not?