Tank decor questions

cawah · Sep 23, 2003

It's me again! I don't have my tank yet, but I'm still planning! A ton of questions now...

1. Even though I want to watch my fish spit out rocks, I keep reading that they prefer sand and that it's better for them. So... I am wondering if I could mix the two? Like put stand, but in one section, put some small smooth pebbles. Not sure how it would look.

2. Also, are Silver Dollars okay with sand? I will have fake plants for them, but I don't know if they are ok with sand.

3. Will I have a problem with sand being stuck in the filter? I haven't seen many complaints, but one guy said that his sand often got stuck in his filter. I am hoping this is a rare problem and won't happen for me.

4. Digging. Also, I read that cichlids like to burrow - so the rocks my tumble down! I read a solution where you place the rock directly on an egg crate, then pile sind around it. I just want someone to confirm that this is true, and that I won't have problems with fish digging under rocks.

5. Stacking rocks. I want to make caves, which rock is best for this? So far I have seen slate used to make caves. But how big should I make them? As big as their max size, or do their current size and just rearrange the rocks as they grow bigger? If I don't use slate, how do I stack rocks? Pretty dumb question... but I'm not too sure. Do you recommend using glue? (I know there is some special glue out there, but forgot the name.)

Sorry about all the questions! But I want to be absolutely sure of what I am doing

Managuense · Sep 23, 2003

yes, you can make a nice natural substrate with a mix of sand and gravel. put the gravel in FIRST, and then your sand as it will look much better IMO. you can get a bag of good looking and cheap sand at lowes --2.39$ for 50 bag--it is called quikrete medium coarse sand.

yes, sand wont bother any of your fish in the least. in fact, sand generally keeps much cleaner and is easier to clean than gravel. it looks great also.

haha, maybe.... i burned up a penguin 330 this way... but other people have had better luck. do you have power filters or a canister? canisters run the water through the media first, so your impeller would be fine if the canister sucks up sand. power filters are another story b/c they run the water directly through the impeller first, and sand grains can ruin your impeller.

to help prevent this if you choose to use power filters you should cover the intake tube of the filter with a piece of sponge and raise it fairly high in the tank. if you can get a canister, i would though.

for what kind of cichlids? for mbuna, i would use any type of round, boulder shaped rocks like granite--which look like the rocks found naturally with african cichlids.

i think slate is terribly ugly and unnatural looking in african cichlid tanks, though many people like to use it.

do this first: PUT A LAYER OF EGGCRATE ON THE BOTTOM OF YOUR BARE TANK BEFORE ADDING ANYTHING ELSE!

you can get this stuff cheap in the lighting section of lowes or home depot-- just ask for "fluorescent lighting diffuser"

with a layer of this stuff you can stack rocks in your tank and have the security of knowing that the weight of the rocks is dispersed and doesnt put "pressure points" on your bottom glass. i used to use it in my mbuna tank that i had....

HTH
M

Managuense · Sep 23, 2003

if you have any other questions just ask bro!

i have no life and am always online between classes.
M

Cichlidian · Sep 23, 2003

Ur substrate depends upon the species u get. If u wanna go for american cichlids u need big sized gravel coz they can even push out a big enough rock on their way. If u go for african cichlids like mbuna u can go with smaller ones.
If u hv an UnderGravelFilter there's no way u can use sand. If u wanna use sand u hv 2 go either for a power filter or a sponge filter.
U can go for lava rocks or fossil stones as decorations. U can also paste them to the bottom of ur tank. Dont use glue. Use Silicon gels coz they seldom change ur water chemistry. U can even paste several rocks together if u wanna make sure ur cichlids dont hurt themselves.
If u want caves in ur tank flower pots of 4" diameter will do great. Remove the bottom of the pot & place its on the back half of ur tank. U can use one or two.

wayne · Sep 24, 2003

Cichlidian says it all. Don't get too deep a substrate or it's hopless to clean and will become a dirt trap.
Silicon the rocks to form cave, make sure they're nice and stable, and don't have too pointy or sharp a botom , then you don't need to bother with the eggcrate. Try to get rocks all of the same type - mixing the rock colours and type always looks terrible to me

Managuense · Sep 24, 2003

i have to once again recommend eggcrate or some other type of support for your tank.

if you really want to do a nice mbuna tank (which i dont know as you havent said yet...) you will want a very large amount of rocks.

why risk it if you can prevent it for less than 10$ ?

i am not one to argue a point, but i feel like i have to here:

huh? i have kept many different american cichlids on sand with no problems. big american cichlids can move sand, rocks, large pebbles, etc. -- it doesnt matter what you use they can move it, all the more reason to use eggcrate to prevent "rock-fall"

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_caves.php

i have used hot glue on tank decor and had absolutely no problems.... in fact for certain decor you need the glue as opposed to just silicon as it wont adhere to some things.

agreed. UGF's suck for cichlids, who normally dig them up and destroy what little use they had. i honestly dont use them for any tanks at all.

or a canister, which would not burn up if it sucked up a few sand grains.

this is very true, especially of substrates like "crushed coral" and most gravel..... i disagree for sand though, as sand tends to stay quite clean as long as you turn it once in a while to prevent anaerobic bacteria.

i also very much agree with this good advice. i would say that mixing different types of rocks (i.e.- round pieces of granite, flat slate or claystone, jagged chunks of quartz or chert) looks out of place as well.

i am done ranting now but i still reccomend the eggcrate regardless.
M

Managuense · Sep 24, 2003

http://www.tropheus.info/riftlakes/cichlids/foto_uv_e.html

here are a few underwater pictures of malawi for you.
M

cawah · Sep 24, 2003

Havent thought about filters yet, I'll worry about that later.

I'm not too sure what mbunas are. I am aiming toward Blue Acaras and Severums.

The pictures of malwai are beautiful, i want to go snorkeling there now!!

Is 2 inches of sand okay?

Hmm.... I think thats all Im curious about now.

wayne at home · Sep 25, 2003

Mbuna is the name applied to the rock dwelling cichlids of lake Malawi by the local fisherman. They're small , colourful, usually very aggressive and pretty popular with fishkeepers. They normally require a 55 and up as one way to deal with their aggression is to deliberately overstock so they can't concentrate their aggression on a particular fish. This doesn't work in smaller tanks.
Severums and blue acara are both from South America. You could kep blue acara in a 29 though not much else that will stay near the bottom as spawning pairs are pretty hard on cat fish and other cichlids. Severums get too big for a 29
2 inches of sand in freshawater is a bad idea. You won't get too much waterflow through and areas of anaerobic conditions will form in there and may produce noxious pollutants. If you want to use sand, keep it shallow

Search

Search

Tank decor questions

cawah

Large Fish

cawah

Managuense

Superstar Fish

Managuense

Managuense

Superstar Fish

Managuense

Cichlidian

Large Fish

Cichlidian

wayne

Elite Fish

wayne

Managuense

Superstar Fish

Managuense

Managuense

Superstar Fish

Managuense

cawah

Large Fish

cawah

wayne at home

Large Fish

wayne at home