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A few of my mbuna have now moved in & this is their new home



Cheers
TW

Hey nice looking tank. Any thoughts to adding more plants to the large rock group?

What are you running for lights, substrate, and ferts? You might have already talked about it but maybe I missed it.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Hey Wings

The lights are probably a bit of an overkill, considering only using low light plants - I wanted to make sure if ever I transferred away from Africans & took this tank down the hi-tech planted route, that I wouldn't have to upgrade the lights. I only plan to run lights 6 hours a day.

Light is a programmable compact PC unit, with 4 x 55W, plus a row of moonlights. You programme each row of lights (incl. the moon) with a remote control unit (like your TV), but you can also override & switch on/off manually.

Substrate here is nothing special - some sort of gravel LFS recommended for Africans, as an alternate to sand. I bought the substrate back in January - when I didn't plan to use plants. In the end, I just couldn't have a tank without any plants - just not my style !!!!

Nothing is planted directly in the substrate (anubias & java fern on rocks and amazon swords are in little terracotta pots).

My fert schedule is:-
3/4 tsp KNO3 weekly
3/16tsp KH2P04 weekly
1/4 tsp K2204 weekly
15ml traces weekly, but not same day as macros

Do you think that sounds about right, or do I need more?

My fish will all be mbuna, mostly dwarfs. The largest will be 6".

Not sure if I'll have more plants on the left side. I don't want to block my viewing of rocky hidey holes, so I guess that leaves me with more nana anubia. There are already 3 java ferns there & if they get too big, I'll move them. I'd be interested to hear where/what you'd suggest Wings. From what I gather, I'm stuck with limited choices of anubia, Java fern & amazon swords for an African mbuna tank.

On the right, I've been toying with the idea of continuing the line of nana anubia, in a diagonal towards front right corner - but thought I'd wait a while to see if what I have expands enough on it's own to fill the space.

It's currently filtered with eheim pro II 2028. Was going to run UV by an external eheim pump, but thinking of adding a spare eheim pro 2224 (sitting around doing nothing) & running the UV from that instead. I read you can't have too much filtering with Africans, though as said, mine will be the smaller variety.

Anything else I should be doing for a planted African tank?

Cheers
TW

You are running this tank similar to how I am running my 55G.

~Mostly low light plants
~Higher light
~Similar ferts

Right now I am doing a 4 day EI dose.

~Saturday - Water change, 1/2 tsp KNO3, 1/8 KH2P04, 1/8 Potassium Sulfate, 10 ml Iron
~Sunday - 10ml micros
~Monday - off
~Tuesday - off
~Wednesday - Same macros as Saturday
~Thursday - 10ml of micros
~Friday - off

So far things seem to be doing pretty well.

My lights are are on for 5-6 hours @ 1.75 wpg with an hour blast of 4.1 wpg

I think you are doing pretty well with everything. Are you running all four 55W bulbs at the same time?




55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

My lights are are on for 5-6 hours @ 1.75 wpg with an hour blast of 4.1 wpg ....I think you are doing pretty well with everything. Are you running all four 55W bulbs at the same time?

My lights are sent up in two banks, each bank having 2 x 55w. Thsi doesn't include the final row of moonlights. When I first bought the unit, I only bought one row of tubes - I didn't plan on any plants. The tubes are a combo type PC tube, with each tube being 50% 10K & 50% 420nm. I planned on not even using the 2nd row of lights (therefore, no tubes purchased)

As I got close to set up, I felt I must have plants, so I bought tubes for the 2nd row. They are a combo type too, each PC tube being 50% plant growth & 50% 10K).

So far, I haven't set up the timer (have to read the manual) but what split timing sequence (considering tubes I have and that 402mn prob aren't much use to plants) would you suggest?

Should I up the frequency of ferts to 2 days of macros, 2 days micros like you, or see how 1 day of each goes 1st? I'm not dosing iron at all (except what Flourish has in it). Should I? I have no red plants, so do I need it? I thought that Iron was a micro?

I'm glad you popped in Wings, as I needed some fert advice to help make my plants do well in this different environment.

What about Excel, should that be dosed? Obviously, there will be no pressurised C02 in this tank, but does Excel have a lowering effect on pH, same as pressurised carbon does? I haven't dosed any in case it does.

Thanks for your advice thus far.

Cheers
TW

looks great tw, yours is the first planted african tank i have seen that looks good, most have too few plants, but yours is a nice balance. The high rock stack looks much better than the long and low stack.
How do the moonlights look?

Finally I found this thread in the cichlid corner. Very nice set up - what are these rocks called? I am only familiar with the socalled 'Holey rock' and yours look very much alike. May I ask why you decided on java fern for plants and not anubias? And how many fish do you plan on keeping there (fry not counted, of course).

Ciao

Claudia

So far, I haven't set up the timer (have to read the manual) but what split timing sequence (considering tubes I have and that 402mn prob aren't much use to plants) would you suggest?

the 402mn are not going to help your plants much but they will make your fish look pretty. I would run the 50/50 with the 402mn for the whole day and use the other bank of lights as a blast. Your plants are all pretty low light so they should be fine with a single side of 10,000K of a bulb.

Should I up the frequency of ferts to 2 days of macros, 2 days micros like you, or see how 1 day of each goes 1st? I'm not dosing iron at all (except what Flourish has in it). Should I? I have no red plants, so do I need it? I thought that Iron was a micro?

I would stick with what you are doing if you are not having problems. That can kind of be our test between your tank and mine. One of the main differences is that I am using CO2. You are right. Iron is a micro and I dose it on the first day for no particular reason. Used to dose it every macro day in the 40G. I was guessing that it wasn't going to hurt anything.

What about Excel, should that be dosed? Obviously, there will be no pressurised C02 in this tank, but does Excel have a lowering effect on pH, same as pressurised carbon does? I haven't dosed any in case it does.

I would dose Excel. The swords will eat it up and grow quite a bit better. Ferns and Anubias will like it also but you will see the most growth from the swords while dosing the Excel.

Now you have my 2 cents.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Thanks, desiredusername. Glad you like the plants. Yes, I prefer the higher stack, then my 1st lower attempt. Boy, you need a lot of rocks though, to create this look.

Here is a shot with just the moonlights on, but it was hard to capture. It looks better in real life, as although it is a dark look, you can still see the fish & what they are up to, while in the pic you can't see the fish at all.


As well as the 3 java fern on the left, on the right side I have around 4-5 small anubia nanas, plus anubia Paco, coffeefolia and barteri. To the rear, there are several amazon sword plants.

A shot of the anubia group


Not sure what the rocks are called "honeycomb" something or other. I call them holey rocks, just because they are full of holes. I'll ask though, as I still need one or two more to complete the look. The low rock grouping on the right is a different colour (whiter) & texture is smoother than the main group.

My stocking choices have moved around slightly, but this is the final "set in stone" list:-

In tank Now
4 Clown Loaches
6 Saulosi Mbuna - 1 male only
6 Cynotilapia afra (Cobue) - 1 male only
2 Pseudotropheus acei white tail (given to me - sex unknown)

Soon to come
6 Metriaclima estherae - 1 male only
6 Pseudotropheus socolofi - 1 male only

Now you have my 2 cents.

Very glad to have it, Wings

Cheers
TW

Really nice TW

now all you need is a pair of Calvus

---

''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

Robyn , Fantastic looking tank. First Time I've ever liked one of these type of tanks .
You've made it look very nice indeed . A great blend of harsh rocks and softer planted
areas .
As far as Excel is concerned , I use it and it has no affect on Ph in either tank .

Love to see some half tank shots etc. when you get time
Well done !


Garry

looks very pretty robyn and i like the idea of the moon lights! how do manage to find the time to run marathons and stuff with all this work on your hands?!

Cool tank. I like the contrast of the white & green.

You've really did a stunning tank, with a combination of Rocks & Plants. Very beautiful & interesting......

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

It's been a while & not much has changed, though the tank is now fully stocked.

For comparison, here's a repeat of the last picture, from September


Here's a pic from today. I've taken out some of the coral & replaced it with more of the holey honeycomb rock. It's built up higher & closer to the right wall.


I added extra anubia tonight - still deciding if I've overdone it.

Finally, a closeup of the larger rock pile.


I've had a couple of fry appear in the tank from time to time, but none ever survive.


EDIT: Forgot to say thanks to those that have popped in. Alex, sound nice, but this will be a mbuna tank only - also sticking to the smaller mbuna varieties. Garry, Fandan, fish patty & jasonpisani - thanks for the tank compliment

Cheers
TW

Robyn ,

I added extra anubia tonight - still deciding if I've overdone it

I don't think so still plenty of rock showing . Your planted instincts are telling you to add more but I think you've got it just about right

Tank looks stunning and the colours of the fish against the white rock background look great . I don't think I've ever seen this type of tank done any better . Well done .

Garry

I added extra anubia tonight - still deciding if I've overdone it.

Overdone it? I don't think so. I think you could add more to the left side if you wished to do so. Maybe thicker at the bottom and less as you go up.

I looks like things are growing really well for you. Are you having any issues with algae? What kind of dosing are you doing?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric