jeditait

From what ive read Kribs need at least a 55 gallon tank with plenty of rocky places to hide, its possible your tank is too small... What are your ammonia, nitrite, nirate, ph and hardness numbers?

Well I've decided to go pressurized CO2, picked up a Aqua Medic 500 reactor from a member (plus some java fern, a HUGE amazon sword and Riccia) got a Milwaukee Regulator & Solenoid combo from Big Als now I just need a co2 tank. If anyone has one collecting dust that would let it go for a fair price let me know

Ok here are a couple pics...used my phone so excuse the quality. The large pleco in pic 1 is about 7 inches, I have another same markings as the large on about half the size. Then another that's like 2 inches but totally different markings. Of course the little guy is to hard to get a good look at right now, and I could not find my mid sized pleco it would appear that 'she' (??) is hiding.

Hahahaha, I don't think he hitchhiked in with the plants, he was hiding under my heater. However I only see the one, I would suspect that there should be a few more...?

No clue, I'll try and get some half decent pics tomorrow morning and post them.

Came home from picking up some plants from a member and found a new addition to the tank. Little 1" pleco, he's the love of the family right now. Not sure what to do with him, leave him be in the tank? Move him to a 20g to grow up safely?? Any special care or tips/tricks I should know to help this little guy?

Awesome thank you very much jvision! Ive never heard of agar so Ill do some research on that

Has anyone used this product?? I have decided to start mAking my own cichlid food and thought using this to help keep the food in a solid state would be better than using gelatin. Thoughts? Comments? More importantly experiences?? Thanks!

Thank you I did some trimming today on the real bad leaves to see if they other ones will come up. I do have new growth and I guess that's what matters. Now that I have placed the plants together instead of spread apart I don't notice them as much, I'm sure that will calm my OCD for a bit

An update on my black hair algae issues.... Apparently the best solution to control the algae is more plants. I picked up some trimming from a member here and added a bunch of Hornwort, Pennywort and Rotala. The algae on my Anubias has gone down significantly. So far the cichlids haven't ripped the new plants apart either so thats a bonus Heres a pic of the new plants (you can still see some algae on some of the anubias but this is much better than it was before). Now I need to figure out how to get my amazon swords to stay healthy

I'll be moving In a few months so I'll be tearing the tank down and selling all my fish and decorations. I'm going to build a 3D background and repopulating the tank. This time around I want to stick to mostly peacocks, and I'll be definitely shopping around for good quality fish you don't normally find in LFS

Thanks! With the stock i have i needed to provide enough hiding places for everyone to get away and hide when certain males get overly aggressive. Provides ample places for fish to mate and fry to hide. Well worth the investment!

As long as you provide some places for her to hide whenever she is being chased by the other fish she should be ok. The "downside" to that is then the fry have a place to hide and you suddenly have 10-15 Peacocks in a month or two instead of the 4 you purchased

Here is my 230G Cichlid tank, recently moved stuff around. Stock list is pretty lengthy but ill shorten it a bit. Mbuna mostly (mixed cichlid purchase from LFS), Strawberry Peacocks, pair of Ruby Red Cichlids, OB Peacocks, Jack Dempsey's, 2 pairs of Breeding Red Jewels, Kribensis Cichlids, Oscar, Clown Loaches, Rainbow Sharks, Synos, Plecos, tons of Anubias, Java Fern and Amazon Swords.

Well after starting this thread all the tanks and gear I had posted finally got some interest and have all been sold... After getting lots of great advice here and on Canreef, we have decided to hold off and plan out the system to ensure we get the right setup. Thanks everyone for your feedback!

Wicked thank you very much!

That would be awesome! Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the feedback I registered for an account on Canreef this morning, just waiting for an admin to activate my account. Currently the tanks and filter listed above are posted in the Buy/Sell forum but i keep staring at them in my basement and I have an itch, an itch to get another system up and running (still need to convince the wife though). Success...hmmm, i have no doubt that over time, i would consider the tank a success. It's all about the learning process, trying something new and reaping the rewards once its at a state where you can bask in its glory I just had a hit on the 40g - If the tanks sell in the next couple of weeks then i wont have to worry about it, someone will have cured me of my MTS.

I currently have a 120g, 40g bow front and a Cascade 1500 canister filter. Im considering setting up the 120 using the cascade to get the cycle started while I modify the 40g into a sump. Lots of information out there saying you have to use RO/DI water when setting up a SW tank, I'm wondering if this is true or can i use Calgary tap water? Next question is do I NEED a protein skimmer, will the combination of a canister filter and sump be sufficient? And then of course is the combo of canister and sump overkill?? I am in absolutely no hurry to get a tank up and running as quickly as possible, everything i've read says to take it slooooooooooow. I would like to start the process by first adding water and get the canister running. Let the water settle, add sand and then start adding live rock. As I don't want to go instantly bankrupt i plan on picking up live rock here and there and adding it to the tank slowly, is this approach ok or should i add all the live rock at the same time? Once the sump has been completed ill setup an external overflow and get the sump running. Then sometime in the future once im comfortable my tank can handle it, add livestock Ok lots of questions there thanks in advance for any advice you can supply. Cheers!

No change to the algae after dosing with excel for a week straight! I've doubled the dose and still the stuff seems to thrive! Would adding co2 from a DIY reactor work? If so can I run this all day and night? What impact will it have on pH?? Thanks in advance for any advice you can supply

Thanks I'll give that a shot!

Hmmmmmm...I bought some anubias barteri and nana but they look fairly similar to each other whereas the leaves on this plant are much smaller. And it grows horizontally while the other plants grow vertically. I guess this could just be a different type of anubias?? Also while on the topic, I have some black algae growing on the leaves of all my plants that is driving me insane. I I have 3 plecos in the tank some snails and I have tried limiting light in the tank but can't seem to get rid of it. Any other suggestions on how to rid myself of this stuff?

Sorry went AWOL again... Attempted to build a lid for the tank, a few trips to Home Depot and a couple weekends of pure frustration. My biggest mistake wasn't planning it out like I planned out the sump. I will try again one day, most of what I need is here but I have to actually draw it first :| On a positive note...fish are loving this tank and sump setup. Both pairs of my jewels are a brilliant red and have spawned. Only a few fry have lived. I picked up some Kribensis Cichlids and they are amazing. They add a new dynamic to the tank. Also as promised earlier here is a pic of the plant I have in my tank, not sure what it is though...cichlids don't really touch it and it provides a great hiding spot for my EBJD and fry.

Wow I haven't been paying attention to my notifications, my apologies! My tank has mostly Anubias planted in it plus some Amazon swords. The anubias grows great with a bit being eaten by the fish (although I wonder if it's more likely that the snails or my plecos are doing the damage). I watch the cichlids pick at the amazon swords all the time and am considering removing them because they are just getting ugly. I also have another species, sorry I don't know what it is (I'll add pics later) but the fish don't touch it provides cover for fry or small fish and I have had no issues with it. Everyone says java fern and anubias are the best for cichlid tanks and I would agree I liked the look of the amazons in the store but they have been destroyed and don't look nearly as good in my tank . Oh I tried Hornwort once, stay away from it, I was constantly fishing out pieces from the tank and had to clean my filter constantly . Thanks everyone for the comments, I'll be working on completing the project (stand skirt and tank lid) this week ill post pics once I'm all done.

Thanks!! I'll take pics of the first time I have to clean it, im sure the jealousy will quickly dissipate