55 Gallon African Cichlid Tank - Setup / Cycle / Stocking

[Leo]

Hes going to F/Fins on Tuesday & I sent him a few fish sites to check out.

great place to shop

[Cadman2000]

Cycled?

Here is my next installment of this build thread. I had originally planned on running a complete fishless cycle, as I didn't want to hurt any fish in setting up this tank. As I had previously posted I had added pure ammonia to the tank (4 ppm) and was letting the natural state of things progress. As chance would have it, I got a pm from RegalBlue offering me a deal I could not pass up. He was willing to trade me a new Hydro V-Pro sponge filter for a populated one. Needless to say, I jumped on this offer without hesitation. After 24 hours, I went from 4 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm Nitrites and 0 ppm Nitrates to 0,0, 20 ppm Nitrates only. Woohoo, fully cycled tank! I added 2 ppm ammonia again this morning and will check the nitrate level tomorrow to confirm, but my cycle is complete.

Knowing I was getting this sponge filter to cycle the tank with, forced me to up the timeline to finish the setup of the tank. The last major thing that I needed to accomplish was doing my background. Now I want everyone that reads this to learn from my mistake, do your background before setup. Having not done that with my haste to get this thing running, I had to come up with a method to keep the tank cycling and paint my background. In order to accomplish this I turned my HOB's into HOF's, yeah hang on the front filters will never catch on, as can be seen in the following image.



Now while this worked in my case, and would probably work for you too, I would like to mention a few things. First I did this with no fish in the tank, paint off gasses and these gasses are not healthy for you or your fish to breathe in. Please never paint a tank with fish inside, while I do not have scientific proof that this would harm your fish, it's better to be cautious than to kill your fish. Second make sure you clean your glass thoroughly, I used vinegar and hot water, then let it air dry for 30 minutes. Lastly I put three coats of a flat black latex paint on in thin layers. Leaving 2 hours between coats to make sure that it was very dry before applying the next coat. On a side note, since I was cycling my tank at around 84 F, it turns out the paint dried pretty fast, a hidden advantage to my zealous setup.....

Now with the tank cycled, painted, aquascaped and overall ready for fish. I present to you my prepped tank for your inspection.



Assuming that the ammonia I added is fully converted tomorrow morning, I plan on moving forward and populating my tank. I have to give a thanks to RegalBlue for another aspect of this build. Due to the fact that I needed to get a sponge to trade, I went to Fantastic Fins in Livonia. Upon arriving there I wandered around the store looking at all the fish, and after Chris was done talking to a client met him for the first time. I really appreciated the help and advice that he gave me after telling him about my intent and as luck would have it found that he should be receiving the fish I wanted to stock in my tank. So it looks like I should be fully stocked this weekend, if everything goes as planned.

Cadman2000
55 Gallon African Cichlid Tank

[Ron]

The background looks great!

Assuming that the ammonia I added is fully converted tomorrow morning, I plan on moving forward and populating my tank.

You're probably already aware because you've obviously done great research, but as you increase the bioload you'll still have mini-cycle periods where the bacteria populations need to grow and catch up to the available ammonia and nitrite being produced. I wouldn't really worry about it as long as you're not trying to fully stock the tank in 1-2 trips.

[Cadman2000]

You're probably already aware because you've obviously done great research, but as you increase the bioload you'll still have mini-cycle periods where the bacteria populations need to grow and catch up to the available ammonia and nitrite being produced. I wouldn't really worry about it as long as you're not trying to fully stock the tank in 1-2 trips.

I have read many things about this topic. Some say since the tank is cycled and converts 4 ppm ammonia to nitrates in a 24 hour period the tank is ready for a full bio load. To others saying that still makes sense to add slowly. I am a cautious sort thou and would rather move a bit more slowly. While I want to add upto 36 fish in total to this tank, I do not plan on doing it all at once. It would be different if I were to order fish online, but since I've found some local sources I can scale back a bit on the bio load. Additionally, I plan on doing daily 25% water changes for the first few weeks, to make sure that I am keeping my fish as healthy as possible.

[Ron]

I have read many things about this topic. Some say since the tank is cycled and converts 4 ppm ammonia to nitrates in a 24 hour period the tank is ready for a full bio load.

I would find that true, if full bioload means your tank inhabitants are producing close to 4ppm of ammonia every day. In the real world I don't think the numbers will work out this closely. 

[Super Turtleman]

Looks good, I hope the sand doesn't ruin your impellers. Good luck!

[Cadman2000]

First Inhabitants!!!

Well today I started to stock my tank. I drove the hour down to what has to be my favorite LFS in the area (Fantastic Fins) and found out that their shipment of African Cichlids was being delayed a week. With having cycled the tank, with a traded cycled sponge filter, I wasn't going to risk my tanks cycle and need some stock. I knew I was going to add some synodontis in the tank, so why not start with those. The only issue is Fins didn't have the syno I was going to stock, but they did have some synodontis petricola. While not the lucipinnis I thought I was going with, they have the same look and only get a bit larger than the luci's, so I went with them. Long term I plan on keeping 5-6 of these fish in the tank, but decided to buy 9 for now. They are right around an inch big at this time, but after being put in the tank and being left alone for a bit, they are out and exploring like no tomorrow.



I see them all over the tank, racing, searching, and generally patrolling the entire tank. They seem to enjoy the rock work and are constantly moving in and out of it. After getting home from the MCA meeting and getting some dinner, it was time to feed the little guys. Below is a picture of one coming out of the rock work for a bite to eat.



Hopefully some Saulosi come in next week so that I can continue to stock this tank. I'm very happy with the way it is progressing and really have been enjoying setting this up. Stay tuned for future installments in this series.

Cadman2000
55 Gallon African Cichlid Tank

[Regalblue]

Congratulations!!! 
Be careful not to overfeed, as it is sooo entertaining watching them zip all over looking for the food.

[Leo]

great little catfish.  I have these in most of my tanks

[jcunningham0295]

What type of weld material did you use to weld the rocks together?  This is a good idea.

[Cadman2000]

What type of weld material did you use to weld the rocks together?  This is a good idea.

The rocks are not welded or glued together at all. Its all about having a good selection of rocks and building a very stable pile. I tried to find some rocks with angles on them so that to create a solid platform for the second layer, creating a wedging effect as they are build up. Another solution, used on the small rock pile was to build three points of contact for the upper rock on the bottom rocks. This allows for a very stable place for the top rock to sit, creates some nice little cave areas for smaller fish and still pile rocks up. In a 75 or 90 gallon this type of scenario could be very effective, but it a bit harder to achieve in the smaller 55 gallon foot print. I hope this helps you out designing your own rockscape, happy aquascaping.

[Cadman2000]

Cichlids, Cichlids, Cichlids Everywhere!!!

I went to the MCA Auction on January 21st, 2012, with the intention of watching and seeing how these things run. My wife and I arrived just before the start of the start of bidding, so I didn't have a lot of time to look through all the bags, but I did a quick inspection and didn't see any Pseudotropheus Saulosi on the tables. I kinda knew that I wasn't going to have much luck finding this species, but never hurts to look. As my wife and I were moving through the tables we saw many great looking fish, and my wife had taken a shinning to some of the Angelfish. As the auction was going on, bag after bag being auctioned off with flourish, my wife wanted to bid on something.... but this is another story for another thread.
My wife has always wondered why I picked the species that I did and why I would contemplate shipping fish from far away when I can find something more locally, if I would just change my mind. Now keep in mind that I have done alot of research about what I was going to keep, but in that research I have found several species that I could mix. The list that I posted earlier in this thread was actually my first idea, but I do like the idea of a species tank the best I think. Well as chance would have it, there were three bags of Pseudotropheus Demasoni on the tables at the auction, actually there were 4 but I didn't know the fourth was there. When the first one came up for bid, I decided to try for it, 5,6,7......16,17, the dollar value was climbing but at $17 it was mine. Well that decided how i would be stocking my tank. When the next bag came up it was also grabbed for $17. I was ecstatic, I had 8 fish, a good start to my colony, but with them being demasoni I knew that I needed several more specimens in order to have a chance at a harmonious tank. When the third, and what I thought was the final bag came up, I jumped right in on the bidding. This time someone else pushed me beyond my previous high of 17, but they finally capitulated when my bid reached $26. Now with 3 bags and 12 fish, I was pretty happy, I had also picked up a bag of 5 Labidochromis Caeruleus to be a contrasting addition to my 55 gallon setup.
With purchasing the demos, labs and angels I was at the limits of the cash that I had on hand. I really should have thought better and hit the ATM prior to arriving at the auction, but like I said I didn't really intend to buy anything, sans Saulosi. I needed to make a trip to get some cash, as I wanted to pay my MCA dues at the same time. So off I ran to find an ATM machine. When I returned my wife looked at me with a sheepish grin and said "I bought more fish while you were gone." "Really? What did you get?" I replied. "Another bag of Demasoni" she answered. Needless to say I was ecstatic, I thought I had procured all of the available specimens. The funny thing is the last bag was the cheapest in the end at $14. Well I have to say for my first auction it was a fun experience. Yeah I changed my stocking direction at the drop of a hat, but keep in mind that by choosing Demo/Lab combination it isn't far from the Saulosi look, but probably a lot more stressful.....
When I got home from the auction I couldn't wait to get all the new acquisitions into their new homes. I opened up the hoods on the 55 and floated 5 bags o fish in the tank. It was great to see the bags sitting there, the fish peering out the plastic into the tank, eyeing where they were going to head first. After what seemed an eternity, although it was probably just half an hour, I started to introduce the fish to the tank. First I placed the yellows in the tank, and one by one they swam down to the bottom, behind the rocks and ended up claiming the spot under my Hydro sponge as their own. Next came the Demasoni, as each fish was introduced they would swim off and investigate the tank, with the exception of a few that immediately swam to the rocks, turned around in a little cave and proceeded to darken their color. Seeing these fish claim territory immediately was interesting. Below are a few pictures of the new inhabitants of my 55 gallon tank. I will keep this updated as I move forward with this tank and the progress of the inhabitants therein.

The New Kids!


This is my cave!


What are they doing?


Cadman2000
55 Gallon African Cichlid Tank

[Regalblue]

Happy you finally got it stocked - I know how much it was killing you just having the cats in there.

[Ron]

Congrats on the cichlids.

In lieu of the demasoni, I think you need more rocks!

[Cadman2000]

Congrats on the cichlids.

In lieu of the demasoni, I think you need more rocks!

I will be looking for more rocks in the near future. Another trip to the yard to pick through baskets finding just the right rocks. As long as I build on the base that is there with good rocks, I can take them to the ceiling of the tank no problem. I was thinking another layer on the right would look awesome, but know I have a few weeks until they are really necessary.