Tharsis' 75 gallon - The Rhode Island Chapter

[tharsis]

Originally Posted by diwu13

Whoa update! Those rocks got mighty green from the algae ! Got some good growth as well! So now you're using two canisters on this tank? I see 4 pipes :O!!

Finally gonna use the DW you sent me a long whiles back. I bought a 20L from the petco $1/gal sale

haha, yeah they certainly did. I kinda like it, makes it looked more weathered.

Yeah I have the fluval and the sunsun. They are both point slightly up so i am getting good surface agitation and a nice slow flow throughout.

Looking forward to seeing your tank with the DW!

I miss driftwood...i like the rocks but I think I prefer driftwood. I put a 20 gallon tank together over the weekend using the same rocks and style as this tank and all I was thinking was I wish I had driftwood haha.

[tharsis]

So I was just sitting at work...staring at the wall pondering what to do with this tank. It still doesn't have any livestock in it and I am getting bored with it.

I want lots of color and lots of largeish fish...so I thought why not do some african cichlids.

I think I will take out all the stems and leave the anubias on the rocks. They are well rooted to the rocks by now so they are secure. So I will have just sand substrate, the rock piles with the anubias and a whole bunch of cichlids. I will add a bit more rock to get more hiding places.

I am excited haha, will need to do some research on which cichlids to get.

[tharsis]

Got my first fish for this tank today.

An electric yellow lab. Nice little fish, I look forward to adding more.

Here is a pic of the tank as it looks now, just anubias with some moss and java fern slowly spreading. I added lots of caves and nooks and crannies in the rocks. I think I am going to want to put in black sand instead of the play sand to make the colors pop a bit more.



And here is a pic of the fish.





I am excited for the color and activity that these fish will bring to the tank. I still don't really know what ciclids will Mbuna cichlids will be compatible with each other so the rest of the fish are still up in the air. I am a little nervous about getting fish from the 'mixed african cichlid' tanks because they are so interbred, you never know what you are really gettting.

[marioman72]

Looks awesome fellow Rhode islander! have u thought about doing any foreground plants? but love the hard scape, def might be a good idea to switch to black sand could make everything stand out much more like you said, but as it sits now looks very natural.

[tharsis]

Hey thanks!

Good to find some local people haha.

I took out the HM from the foreground for a few reasons, the 1st is I thought that the cichlids would tear it to shreds (I figured any rooted plants would not be very successful with these fish), and the second was that I wanted to use the HM for my other 20L and the third is that I wanted to keep the hardscape clean and more representative of their habitat (although anubias aren't very accurate haha).

The more I think about it, the more I want black sand, i think I will get a bag of the black diamond stuff.

So I am fairly new to the area and I am still trying to find a good LFS...any suggestions? I like the place on wikendon in college hill and I was not too impressed with RI pet and aquarium.

[marioman72]

yea auqa life in prov is fantastic, probably the best in RI, but Critter Hut in North Kingstown is a close second, they have a very good selection of plants and fish and lots of different equipment. its the only place locally i can find eco-complete or fluorite lol id go take a look there. Rumford Pet Center use to have a massive aquarium section but they got rid of the whole thing a couple months ago and only sell betas now :/

[tharsis]

Yeah, I think I will check out critter hut soon, it is just hard to justify driving 25 minutes if I am not going to buy something haha.

I got some more cichlids from aqualife yesterday, I am really liking their colors. I will probably aim for about 20 cichlids in this tank so I am a quarter of the way there.

LOTSA PICS!!!!!!

FTS:



Glamour shots:













Action shots:

[tharsis]

The tank is doing good, I added a bunch more cichlids to the tank, I also added an albino bristlenose pleco to the mix.

I had to raise my light up though because I am starting to get algae on the leaves. I also blew a ballast a couple days ago, I think some dog hair or something got in and caused a short circuit. I was in the other room and I started to hear a loud crackle, I ran into the dining room and saw the puff of blue smoke coming out of the ballast. I was pretty pissed to say the least... but in the end it will probably be fine, 2 T5HO bulbs over this tank should be more than enough light. It will just take some getting used to the dimmer lighting. I will probably end up stringing a few 3W LED's together though to add a bit more pop (I am thinking some 10000K's and some Royal Blues).

I finally got a lens for my camera so I have been taking tons of photos of the tank and the pics...please indulge me

FTS:


FTS with slow shutter speed...I call it the ghost shot


An overprocessed FTS




Semi FTS shots






This is the blarney stone, I call it that because the orange guy is always nibbling on it.




This guy was nibbling at the algae on the glass






Thanks for looking at all the pics haha. I am liking this camera (Nikon D3100 with a stock 18-55 Nikkor Lens) but I am already wanting a higher end lens. I just can't get the pics of the fish crisp enough.

[halffrozen]

Play with the Motion/movement setting on the dial, and then try and mimic those same ones on Manual mode, but with a faster Shutter Speed.

That is how I get decently crisp pictures, though... it all depends on how well you know the camera... I have my shoots with my D3200 where I take amazing pictures, then I just don't... lol

[The Dude]

Tank looks awesome! I really like the change to an African Cichlid tank. I love the sand, stones, and small plants in the stone

[marioman72]

looks great! my fav lens is the 50mm 1.8f probly the sharpest pictures out of the lens.

[2in10]

Love the look, I did the ghost shot on my reef tank with a 15 second exposure. Have fun with the new camera.

[MiniFishRoom]

The anubias is looking awesome

[kwheeler91]

Lookin good man! I would keep the sand as it is. The light color with the lighter colored stones works well. Besides it looks like the colors are popping just fine

[Saxtonhill]

Wow! I really like the change in textures from darkish grey rock to small anubias in the crevises and moss, the tan/gold sand and the way the colors of the fish just pop out at you.