Ganjero's 280g Cichild - Peacocks & Haps

I'll start with the same background info as my other tank. Long time aquarist, I kept cichlids before but for the last two decades I have been keeping planted and reef tanks. Now, after hurricane Irma crashed my reefs I decided to convert them to african cichilds tanks. This thread is for the 280g (link to the 120 gallon is in my signature).

For the 280g, I have decided to keep the sand, rock, sump, circulation pumps, controller, etc..a good jump start.

Tank: The tank had a fe scratches, which I removed with several hours of wet sanding and polishing with Novus 3, 2, and finally 1 (pics below).

Stand: The stand had some water damage, and I did not like the color anymore. So far, I have removed the bad wood, reinforce the frame, and reskin the tank. I will be sanding down the doors, and the staining the entire stand with a darker color.

Lighting: I will be using track lighting with PAR38 bulbs. I will start with 5 and see if I need more or less for what I want to achieve.

Dritwood, Sand & Rock:I found a nice and big piece of driftwood that has some "caves", it is the center piece for this build. I have not decided yet if I will be adding some of the rock form my previous reef tank to the display, but I will use some in the sump. I am hoping to maintain the high Ph needed for cichilds with the sand, and the rock in the sump.

Filtration: I will be using a sump with MarinePure Ceramic for biological filtration, and quilt batting for mechanical filtration. I might add some reactors to use carbon or other chemical media as needed.

Circulation: The main return will be a Fluval SP6 connected to a wavysea device, this should provide some nice currents in the display. I might add tunze circulation pump if needed

I am still debating whether or not to add plants to this tank, but I will be adding some plant to grow on the emerged side of the driftwood. The plan is to hide the water top off line behind the driftwood, and have it water these plants.

Still need to buy heaters, most likely will get titanium heater and pair them with the ranco ocntroller I already have.

Equipment:
-280 Acrylic tank with home made stand
- Sump ( Biological:MarinePure Ceramic block and balls; Mechanical:Sponge and Quilt batting)
- Fluval SP6 retur pump
- Wavysea return
- Track Lighting with PAR38 bulbs
- Profilux II aquarium controller
- Litermeter UPLC-II ATO

Pictures:
Before buffing







Buffing time





After




I was not happy with the results, so I did a second round of buffing (pictures will be added tonight)

 

Great project, look forward to seeing it progress

 

Great project, look forward to seeing it progress

Thanks, more pics are coming...

 

Wow! I'm definitely going to follow this thread. I can't wait to see the finished product since I am a big fan of african cichlid tanks.

 

After wet sanding with 400, 800, 1200, 2000, and 3000 grits and then doing one round of the Novus system I was not completely happy with the results. There was some haze still on the tank, which you can see in the previous pictures. I did a a second and third round of Novus by hand, and I feel I did a better job using pure muscle instead of using the orbital sander.


Finishing the third round of Novus

 

Sunday night I finally added the sand, and my center piece (the driftwood). I am still debating whether or not to add some of my reef rock. If I do, I am not sure if I should add big pieces making rock caves, or small pieces scattered around.
In this pic you can also see the track lighting, I have to install the other 4 sockets and add the bulbs.

 

I haven't not updated my post in a while. It has been a very slow process, which I guess is good in this hobby. The tank is fully running now, and has been stock with Haps, and small group of yellow labs (I used the labs as test fish to make sure the tank was ready), the only live stock missing is a group of s. multipunctatus that are on their way. I still need to add a few things to the sump to handle the bioload when fully grown, which it will be a large reactor with k1 media; also I will be adding a DIY water polisher.
The return pump was switched with a Fluval SP2 pump to quite down the tank, and better control the flow through all the chambers in the sump. I will be adding one or two circulation pumps to compensate (tunze 6095)

Here are the current pics:

 

I haven't not updated my post in a while. It has been a very slow process, which I guess is good in this hobby. The tank is fully running now, and has been stock with Haps, and small group of yellow labs (I used the labs as test fish to make sure the tank was ready), the only live stock missing is a group of s. multipunctatus that are on their way. I still need to add a few things to the sump to handle the bioload when fully grown, which it will be a large reactor with k1 media; also I will be adding a DIY water polisher.
The return pump was switched with a Fluval SP2 pump to quite down the tank, and better control the flow through all the chambers in the sump. I will be adding one or two circulation pumps to compensate (tunze 6095)

Here are the current pics:
View attachment 459818 View attachment 459819

I'm just now seeing this thread, but WOW! It looks amazing. I love the hardscape

 

Dude I love the lighting you used. Looks so clean and nice!

Also wow @ how thick that glass is

 

Wow that’s a dream tank right there

 

Dude I love the lighting you used. Looks so clean and nice!

Also wow @ how thick that glass is

Thanks...looking at the pic I just realize I need to get a raceway for the cable to maek it cleaner

The acrylic is 1" thick all around

 

Your tank is ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT!!!! I LOVE the driftwood!!!

 

Your tank is ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT!!!! I LOVE the driftwood!!!

Thank you. I had that look pictured in my head, and it took a while to find that piece but my patience paid off. It was a pain to put it in the tank lol... I have my ATO (auto top-off system) pouring the water at the top of the large branch sticking out (you can see a white fitting up there), hoping it turns the entire branch green with some type of moss.

 

Thank you. I had that look pictured in my head, and it took a while to find that piece but my patience paid off. It was a pain to put it in the tank lol... I have my ATO (auto top-off system) pouring the water at the top of the large branch sticking out (you can see a white fitting up there), hoping it turns the entire branch green with some type of moss.

Your patience DEFINITELY paid off!!! WOW!!! INCREDIBLE!!!

 

I was able to set up the automatic water changes system this weeked. My water is treated with chloramines, so I gutted out an old RO/DI unit and converted into a sediment/carbon filter (4 stages). The system will be performing a WC of about 6% on daily basis or the equivalent of 180% on monthly basis. I will monitor nitrates and adjust accordingly.

Some of the fish were showing signs of Ich, so I am treating the tank conservatively by raising the temp to 85-86F and adding some salt. I started treatment on Friday, and this morning most fish a showing zero signs of ich already.
I will post more pictures later.

 

Signs of ich are gone, the fish are starting to grow and show a little color. The synos are scheduled to arrive this week.

Everyone is hungry (currently feeding mysis and Northfin cichlid pellets)

 

Pic of the Syno gang...and someone photobombed the pic

 

have not posted in a while... here is a small update (just pics for now)

 

Amazing!!!

 

So beautiful!

 

Thank you. As you can see ( and I knew it going in but wanted to try), the submerged plants were a failure. The emerged plants are working out really nice, but the Irises were not doing so good so I move them outside to see if they recover. I am also happy that the idea of topping off water over the wood is working out well, as you can see moss is growing nicely on it.

 

The hemigraphis exotica is flowering

 

Quick pic update. Everything doing great, fish growing and the current emerged plants are well established.

 

Your tank & fish look GREAT!!!

 

Feeding time.....

 

The boss...