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Post by Syntax on Oct 5, 2019 9:36:58 GMT -5
About 20 years ago I started a Mbuna Cichlid tank, to date it was one of my most enjoyable tanks. Now that I have broken down the salt water set up I'm considering setting up another Mbuna tank. Has anyone built a habitat for these fish? What would you recommend for substrate, filtration and rocks?
I'd be using a salt setup, so I have an overflow and sump for water filtration.
The tank is 180 gallons.
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Post by spotfin on Oct 8, 2019 16:07:15 GMT -5
I kept those a long time ago as well. Long forgotten what I had for rocks in it though. There are some nice sands now specifically for African Rift cichlids, I think Caribsea makes some. For rocks, perhaps Texas holey rock? Or, some dry base rock if you have any left from your salt setup.
For filtration, use your sump. May have to modify it. Can you use any prefilter pads in your setup? And turn it into a wet/dry filter.
Post pics and updates as you go. A 180 Mbuna tank will look spectacular.
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Post by fermentedhiker on Oct 11, 2019 21:26:46 GMT -5
I don't have mbuna, but I did a 125 gallon with a 40Long sump for some Otter point Jakes. I ended up using Black diamond sand blasting grit and just a mix of rocks I collected from my property(granite and sandstone etc...) I used reef rubble in the sump for bio filtration. Tank needs some work but life has kept me from fixing it the way I want. I think Caribsea used to have a black aragonite sand(not really black more of a mix of black and other sand grain colors) that would look nice and also provide some buffering if they still make it. Texas holey rock would work, but I've never seen a setup with it that looked very natural. If doing a mbuna setup I might be tempted to use a reef saver type rock and take a rasp to it to take the sharp edges off of it.
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