New 5X2X2 Malawi Hap/Peacock

[z18turbo]

Hi Everyone,

New to the forum but have found it great for information whilst setting up after 10 years without a tank so thanks to all who have posted valuable info.

Please see pics of tank and some of the new residents now that it has cycled.

Tank is a 5X2X2 running a 3 foot sump. DIY background, coral sand/pool filter sand substrate, rocks were from the last tank I had set up.

Have 13 very young fish:

1x Nimbochromis polystigma

1x Cyrtocara moorii

2x Labidochromis caeruleus

1x Sciaenochromis ahli

8x Aulonocara (F1 German red, Dragon Blood, Rubescens and others that caught my eye and will be interesting to watch grow.)

Still want to get 3-4 synodontis multipunctatus, 1x kandeensis and 1 x Venestus. Will keep this post updated as it develops, hopefully with better photos as they grow.

Cheers,

Jarrod.

[mace990]

What a great tank mate.

That background looks awesome, love the overhang section, very unique.

What type of lighting are you using, is there blue lighting in the mix It looks very effective. Really nice job

Cheers

[Adzzy]

Nice setup, what is the back ground made from?

[Sloory]

That's awesome mate! I'm also keen to know about the background.

It's it DIY or bought?

[z18turbo]

Hi Guy's,

Cheers for the positive feedback.

The lighting set up is an old double globe florescent 4 foot with daylight and marine blue globe in the centre, and a three foot with daylight at the front. They were just old lights that I had and I will replace them with a DIY LED setup when I get the time to build it. Both lights are screwed to the hood up above the tank and give a great effect when the wave maker is on.

The background is DIY polystyrene built as below: (I had pics but they are on my note which is getting a broken screen fixed.)

• Used polystyrene building cladding sheets (several inches thick) and cut them to fit with about an inch spare on the braces/bottom of the tank.
• These were then cut it four panels small enough to fit between the bracing. These cuts also form the cracks. They are cut at angles meaning that there is an order that they need to be put into the tank so the the cracks overlap. I measured the original sheets so that there was about an inch of room at the end of the tank to give some wiggle room.
• Then I cut out the rectangle for the overflow box which is behind the overhang section and built the overhang from smaller skinny sections of foam to fit around the box. This stretches across 2 panels with the crack running through it to try and make it look natural.
• Next I shaped the panels to look like rock by cutting channels in them with a bread knife.
• Once the basic shape was there I used a heat gun to melt the foam into the smooth shapes it has now and smooth out all the cut sections. It works really well but do it outside as the fumes are full on.
• I then used crommelin pond sealer from Bunnings. I painted a thick coat of black into the cracks and ridges and then sandstone onto the raised sections. By pushing this down an into the edge of the black it creates a nice blend. I was trying to somewhat match the rocks.
• Next and straight after the pond sealer was painted on i covered it with gravel that I passed through a sieve to get the finer grains.
• This was then left overnight to start to dry.
• 24 hours or so after this I shook off the excess gravel/sand and gave it a very light rinse with water. I poured this out of a cup till it looked the way I wanted it to, then left it to dry for a couple of days.
• Then I used the clear pond coat and sprayed this on top to seal it with 2 coats, an painted the back and hidden areas with the left over black.
• Left it for the 7 days it says to dry and siliconed it to the back.
• Washed it as recommended by filling and draining the tank several times. (also wanted to as I had to re-siliconed it as well as polished it with cerium oxide as it was an ebay tank and not as good as I thought.)

See below a pic for the background after I had washed it off the wife's phone, also half built cabinet.

Here is a pic of the overhang from the side covering the DIY overflow box.

Issues I have found:

• The areas where the clear coat was in contact with any form of silicon as in either the silicon holding the overhang together, or the sand that was in the gravel it has gone a milky colour. It also seemed to cloud the water but they may have also been the substrate as the pool filter sand took forever to clean. This meant that I did several drastic water changes whilst cycling. There is not much info on the net about this product but i found another thread on a forum that someone had the same issues and he no issues after it established and was happy with the look once algae grew on it. I am actually happy with the way it has discoloured as it has toned it down a lot and made for a more natural look.
• Were there are gaps such as around the overflow and in the cracks there is the possibility of still water. 3600 litre pump and WP 40 wave maker should provide enough movement in the tank that i am not to concerned.

Hope that that makes sense, I will keep the thread updated as the time passes.

[chuin]

Wow, this looks really good, and even better for the DIY background. Just a quick question, you said you put the gravel on while the pond sealer was wet. Did the gravel just stick to it or did you put anything else on to hold it?

[z18turbo]

Hi Mate,

The gravel/sand sticks to it to a point. After I rinsed the panels off the remaining sand formed a thin coating/texture over it. This is why I was gentle when I washed it off as I felt if I really washed it hard then the majority have would come off as well as the coating as it was yet to fully harden. I guess you could control the look off it at this point by how much sand you remove. As it hardens it locks it in harder but only after the 2nd coat of the clear was dry did it really lock it in tight. I rubbed the rocks up against it as I was putting them in the tank and they didn't seem to harm it.

Time will tell how durable it is but the coating is designed for ponds so I would imagine it will last well.

[Sloory]

That's great. I've actually done that exact method on a background on a 4x2x2 but yours kills mine!

I reckon I'll have another crack one day.

[yellow]

Fantastic photos, info, and tank. Welcome to the forum.

[Ged]

Welcome to the forum.

Great thread to start with on the forum. Love the setup, the quality of the photos and the detail contained in your explanations.

You may be interested in the following thread

http://www.aceforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=54841

[z18turbo]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the comments.

Ged,

Thanks for the link, I will be filling in the form ASAP as there are a couple of fish on the wish list.

Update, 2 weeks into fish.

The Tank has now fully cycled and the water has cleared right up. The background has not discoloured any further and now seems stable. No algae as of yet to blend the background and rocks.

I have added some new tank mates and returned a couple to the LFS also. Several peacocks that were in the group that I selected turned out to be the same and began to fight so I played it safe. I now have 2 Fossochromis rostratus and a small venestus. I have moved the second rock pile to one end of the tank to free up some foraging space for the rostratus which they enjoy. Love the way the little morii now sticks with them.

Here are a couple of updated tank pics:

Cheers,

Jarrod

[Sloory]

I love it mate. Very well done!

How do peacocks go with plants? I reckon a couple of val plants would look awesome blended around the rocks.

May not be compatible with those fish? I've never had Malawi fish so I don't know.

[frankenstrat]

That's a great looking tank and background you've put together

[z18turbo]

Hi all,

Been a while now so time for an update. Have changed out the original rocks as they rusted badly which rightly or wrongly worried me so have gone for river rocks that I had lying around. Have added some Vallensia at one end to see how it goes, and more fish. The background has held up well, now with a coat of algae. Also after reading researching the coating (more along the lines of plywood builds) I realised that it is a liquid rubber and this can react with silicon which is what I think has happened with the whitening. I have also decided that this tank is far to small and so I will be using it as a learning experience and am planning what the next set up will be (minimum 1500 ltr).

Aulonocara jacobfreibergi 'Eureka Red'

Sciaenochromis fryeri

Pseudotropheus acei 'Tanzania'

Protomelas sp. steveni taiwan

Fossorochromis rostratus

Aulonocara stuartgranti "Ngara Flametail"

Aulonocara maulana

Aulonocara maylandi 'Sulferhead'

Will update again in a bit as they grow, and will start another thread when I get the bigger tank in the next few months.

Cheers, Jarrod

[Link2Hell]

Fish have come along nicely and tanks seems to have

matured well

keep the updates coming

[JamesF]

Nice looking setup and fish mate.

Great photos too.

[Ged]

Jarrod the tank and the fish look spectacular.

[z18turbo]

Thanks for the positive replies everyone.

A fast update this time. I noticed yesterday that there was a mature male Copadichromis borleyi advertised on Gumtree in the next suburb from me. This fish has been high on my must have list so I jumped on it. When I turned up the guy had a heavily stocked 4x2.5x2.5 with South American species, 4 huge really nice Zaire Frontosa, the borleyi and a 22 cm Buccochromis (he was unsure of species). It turns out that his African tank split and so the fish had to be moved. He is now selling the africans and sticking with a single South American display tank. I have never seen a Buccochromis in person and didn't know that much about them. Uncle Google on the phone stated not overly aggressive to other tank mates as long as they don't fit in it's mouth, this was echoed by his owner, discussed price and we now have a new tank boss. He was raised in a tank the same as mine so he should be happy for now till I get the big tank sorted. Photo's don't do him justice.

Copadichromis borleyi

I believe Buccochromis nototaenia

Cheers,

Jarrod

[malawi sand diver]

Hi Jarrod

Great selection of fish. The bucco is definitely a Nototaenia, as proven by the the blunt snout of this guy, compared to the more rounded snout of the Rhoadesii. They also seem to have a slightly deeper colour.

Really nice rostratus aswell, they can vary a lot but that one is a really green one. Also the Maylandi peacock is a great little fish, more timid than most aulonacara since they grow a lot smaller, but can get really dark when breeding, which makes the crest stand out.

Regards, Rob

[Sloory]

I agree with the above posts!

The background has aged very well with the algae on it

[z18turbo]

Hi All,

Been a while since updates so decided to try embedding a vid. Cheers for the replys and I.D. on the Bucco. This is the final incarnation of this tank. Some new fish, some old. had a power board fail and stupidly had all filters and air on it so that cost me 4, lesson learned. I had to move it as we are selling and as part of that it got cleaned and the background removed as it is now going to be turned into a sump for the 8x3x2 that is going to get built in-wall at our new house. I have an fx5 and fx6 connected atm that came with the big tank and these will be used initially while I convert this one over. I will probably end up leaving the 6 hooked up as well as the sump. Anyway another post will follow in the next few months with setting that up so this will be my last post in here.

cheers,

Jarrod

[Link2Hell]

Absolute cracking tank Jarrod and very very nice fish a credit to you

[Ged]

Jarrod that is 1 minute and 51 seconds of sheer beauty.

[TimB]

Mate, I dream of tanks like this. It is simply.........no words can describe it.........

Also, very good looking fish. Inspirational.

Tim

[myster619]

Spectacular photos Jarrod. Where did you get the Bucco Noto?