Trelize

- Anything that comes near the tank spooks them ! - going to be trying new lights (Current freshwater + ) - I do have ultra clear glass - what type of dither fish would you suggest ?

I have had them in for almost 3 months now , and were always walking past the tank so I think enough activity ? I was looking at your build thread , awesome mate ! I was thinking of getting some red top trewavasae too or Peacocks , not sure yet ? My lighting is not dimmable unfortunately , but I have Current Freshwater + units on the way !! David you are welcome to say I told you so !

So the tank has been running for almost 3 months now and so far everything is running pretty smoothly apart from one thing ... Apart from feeding time and then only while they are eating I never see the Dems or yellows , actually I am wrong ... from about 10 meters away they do tend to make an appearance but as soon as I even think of coming any closer ... GONE ! Its getting a little stale saying to people believe it or not there are actually fish in there :fshi: I know they are Juvi's and are supposed to grow out of it but I really think if anything they are becoming more skittish and shy as time goes on ? I have been trying to figure out what's up by trawling the net and have come up with these possibilities and was hoping for opinions please ? - Juvenile fish ? - Not enough stock ( I have 20 Dems and 20 Yellows - 540 litre ) - Lighting too bright :dno:

Valray on TM has these http://www.trademe.co.nz/pets-animals/fish/pumps-filters/auction-739932185.htm

AWESOME !! Your tanks are amazing , crystal clear water and so very natural looking ! Inspirational ! !drool: I would love to know how you set up to take the photos ?

That looks awesome !!! The rocks look great with the white sand :spop:

After some more opinions please ... :fshi: Do any of you guys and girls use additives ? Like Brightwell Cichlid Code or Seachem Cichlid Trace ? Are they any good , worth the money or just an expense that probably isn't needed ?

Thanks for all the advice , Re-designing the inlet was definitely the way to go , and looking back makes better sense , my turnover is pretty much the same but this way I was able to cut down the mad currents that I had , and the fish seem to prefer it to so a win all around ! :bggrn:

Thanks for all the advice ! Last night I tried a few things with some Hansen fittings I had spare and split the return in the tank with a T piece and 1 90 degree piece and it definitely cut down the current to a point that I am happy with , looks terrible but its only version 1.0 :lar: Version 2.0 with spray bar should be happening tomorrow .

Tank is around 650 litres

I have one of these Flow eductor's 25mm and its screws on to a 32mm inlet , even without it I still have massive amounts of flow , I have found that the educator to give more of a Jetting effect though ... I was going to do the bypass and possibly remove the educator . Could be an option , makes sense, but I don't fancy opening the pump as it is still under warranty .

Having had my tank running for a few weeks now , I have always been thinking that I possibly have too much flow ? The Cichlids do tend to stay on only the one side of the tank that has slightly less current , and tend to chill most of the time in the caves , reading up some have suggested that a little less flow would entice them out a bit more , also the awesome tanks I have physically seen from members on FNZAS did not have as crazy flow as my set up . I do have a massive 7500lph return pump which I now figure could be overkill !? but I guess I will have really fit fish :lar: I was thinking of splitting the return and doing a bypass back to the beginning of the sump with a ball valve on the bypass so I can control the flow better ? I would love some opinions on this please ? - doing the "bypass" - Too much flow ? Thanks T. :fshi:

I have stocked Juvi's as this is my first cichlid tank and I figured I would like to watch them grow and figure the rest out as I go , at a later stage if needed I would consider swopping out .

Thank you everyone ... :fshi:

A quick update of how things are going ... :fshi: water parameters are where they should be and I could not be happier :bggrn: thank you to all the forum members that have given great advice and helped with stocking and building my tank :thup:

As far as I am aware it does help as a buffer , as does the Cichlid mix , But I don't think its all you need ? I also have 2.7kg Coral rubble in the sump, if I need anything further I will be adding Crushed Shell in the Sump . Learning myself as I go ...

I have 1-2mm Black marble chip mixed with Caribsea Cichlid mix , about 50/50

Terrible pic , but here are a few of the new kids on the block

Hey Ryan , Yeah they are loving the new digs , I thought I threw one of the yellows away with the bag , but turns out he was just real good at hiding , he was out and about this morning though I will try and be a bit more patient with the cloudiness :slfg: I do have a bit more filter wool that I will use when I get home ...

I have had the tank running for almost a week , yesterday I added some healthy used media from another tank and around 20 Juvenile Dems that are exploring like mad , Question is , the tank has been constantly cloudy from day 1 , will it go away ? would there be any harm in adding a bit of Carbon ?

Yup , she was always keen on a tank from the beginning , I don't think she expected it to get as big as it ended up though :fshi: That said we both decided it would be great if we could make it a feature in the house hence the through wall part of it Thank you , the side without the cabinet is definitely my favorite , it does kinda feel like I have 2 tanks really :lar: Thanks mate , but its been a learning curve as I have been going and I have never had cichlids before so looking forwards to learning all about them and their parameters , but enjoying it and can't wait to get them all in !

Been running it over the entire weekend , still cloudy ?? anyways I am sure it will eventually go once I have some fish in there and the filter is actually doing something other than just flowing clean water through it ... :fshi: I have 15-20 Dems on the ready so hoping to get them in by the weekend along with some Media from an established tank to kick the filter into life . A few more pic's of the finished product , I am well pleased with the outcome , actually I am over the moon ! The Wife loves it too !

thanks mate , I got some ammonia and was considering going down that route but it was suggested to me that if I got some filter media from a healthy existing tank and as I am starting with juvenile fish I should not have any issues and should just keep an eye on things so for the moment I am thinking that could be the way ?

Here is an image of mine when I got it and was planning

Finally !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A little cloudy still but water is in !! 1 small leak on the return line but not a major , I must say thanks to everyone for the advice given and DavidR thanks for suggesting the Herbie overflow it works great , I do need to tweak it a bit more by extending the emergency drain by about a cm or 2 then it should be pretty quiet ! :fshi: