Building a 600l tank, questions?

[myfishybuisness]

Hey guys been a while, so now ive decided to redo my room which includes upgrading the current 330l to a 600l 6ft by 2ft square ( made by greg, have just messaged him am in the proccess of ordering the tank), i will most likely be doing a large south american cichlid tank.

Now the plan is to build a rimu cabinet out of heart rimu to get that beautiful red grain colour, also with a matching hood.

The filters will be 2x aquaone nautlis 2700 filter, maybe wave makers? First question- what wave makers should i use, i have heard tunze are the best but what models and do i need a controller etc( im completely new to wavemakers) i am wanting ALOT of flow in this tank, so suggestions?

The heaters will be 2 x 300w eheim jager heaters

Substrate im wanting a fine dark grey grit but am having trouble finding anythink like what i have pictured in my head, i wanted sand orginally but i would be un able to gravel vac it so i think a fine grit maybe better suited? Any suggestions? Ideas?

Lighting will most likey a twin 5ft light fitting, possible a twin t5 ballast 54w mounted to the hood- will this be enough? I do like quite bright tanks so will this be enough?

Anything ive missed? Any suggestions? Questions? Will be a slow build so wont be updating all the time but will keep you posted and try to take lots of photos :cophot:

[kinnadian]

Jebao pumps are of reasonable quality and very cheap. Two RW-4's would probably be enough flow for african cichlids (http://www.fish-street.com/jebao_rw-4_wave_maker?search_string=rw-4&search_category_id=0).

I was unable to find dark grey sand when I was looking. You may have to import some? I asked all the fish shops and nothing.

The best I could get was a dirty light grey one, which was just builders sand from Mitre10. You can vac sand, you just need a REALLY large diameter vac which will pick up light detritus but not light sand; the sand will recirculate inside of the vac but not a lot goes out the top.

I don't think that will be quite enough lighting, if you like it bright.

[myfishybuisness]

In regards to the jebo pumps are they reliable, i have heard stories about jebo quality, i dont mind paying extra for good quality. Also it will be a south american cichlid tank :thup:

I have looked on hollywoods website and they do a dark fine grit i may have a look and use that.

[David R]

I wouldn't bother with wavemakers for CA cichlids, many of them come from lakes/cenotes so the current isn't needed. As for the substrate, they'll probably dig a lot and stir it up so gravel vacuuming may not work anyway. Based on my experiences with the sand you'll just be able to siphon off any accumulated waste, stir it up and level it out, then siphon off anything else you've disturbed. And of course because of the digging make sure the canister intakes are well off the substrate!

Try Stone and Water World on Marua Rd, they used to sell a couple of different grades of fairly fine grey grit like this;

[Trelize]

I have 2 x Tunze 6045's in my 1700 x 600 x 600 tank and that combined with the return pump gives me more than enough flow , the 6045's are not controllable , you can dial them back a bit with the blue sleeve that you move up and down .

I found that if you want controllable Tunze's they jump up quite a bit more , hence I "settled" on the 6045's and have been quite happy with the result.

Ideally I would have liked to have gotten the Ecotech Vortech MP40 but at around $ 800 its quite a bit to lay out :fshi:

I also got my gravel from Stone and Water World on Marua rd , I got 1-2mm Black marble chip and was quite happy with the result , I mixed 1 bag of the Chip with 2 bags of Cichlid mix

[myfishybuisness]

Thanks guys i guess ill leave the wave makers at this point then, and i will make a trip to stone and waterworld on monday and have a look as to what im interested in

[David R]

Ideally I would have liked to have gotten the Ecotech Vortech MP40 but at around $ 800 its quite a bit to lay out

+1 to that, I wish the Chinese would hurry up with a cheap knock off of them, maybe without so many features, for those of us that just want some water movement without the wires in the tank...

[Adrienne]

I have the black grit which while darker than the silver grit is not really all that black. If you are over this way and want to look at it in the tank before heading to stone and water world you are welcome to call in.

[myfishybuisness]

Hi adrienne, i dont mind it being that dark grey like in the picture david posted, that was the look i was actually after

[kinnadian]

+1 to that, I wish the Chinese would hurry up with a cheap knock off of them, maybe without so many features, for those of us that just want some water movement without the wires in the tank...

The external motor is IP protected, I think even the Chinese who are "protected" by poor IP infringement laws in China fear the repercussions of copying the Vortechs.

[blueether]

The external motor is IP protected, I think even the Chinese who are "protected" by poor IP infringement laws in China fear the repercussions of copying the Vortechs.

I'm guessing they just use a magnetic couple drive (or what ever it really called), the tech has been around for a long time - sometimes I truly hate IP law and how far some people (particularly the US) push it

[myfishybuisness]

So whats everyones opinion, should i not worry about wave makers?