Subj : Re: The Mystery Almost Solved To : Michael Grant From : Jeff Snyder Date : Fri Jul 03 2009 05:24 pm On 07/03/09, Jeff Snyder quoted Michael Grant: The Mystery Almost Solved. MG> No, just gravel. It's 75 gallons, so I'd need a pretty powerful powerhead MG> to drive a UGF for it. I don't know what the dimensions of your tank are, but if it is four feet long, a Penguin 1140 powerhead situated in the back left and right corners might cover it. But if it is a wide (front to back) tank, like say 24", or if it is five feet long, then you might need to double that number to four powerheads. On a typical four-foot tank, I would always use a UGF with a Penguin 1140 powerhead on a lift tube in the back left and right corners. In addition, I would use two Penguin 330 Bio-Wheel filters, one on the back left side, and one on the back right side. This worked great for both freshwater and marine tanks. Of course, I no longer use UGF's. MG> I've been looking at sand. A local shop has sand that is suited to what MG> African cichlids are used to. I think it may have even said that it was MG> from Malawi lake itself. I may add that when I do the teardown. I don't really think that you need any kind of "special" sand. As long as it is thoroughly cleaned, and you are sure that it doesn't contain any chemical contaminants, it will suit your purposes fine, and your fish will be blowing you kisses for months! It also looks so nice in the tank. :) As far as the sand being from Lake Malawi, it could be, but it sounds like a lot of salesman hype to me...and they'll probably charge you an arm and a leg for sand that they probably got from a nearby construction site! :) My sand, and my rocks -- limestone and coral rock -- all came from my back yard. Of course, I live on an island, so I have a distinct advantage which you may not have. Even our water here is perfect for Malawi cichlids. In fact, when I bred Angels and Discus over a dozen years ago, I had to use those water-softening pillows to soften the water enough so that they would breed. MG> I have a very good canister filter, although I do admit that I tend to let MG> it go too long between cleaning at times. Other than the canister filter, do you use anything else for water circulation? If not, you might want to consider adding a strong powerhead to the back left and right corners of the tank. I suggest Penguin 1140's. Point them diagonally so that they are both pointing towards the front center section of the tank. If you point them directly ahead, you might have a watery mess to deal with. Just a suggestion. I used to use Magnum canister filters, but no longer do. The problem here is that we have frequent power outages. If a canister is left off for too long, you end up with a lethal anaerobic environment. When the power returns, all of that hydrogen sulfide and methane gets shot into the tank. Not only does it smell bad, but you might end up with some dead fish bodies floating in your tank. :) Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Download Center 4 Mac BBS Software & Christian Files. We Use Hermes II --- Hermes Web Tosser 1.1 * Origin: Armageddon BBS -- Guam, Mariana Islands (1:345/3777.0) .