just thought id post a few pics of my new zeb tank. as some of you may know im new to keeping zebs so i wanted to show you all this incase iv made any obvious mistakes so i can make sure its all fine for when my little guys arrive. sorry for the poor pic quality my digital cameras crap! so if anyone can think of anything im missing or needs changing that would be great!
p.s iv still got to add a back-up heater and my eheim external and some java fern/moss
cheers,
andy
My Pleco's:
4 x L46
5 x L174
5 x L134
5 x L287
5 x L257
2 x L236
Looks pretty much alright to me, except for a couple of points.
Are you going to use an air pump?...they need highly oxygentated water/
Will the eheim be providing the current they require, I only ask as it's not installed yet and it doesn't look like there will be much current the way the tank looks at the moment.
How deep is that sand? You don't want pockets of bad water building up in the sand so depending on how thick it is you may want to reduce it slightly.
iv only got a fluval 4 in there at the moment but when its turned right up it produces a very strong current as the water splashes on the surface, once the eheims installed with a spray bar im hoping it will be enough to get the oxygen into the water...? but if not i could easily but an air stone in there. as for the sand it looks quite deep at the front but thats because the current has pused it there, i will be adding trumpet snails to keep it moving around.
cheers,
andy
My Pleco's:
4 x L46
5 x L174
5 x L134
5 x L287
5 x L257
2 x L236
I have to second the worries about the sand. Anything that's more than an inch deep can cause anaerobic areas. It's pretty hotly debated on some of the cichlid forums about whether this can cause problems, but I've personally had some little shell dwellers almost off themselves with piling sand up. I did a water change and siphoned the sand and levelled it back out. I saw the pockets burp once and could see the dark sand, but didn't realize it would cause them any distress. An hour later all the fish in the tank were gasping at the top. Another water change and quickly siphoning out all the black sand saved them, but they were most definitely highly distressed. At the higher temps we keep our zebras, and the fact that they live on the bottom, I'd be really nervous to have that as a possibility, personally.
Anerobic bacteria can only survive if there is some source of carbon down there. Did you add laterite, etc.? Or it could be that you used really fine sand such as Home Depot Playsand?
I definitely didn't use laterite or anything else in the tank I had the trouble in. Anaerobic bacteria are the source for the denitrification process in deep sand beds for Reef tanks. You use strictly oolitic sand, very fine. No additional sources of carbon there, either.
no he means tilted upwards towrds the roof just a tilt though to keep the eggs and fry from falling out (this is only things i have read might get a second opinoin on the matter)
