SA/CA 112 GALLON HELP

Right all the sa/ca cichlid guys need help to set up and stock a 112 gallon tank for sa/ca .The tank has a 2000L filter a wave maker and coral sand in it.What would your advise be Thanks.ps the tank is 72x24x18 inch

take out the coral sand (ye need a lower ph compared to africans) and replace with either gravel or silica sand. no need for the wavemaker either. furnish the tank with rocks and/or bogwood instead. if your going for the choc's then you would want to make sure their plant safe if you would like to add a few plants.
places of retreat would be good and caves maybe in the form of unused terracota flower pots would do.
thats a decent size tank for an sa/ca setup.

I changed over from tangs to ca/sa cichlids but left in the coral with no problems. I just didnt want the hassle of clearing out the coral. You could do a nice community tank with 112 gallon of some of the less aggressive americans. I am growing on some jags a green terror and a jack dempesy in a tank with some geos, leporinus, barbs a rainbow cichlid and its working. I will eventually have to get rid of the smaller guys as the jags could do some damage but no aggression at all the last few months.

I agree with davey take out the coral sand as they need acidic water (lower ph), they would be more happier and will probably show more colour due to it. CA/SA cichlid love to dig and they will have that coral sand everywhere. Apart from that fire in a lot of bogwood and river boulders. The bogwood will lower the ph aswell.

I have kept and breed sa/ca bofore but think I would be well behind the times now

One of our tanks still has a slight bit off coral sand and gravel t mixed though aquarium sand but our tank is only sitting at PH 6.5 as our tap water is low.

mac wrote:One of our tanks still has a slight bit off coral sand and gravel t mixed though aquarium sand but our tank is only sitting at PH 6.5 as our tap water is low.

I was thinking about a sand gravel mix but think I need to know what the stocking will be before I make my mind up on the biope

Any ideas on stocking ?

mac wrote:Any ideas on stocking ?

Not till I get up to yours

Watch him Mac he brings a net

We could do with him at Adrians too then

mac wrote:We could do with him at Adrians too then

Now for sure i'll hire some security company for when you are coming down

On the topic of coral sand I am lead to believe it actually does very little to ph along with coral etc. It may do something to a few of the others like kh and gh but .ph is minimal, just like bog wood it keynote lower your ph.

You need to test your existing tape water and take all the readings and see what you need to lower first before deciding on what you need.

I find that hard to believe that coral sand does very little to the ph. It works for me, you may find it doesnt do much to the water as we do big large water changes so the water doesnt get much of a chance to get the true benefits from it. I know my uncle uses mixed coral gravel with his pea gravel to increase his ph as his tap water is quite acidic. He see's more of an effect as he would only do a 15% water change each week as his tank is very understocked.

Same with bog wood, its been buried in peat bogs and preserved from decay by the acidic bog conditions. These tannins will alter the pH of the water making it more acidic and will soften the water in a similar way that peat does. This can be counter balanced by adding Calcium carbonate like crushed seashells or coral sand/gravel.

I think its over emphasized to be honest minky. A mate of my is using crushed coral and a good bit of it too in his 1200l mixed American tank and they are coloured up nicely. I also find
That its easier to clean the coral sand and the geophagus love sifting through it.