2ft shell dweller tank - my first Tang tank

Yes they do

I use a combination of the two with respect to the water changes. I have aragonite and base rock and limestone in the filters, and I buffer my water and use seachem "Cichlid Lake Salt" too

 

in my frontosa tank i have have crush coral for substrate, lime stone/sand stone from the beach my water out of the tap has a PH of 7.6. i add apsom salt and bicarb to buffer the PH to +8. never really bother to check the PH or KH anymore as i see no problem with the ph on 7.6. nowadays i just make sure my tank is clean and do water changes....dont worry with the PH so much. i cant say if the coral and limestone help to keep the ph stable as i do not do test any longer. this how i use the apsom salt and bicarb. i found that this is the cheapest effective way to buffer your water.
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RIFT LAKE BUFFER RECIPE ​

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[TD="width: 130, bgcolor: #eeeeee"]Ingredients
Epsom Salt
Marine Salt
Baking Soda[/TD]
[TD="width: 220, bgcolor: #dddddd"]Instructions
For every 5 US Gallons of water, add:
1-tablespoon Epsom salt,
1-teaspoon baking soda, and
1-teaspoon marine salt.
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Ah, thanks, that makes sense..I may do the same, but that will depend on my water parameters once I'm testing them accurately.
@Ebrahim thanks for your advice, I've heard of many people having success with a simpler approach to water parameters. I'll take your advice seriously, but knowing my paranoid tendencies, I'll probably start with Seachem buffers and once I'm more comfortable I'll look at taking a simpler approach. On a 2ft, seachem shouldn't cost me too much, but I can imagine that with your fronts, it would get expensive quickly!

 

I have just seen 2 babies, so something must be right in my tank

 

There is nothing like watching a proud mom with her babies

 

Cool man, sounds awesome! Post a pic if you can! I've had to postpone setting up this tank until Christmas until then I'm working on my 3ft planted..

 

I've been looking at lighting for my 3ft planted tank, and it made me think of an uncommon question - what lighting is best with a Tanganyikan biotope, particularly for a bottom dweller tank? Obviously lighting should not be intense (i.e. should be low wattage), but I'm thinking more in terms of what temperature (6500K, 10000K) or colour (white, yellow, blue) is best? Also, with multies, I wouldn't think that choosing a light to enhance the colour of the fish was critical, but maybe I'm wrong and the right light makes all the difference in their subtle colours? I would think lighting colour should be closer to blue/white, with a higher colour temperature....? But does anyone have comments on this?

 

Your pic has made me think of another question - what type of rock should one include in Lake Tanganyika biotopes? I see a lot of people recommend holey limestone rock, as it increases hardness and provides hiding spaces, but I have actually struggled to google which rock is naturally found in the lake. I also think holey rock can look a little weird.. Any other suggestions on rock?

 

I dont actually have an answer, but I'm also curious.

 

Right, so now that I'm actually gearing up to finally set up this tank (I'm spending Christmas and birthday money in advance!), Yuppiechef doesn't have their shells available any more and they're ignoring my emails!

So, where to get shells? Found a guy on eBay who's prepared to ship to South Africa.. Do you think the smaller ones would suffice, or just go as big as possible?

 

Hey @RoGe I am doing the same thing, spoke to Jack stone and he has a few shells that he will send with my fishes, got 2 tanks, one for multis and one for Brevis
(2 60 liter tanks) will post some pics soon. If I were you I'd go for the 30 escargot shells 28-36mm (69.94) should be fine, let me know what they look like, I may want to get some also.

 

Fish etc. Use to have some really nice shells that I got from them. Still have some if you want @GaryG

 

Aha! @Vis ....u the MAN! Yes please, are you coming out this way anytime soon? Otherwise i will organize with my sister in Rustenburg to get them from you.

 

Will let you know but should be there tomorrow or Thursday. Will whatsapp you.

 

Thanks Gerhard

 

Being in Durban sucks sometimes

 

Looking forward to seeing the tank setup roy. Use some sand stone to compliment the shells roy. Think I gave you a few pieces. That rocks would look awesome and natural in that tank.

 

How is your tang set up now?

Busy setting one up myself

 

Eish.. life happened.. taken a bit of a hiatus.. I just need a few grand spare cash, and the intention is to set up a 5ft tang tank, but it may be another two years before I've got through the other life items higher on the priority list.......