Caton's 75g custom rimless tank with African Cichlids

I figured I would start this thread now because I am picking up this wonderful tank in 8 days :icon_cool
The tank is really 74.81g but I figured I would round up

I am getting the aquarium from Shua and I am trading a goat skull straight up for this aquarium. When I bought 4 bottles of hydrogen peroxide (for the skull) and mineral spirits from wal-mart, the lady at the check-out gave me quite the look (mineral spirits are for re-siliconing another tank).

The tank dimensions are 48"x24"x15"h which is pretty good for africans.

Stocking will be:
8- Labidochromis caeruleus (Yellow lab)
8-Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei"
8-Cyrtocara moorii
4-Synodontis njassae

Filtration is going to be two canisters, not sure what kind and plan on doing 1 or 2 UGJ's with power-heads and sponges.

Lighting is going to be a really nice light from fishneedit.com

Decor:
Slate rock from patio store or some round rocks I find around my house, I was told slate rock is too sharp.
Black sand
Black Backround or 3d background of some sort
Plants around the tank, like a plant wall around it.
Anubias and vals (if the fish want them, if not, oh well)


Here is a picture of the tank being built (pic came from Shua who is building it):
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In-case you didn't notice the fish are all from lake malawi and I would like to keep it that way (fauna being all bio-type) but for the plants I could not find any aquatic plants native to lake malawi so I bent the bio-type rules.

This is going to be the tank that I spend most my time and $$$ into because it is big, really nice, and brand new. I would like to keep it that way. I plan on moving all my other fish to new homes so that way I can keep a little breeding situation going. If I spent over $250 into my 10g...I don't even want to think what this is going to cost.

Oh, and I have some mesh coming in from a guy on plantedtank.net who gave me a really good deal on his remaining stash of it that he used on his rimless.

What filter should I use? I want some UGJ's for some current. I am going to hang the lights. Scape is going to be very open with all the rocks lining the back of the tank. I really need to find where I can get 150lbs of black sand for cheap....

Suggestions or ideas welcome

are you going to use anything else with your black sand for your planted tank?

8-Cyrtocara moorii
4-Synodontis njassae
sweet on my list of fish to get, I really need to get upto Seattle.
Tank looks awesome, can't wait for the finish setup.

When u find those cheap black sand let me know I new some.

I'm stoked that your stoked lol

I will not have anything else in with the black sand. I hope to find some sandblasting sand over in michigan while I am there and shipping it all here via priority boxes (yes, all 150lbs of it) or calling home depot.

Shua, I am totally stoked. I can't wait for this tank, it is my first rimless and brand new tank I have. Gonna go all out for it.

So we started loading the tank into the car and it was rubbing against the chairs in the back seat, it wasn't moving and my father said bring it it, I push and it went against a bolt that kept the seatbelt in place and the side pane of glass CRACKED , I will be getting a new pane next month from Joshua, but also, I will be getting the tank drilled for a sump system. Not a bad thing, just that it will take longer and the guy has to pay to get a new piece of glass for it. Nice tank other than the fact it cracked.

Lol, Joshua kept trying to make it up when it was my fault, right after he split his finger open with a knife...Nice guy

well theres a place in tacoma on the back side of 11th st bridge at the tide flats ..its a sand blasting co , 50 lbs of black sand for 17.50 ... its a lil finner than the home depot silica , but its good sand ...hope that helps , instead of shipping from michigan .

Really? I wonder if I could call them to get the sand... or just go next month

I am doing a SW instead... so the sand is going to be a whole lot more if I get live sand and its gonna be expensive...but I think its worth it to start a SW tank...$1500 dollars worth it....