SA/CA community cichlid tank recommendations for a 600

[clekchau]

ok finally got around to working on the tank, part was due to lack of money and part because really busy at work but finally got the tank plumbed and running:

3 1 inch overflows plumbed, 2 goes directly to the wet/dry, 1 goes to a 150 gallon rubbermaid stock tank, note the pool pump someone recommended me, it goes by hp rather than gph but it flows as much as my previous sequence hammerhead at only $250.

Note I got 4 gallons worth of bio balls and it filled only 1/4 of the wet/dry biomedia resovior, ordered more, wow it holds ALOT of bioballs, should be able to support those messy big cichlids More bioballs should be arriving soon along with the heaters.

Had an extra stock tank so I plumbed one of the overflows to the stock tank, 1 flows to a drain in the ground that I can switch on and off for easy water changes, 1 flows back to the sump:

Check out the solaris LED's I bought, 72 inch 150 3 watt LED's , got a great deal that I couldn't pass up

Next steps:
Set up lights, still deciding might just put some 2x4's across tank to lay them on for now and decide on hanging system later, recommendations?

Start fishless cycle, going to add ammonia tomorrow.

 

[clekchau]

forgot tank full up and running, it is rather noisy, any recommendations to make it a little quieter?

another to do is to paint the outside bottom all black, what kind of paint do i use?

still not sure what kind of substrate i will use, had a very bad experience with scratches on an acylic aquarium so..

 

[clekchau]

put the lights on some 2 x 4's on top temporarily to see how it would look

 

[virgil2090]

green terror is weak? wow i always thought they were highly aggressive and could hold their own.

what other fish would be 'compatible'? i think trimac, black nasty, umbee, dovii all waaay too aggressive, what about a beani or some kind of veija?

another question, if i went fishless cycle, how many fish could i add , based on my plan it would be 30 juveniles, would that be too much?

thanks again, this forum is awesome!

for paint i have used chalk board paint,water-based,flat black color.other kinds would work well,i like water-based.2 or 3 coats.for vieja try synspilium,zonatus,black belt.

 

[clekchau]

for paint i have used chalk board paint,water-based,flat black color.other kinds would work well,i like water-based.2 or 3 coats.for vieja try synspilium,zonatus,black belt.

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ok thanks on the paint, yeah since i made the post you replied to i narrowed down my grow outs for this tank to 5 small juveniles of 14 various amphilophus, parachromis and vieja species, will let them grow out and weed out females/aggressive trouble makers. at least thats the plan

 

[virgil2090]

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ok thanks on the paint, yeah since i made the post you replied to i narrowed down my grow outs for this tank to 5 small juveniles of 14 various amphilophus, parachromis and vieja species, will let them grow out and weed out females/aggressive trouble makers. at least thats the plan

sounds good,hopefully as they grow together the pecking order will work.when do the fish get there?ordered or local store?

 

[clekchau]

sounds good,hopefully as they grow together the pecking order will work.when do the fish get there?ordered or local store?

i still haven't started my fishless cycle, waiting on heaters and remaining bio balls to come in

 

[clekchau]

built pulley system for lights

added 10 more gallons of bioballs, the wet dry is huge total of 15 gallons of bioballs and still could use a good 2 to 3 more gallons to completely fill if needed

started fishless cycle 3 days ago, already getting nitrite readings, is that normal i thought it took 3 to 4 weeks?? i didn't even seed.

 

[cebosound]

wow. this is an amazing project! ....... I can't wait for more.

 

[clekchau]

well i think i'm about halfway into the fishless cycle, regarding stocking i talked to both jeff rapps and gage at cichlid connection and they indicated i should be ok starting with sub adult males. gage said anything over 4" he can vent or sex by appearance if its a male. so that makes it alot easier to get 5-8" subadults, probably about 20 total fish and let them grow up and weed out any potential trouble makers down to about 12 fish, any opinions on this?

here is the list i'm contemplating on getting:

Tangled up in Cichlids:
chancho
sagittae
trimaculatus
xiloaensis
red Isletas
friedrichsthalli
synspilus
labiatus white w/ red

Cichlid Connection
amarillo
lyonsi
godmanni
bocourti Lago de Izabal
carpintis Vontehillo turquoise lg. spot
pearsei Rio Zapote
loisellei 'guapote amarillo'
fenestratus 'blue/red head'
hartwegi 'red freckle cichlid'
bifasciatus 'red speck cichlid'
maculacauda 'black belt cichlid'
zonatus 'mojarra prieta'
argentea 'pepper cichlid'
regani 'gold back'

that is a total of 22 4" to 8" males, feedback?