I am in the beginning stage of setting up my tank after a 7 year hiatus because my house was not big enough. Yeah, I know, shoulda bought a bigger house Anyway, it is a standard size 55g 48"x20"x12". I will be using PFS as my substrate, adding crushed coral to maintain 7.8 - 8.2 ph (my tap water in AZ comes out at 7.8 ph) building a UGJ system and double filters... magnum 350 (which I already have from before) and will buy the Eheim 2217 before I go live. Will run activated charcoal in the 350 & standard mix in the Eheim w/o charcoal of course. Now that I have the tank particulars out of the way... Here is my question about rocks.
When my tank was last up I had red lava rock, some boulders, some slate, some clay pots (hidden in the rocks). The other day at the LFS I saw a box of lace rock. I got to looking thru it and noted that it had great shape, nice natural caves and some really nice coloring on some of the rocks. All in all I thought it to be ideal... I was slightly worried about how rough some of the edges were but the local Cichlid expert said it will not be a problem. I am having second thoughts and and worried about my new babies scratching themselves on the rough edges... Should I be worried? Should I try to file down the rough edges with a coarse file? Looking for advice. Anxious to get started in earnest, but I have to travel for business in a couple of weeks so can't start the fish less cycle until I am able to be here to test the water etc...
Thanks for any input. THIS IS A GREAT FORUM!!!
When my tank was last up I had red lava rock, some boulders, some slate, some clay pots (hidden in the rocks). The other day at the LFS I saw a box of lace rock. I got to looking thru it and noted that it had great shape, nice natural caves and some really nice coloring on some of the rocks. All in all I thought it to be ideal... I was slightly worried about how rough some of the edges were but the local Cichlid expert said it will not be a problem. I am having second thoughts and and worried about my new babies scratching themselves on the rough edges... Should I be worried? Should I try to file down the rough edges with a coarse file? Looking for advice. Anxious to get started in earnest, but I have to travel for business in a couple of weeks so can't start the fish less cycle until I am able to be here to test the water etc...
Thanks for any input. THIS IS A GREAT FORUM!!!