Making Tunnels and Caves For Cichlids

I recently made some caves and passageways for my African cichlids using PVC pipes, some aquarium silicon and cichlid substrate. I picked up a variety of elbows and t's for less then $1 each at Home Depot. I picked out some one and a half to two inch pipes so that my smaller female cichlids can hide from the big meanie in the tank my male Melanochromis Chipokae.

I put a few inches of Eco-Complete African Cichlid Substrate* at the bottom of my tank and I wanted the PVC caves to blend in, so I took out some of the substrate, dried it and then "glued" it on to my PVC elbows with the aquarium silicon. Next I plan to put the PVC "caves" on the bottom of the tank with some thin flat rocks covering them.

*From the manufacturer:
Eco-Complete™ African Cichlid Substrate -The complete African cichlid substrate!Minereralogically complete! Contains Aragonite!Maintains the high pH African Cichlids needwithout the constant addition of chemicals.Buffers automatically for the life of the aquarium!Adds calcium, magnesium, carbonate and more!Dark color encourages the richest coloration infishes. Unique composition re-creates theAfrican Rift Lake environment. High internalporosity for maximum biological capacity - keepmore fish healthier... longer!Biologically complete! Contains live water-purifying bacteria that makes cycling a newaquarium faster and safer! 4 equals 1! You wouldhave to buy 4 bags of ordinary gravel to equal thesurface area available for water purifying bacteriain this one bag of Eco-Complete™ AfricanCichlid Substrate! Creates a natural biologicalbalance to discourage nuisance algae. No rinsing! Packed in water conditioning solution forimmediate results!