New around here and this is my first thread!
I have kept fish since the 80's with the customary growing up break for some reason.
Fast forward and all of a sudden I have three tanks in the house! A 50G bow front community, a 60G with my oddball monsters and a 30G full of Tiger Barbs... Not too many questions please!!! LOL!
My oddballs are a 7 inch Poly, two 6 inch Golden weather loaches, an eight inch Tire Track eel and a Doctor fish sold to me as a goby and I almost forgot about my beautiful Clown Pleco!
I have wanted a buddy for my Poly for quite some time now, it's about a year old and growing nicely.
Browsing the classifieds in my area I found a guy selling 8 inch Poly's, he had 3.
I only wanted one since my tank was small and I was not ready for a monster tank just quite yet...
10 minutes later and I am the proud new owner of three 10 to 12 inch Poly's and a gorgeous African Leaf Fish!
After a week of them being in the 60G and having bad feelings the whole week about them being so cramped!
Christmas day I found a 150G tank with stand and had it at my place before lunch!
First was a thorough cleaning with hot water and a bit of vinegar for the hard water stains.
It came out really nice and clean.
I removed the wooden surround, wood filled some areas and sanded it down and painted it glossy black!
Turned the bottom left panel into an access door with magnets holding it in place for easy access.
150 Lbs of pool filter sand and two bags containing plant root fertilizer for one side of the tank, the sand bed will slope up to the right as well as towards the front of the tank. How long it actually stays that way with these fish is another story!
The rocks were placed on the aquarium floor for stability and some caves were built on the left side.
I then painted the back of the tank black. My Tiger Barb tank has a black background and it looks amazing, really makes the fish pop!
I filled the tank tonight, placed the 1000W heater in, thermometer, two surface skimmer pumps and an old, cheap Tetra Cascade filter to provide water movement to help move the heated water around. I will be adding a second heater to the tank as a precaution. Prime was added to remove unwanted chemicals.
Tomorrow morning I plan on testing the water and if it is good and up to temp, I will move the Tiger barbs in along with their two year old Eheim cannister filter as well as an AquaClear 50, both very established filters.
As I take down my other tanks I will add in their decorations, mostly wood and rocks and plants to make them feel more at home.
Water testing will continue daily but I will most likely be able to slowly add my other fish after 2 weeks.
For filtration I am planning on using all 3 of my Fluval 407 filter all together by linking them. The first will be 100% mechanical filtration media, the second will be full of biological filter media that is fully seasoned and the third will also have bio media with water polishing pads before the return to the tank. There will also be powerheads to create water movement through the tank.
I realize that this is not really a "monster" tank but for me it is a very large upgrade!
My last 6 foot tank was more than 20 years ago and was a marine fish tank! Loved those bright fish!
I will update tomorrow with progress and pictures of the tank and stand!
I have kept fish since the 80's with the customary growing up break for some reason.
Fast forward and all of a sudden I have three tanks in the house! A 50G bow front community, a 60G with my oddball monsters and a 30G full of Tiger Barbs... Not too many questions please!!! LOL!
My oddballs are a 7 inch Poly, two 6 inch Golden weather loaches, an eight inch Tire Track eel and a Doctor fish sold to me as a goby and I almost forgot about my beautiful Clown Pleco!
I have wanted a buddy for my Poly for quite some time now, it's about a year old and growing nicely.
Browsing the classifieds in my area I found a guy selling 8 inch Poly's, he had 3.
I only wanted one since my tank was small and I was not ready for a monster tank just quite yet...
10 minutes later and I am the proud new owner of three 10 to 12 inch Poly's and a gorgeous African Leaf Fish!
After a week of them being in the 60G and having bad feelings the whole week about them being so cramped!
Christmas day I found a 150G tank with stand and had it at my place before lunch!
First was a thorough cleaning with hot water and a bit of vinegar for the hard water stains.
It came out really nice and clean.
I removed the wooden surround, wood filled some areas and sanded it down and painted it glossy black!
Turned the bottom left panel into an access door with magnets holding it in place for easy access.
150 Lbs of pool filter sand and two bags containing plant root fertilizer for one side of the tank, the sand bed will slope up to the right as well as towards the front of the tank. How long it actually stays that way with these fish is another story!
The rocks were placed on the aquarium floor for stability and some caves were built on the left side.
I then painted the back of the tank black. My Tiger Barb tank has a black background and it looks amazing, really makes the fish pop!
I filled the tank tonight, placed the 1000W heater in, thermometer, two surface skimmer pumps and an old, cheap Tetra Cascade filter to provide water movement to help move the heated water around. I will be adding a second heater to the tank as a precaution. Prime was added to remove unwanted chemicals.
Tomorrow morning I plan on testing the water and if it is good and up to temp, I will move the Tiger barbs in along with their two year old Eheim cannister filter as well as an AquaClear 50, both very established filters.
As I take down my other tanks I will add in their decorations, mostly wood and rocks and plants to make them feel more at home.
Water testing will continue daily but I will most likely be able to slowly add my other fish after 2 weeks.
For filtration I am planning on using all 3 of my Fluval 407 filter all together by linking them. The first will be 100% mechanical filtration media, the second will be full of biological filter media that is fully seasoned and the third will also have bio media with water polishing pads before the return to the tank. There will also be powerheads to create water movement through the tank.
I realize that this is not really a "monster" tank but for me it is a very large upgrade!
My last 6 foot tank was more than 20 years ago and was a marine fish tank! Loved those bright fish!
I will update tomorrow with progress and pictures of the tank and stand!
