The free 55

[Galabar]

Someone posted a free 55 gallon tank and stand on Craigslist (only 6 months old).  I hurried over and grabbed it.

Now what? 🙂

The office surround continues (with matching stands!!!)...

Edited May 27, 2023 by Galabar

[nabokovfan87]

Definitely need to upsize that chair mat!

I would start by just setting up the tank, get it going with plants and substrate and filtration. Once you have it scaped, maybe that is a great way to let the tank speak to you.  It could be a pretty awesome ram or apisto setup.  You have the floor space for a good group of corydoras.

If it were me, and it was my tank, I'd get plants going and then add in some ricefish and white clouds.   I would add in some corydoras for a breeding project and a group of plecos (4 breeding projects in one).

It's a fun tank.  Just keep in mind you're very limited on space front to back and need to have a light to push that depth.  Something lower demand like ferns and anubias would be great and work well too.  Maybe you have some shrimp in your future!

Based on the Seam color I think it's a top fin or marineland tank.  Given availability, likely a top fin branded.  Keep that in mind if you want lids and verify with those dimensions.  The top fins are slightly lower depth compared to the aqueons.

[lefty o]

put water in it!

[Galabar]

One thing I've always wants was electric yellow cichlids.  We'll see.  I may also experiment with a PVC UGF.

The tank seems to be of a nice quality (Marineland?), but the center brace is a bit on the thin side.  I might reinforce that with either an acrylic or glass strip.

 

[nabokovfan87]

Best I could do. This is the TopFin one and what the center brace looks like.

 

[Galabar]

On 5/29/2023 at 2:46 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Best I could do. This is the TopFin one and what the center brace looks like.

 

Yes, that definitely seems to be it. Thank you!!! 🙂

 

Here is a look at the UGF that I made.  That is the Sicce MULTI 1300 (320 GPH), which seems like a reasonable pump for this application.  I was also considering having lower flow powerhead on each end.  However, I'll try this first (I like the spray bar).  I'm not liking the white PVC above the substrate.  However black PVC is (a) hard to find and (b) expensive.  I'll see if I can find some... 🙂

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by Galabar

[Galabar]

With some schedule 80 PVC and polyethylene pipe, I was able to make it look better:

 

[Galabar]

Unfortunately, the Sicce pump is way to loud (I've had bad like with Sicce).  I'm probably going to return it and try some other options.

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/30/2023 at 12:46 PM, Galabar said:

Unfortunately, the Sicce pump is way to loud (I've had bad like with Sicce).  I'm probably going to return it and try some other options.

Likely air trapped. I had similar issues with other pumps in that style. Try running it without anything attached, just submerged and rotate it around to purge air.

[Galabar]

On 5/30/2023 at 2:12 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Likely air trapped. I had similar issues with other pumps in that style. Try running it without anything attached, just submerged and rotate it around to purge air.

I tried that, but it didn't help.  I took apart the outlet spigot and put it back on.  That seemed to help a lot.

Also, I got a couple of the "20 gallon" top fin glass tops.  They fit on the 55 gallon.  However, there is a tight tolerance there.  I needed to bring one of the tops back and get another one that fit better.

I also shortened the spray bar a bit, as I wasn't sure that a full length spray bar looked very good or was very helpful (and might get in the way of something I might want to add in the future.

I'm also wondering if I should go for two smaller powerheads on each end...

Edited May 30, 2023 by Galabar

[Lennie]

On 5/28/2023 at 8:13 AM, Galabar said:

One thing I've always wants was electric yellow cichlids. 

They are very cute. I had them ages ago.  We call them "Sarı Prenses" which means Yellow/Blonde Princess in Turkey 

They are usually hardy, easy to breed,  and beautiful.

I'm biased as the color yellow is my fav on fish 😄

Go for it !

[Galabar]

The wife wants silver dollars and minimal plants in the tank.  So, we may start with that.  I'm thinking of starting with 6 silver dollars (and rehoming 2 of them if they all reach adult size).  She was asking for red plants just in one corner and an open tank for the rest.  She also suggested the home depot pea gravel.  So, that is what we'll probably start with.

 

[Lennie]

On 5/31/2023 at 1:46 AM, Galabar said:

The wife wants silver dollars and minimal plants in the tank.  So, we may start with that.  I'm thinking of starting with 6 silver dollars (and rehoming 2 of them if they all reach adult size).  She was asking for red plants just in one corner and an open tank for the rest.  She also suggested the home depot pea gravel.  So, that is what we'll probably start with.

 

Silver dollars with plants? 

I would take some cuttings from your other tanks and see how it goes before investing on anything. They may end up as a snack

[Galabar]

On 5/30/2023 at 4:15 PM, Lennie said:

Silver dollars with plants? 

I would take some cuttings from your other tanks and see how it goes before investing on anything. They may end up as a snack

I've done a bit of research and there seem to be some green plants that they won't eat.  I'm not sure what they'll do to my current red plants (of which I'm not sure what they are).

Do those look delicious to either silver dollars or electric yellow labs? 🫣

Edited May 30, 2023 by Galabar

[Galabar]

Unfortunately, the Sicce has gotten loud again.  I'm guessing that the orientation it is in allows for air bubbles to collect.  I'll need to replace it.  I'm going to reconfigure the bottom tubes.  I cut more holes in the far end.  I'm going to separate this into two sections and have a powerhead on each.  I'll then put the tubes with the most holes in the middle.

This is silent:

Edited May 30, 2023 by Galabar

[Lennie]

On 5/31/2023 at 2:43 AM, Galabar said:

I've done a bit of research and there seem to be some green plants that they won't eat.  I'm not sure what they'll do to my current red plants (of which I'm not sure what they are).

Do those look delicious to either silver dollars or electric yellow labs? 🫣

pretty pink color!

Can it be Ludwigia arcuata or something?

I've never kept silver dollars, my biggest tank is 42g. I'm more of a nano tank guy, so cannot comment on it really. But they are likely gonna destroy it.

I remember reading some even trying to eat plastic plants 😄 

[Galabar]

On 5/30/2023 at 4:56 PM, Lennie said:

pretty pink color!

Can it be Ludwigia arcuata or something?

I've never kept silver dollars, my biggest tank is 42g. I'm more of a nano tank guy, so cannot comment on it really. But they are likely gonna destroy it.

I remember reading some even trying to eat plastic plants 😄 

Yes, I was guessing that it might be ludwigia arcuata or ammania gracilis.  In any event, if the silver dollars have a taste for my current plants, it might be a good thing.  They get pretty overgrown in the 40 gallon breeder.  So, throwing them to the silver dollars might be better than trashing them... 🙂

 

[A3M0N]

Just curious, what fittings are you using to connect to the Sicce? 

[Galabar]

1/2 female to 3/4 inch slip adapter.  I also just dipped the Sicce in the water without any fittings and it had the same noise. Interestingly, there is a chamber near the impeller that faces up in the orientation that I had it.  I think air may be accumulating in there.

 

[Odd Duck]

My tiger silver dollars haven’t been too much of an issue with the Amazon swords, Echinodorus bleherii, but it’s a bit hard to tell. The Jack Dempseys in that tank are hard on the plants so it’s pretty impossible to tell for sure who’s doing the damage. The damage does look the same as before the dollars went in, so I think it’s still mostly the Jacks.  Vallisneria was destroyed by the Jacks and didn’t survive long enough to see if the dollars would eat it.  I was hoping if I grew it big enough before I put it in there it might grow fast enough to survive overall.  I was wrong.  😝 

The Crinum calamistratum and natans have not fared well, either.  I was hoping they would be tough enough to survive but I think they’re too brittle and slow growing.

The lucky bamboo growing emerse has done great.  It’s got very tall straight stems, then spirals up above the water line.  Planted in a pot but the leaves are emerse.  Check the link below in my signature to my 75 gallon.

[Galabar]

I set up the 55 with a UGF:

I added some shrimp.  Unfortunately, they bit each other's heads off (it was gruesome):

Luckily, it did bring the ammonia level up to about 0.5 ppm - 1.0 ppm (reference solution on the left).  With that, I was able to add 16oz of Fritz Zyme 7 (I also sprinkled some substrate from another, cycled tank into the substrate):

So, I'm hoping that within a week or so, we'll get that ammonia back down to 0 ppm (even with the headless shrimp still in the tank).

[Galabar]

Still a subtle difference, I think...

It's hard to tell from the picture, but this is one that might fool me if I didn't use a reference solution.

Also seeing nitrite and nitrate:

This is going to be a simple tank, as per my wife's request: red plants and silver dollars (probably 6):

If the eat the plants, we'll try something else.

Edited June 12, 2023 by Galabar

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/11/2023 at 6:32 PM, Galabar said:

Still a subtle difference, I think...

It's hard to tell from the picture, but this is one that might fool me if I didn't use a reference solution.

Agreed. The one on the right looks to be about 0.5 or so.  Slightly difficult to tell but I lean towards a slight green hue as opposed to the pure yellow.

[Galabar]

On 6/11/2023 at 9:37 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Agreed. The one on the right looks to be about 0.5 or so.  Slightly difficult to tell but I lean towards a slight green hue as opposed to the pure yellow.

I think the brain (at least my brain) wants to see a "good" (yellow) result.  So, I always go with two tests... 🙂

I find it interesting that I can read the test better on an image taken from my phone when compared to the naked eye.  Maybe the photo adds contrast?

On a side note, I just took the rotting shrimp out last night and added the plants from clippings from my 40 breeder.

Edited June 12, 2023 by Galabar

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/11/2023 at 9:42 PM, Galabar said:

I find it interesting that I can read the test better on an image taken from my phone when compared to the naked eye.  Maybe the photo adds contrast?

Maybe!  Run all your test photos through a good image tool like lightroom though! 😂

It is either really easy or really difficult to read a test result.  I'm not certain why that is.