45 gal Aquarium — Brief Setup Journal

Fish Folk · June 6, 2023

Somehow I persuaded my sweet wife to permit another aquarium in our basement. “My last one, I promise!”

My LFS owner got ahold of an incredible deal… a new, lightly used, 45 gal (same footprint as a 55 gal)… with LED, loads of Active Flora substrate… an Oase canister filter.. . glass lids… wooden cabinet stand… _all_ for $200. If this happens to you, don’t say no!

So, I moved my 33-gal long out of the small fishroom…

Out onto an unused fireplace mantle…

That room is becoming a full fishroom now…

Now for the new tank. I got it in place Sunday, set up the canister, poured in substrate, and immediately squeezed a massive sponge filter into the water…

This really helps to kickstart the bio colonies inside a canister filter. After a few hours it began to clear…

And by 24 hours, it was looking nearly clear…

Now, stocking was planned: bring NANF (North American Native Fish) from my son’s high school biology classroom tank over here, along with a powerhead, rocks, and plants. That tear-down was tiring…

I used the cooler that I transport Natives from streamside for moving the fish. I have a cheap battery powered pump running a sponge filter…

I had tested the water just to be reasonably sure there were no disasters in the works.

Now, enjoying their opening days, here is a video from tonight…

Stocking: 3x Rainbow Darters, 2x Banded Sunfish, 8x Southern Redbelly Dace, 12x (?) Rainbow Shiners.

I took some footage earlier with different lighting. The Sunfish came out…

I’d say this is a wonderfully entertaining tank for me to watch. The Discus tank opposite in the little room, though populated by some great fish, is rather slow / still by comparison.

Edited June 6, 2023 by Fish Folk