65 Gallon re-build and setup

[DebSills]

Back in October, I found a 65 gallon tank (36x18x24) for $45 on FB Marketplace...not a bad deal, but it needed some work and I wanted to build my own stand for it. I work from home 4 days a week, so this tank is my zoom backdrop and also just as a stress reducer when I have to deal with annoying people 🙂

Here's the tank after we took the top rim off - it was cracked and there was some dirt between the glass and the frame from the previous owner leaving it outside on its side. It was not a pretty removal, but it made it a lot easier to get all of the silicone off - which took a LONG time...at some point, someone tried to reseal the tank but just went over the old stuff, so it wasn't pretty

here's the tank after I removed all of the silicone (forgive the blue...its an old Aqueon light that I threw on there)

my stand build - it has since been painted black

Heres the "pre-water" look

And here's the (almost finished...I might add more H'ra and/or a rock or two from another tank) planted look - forgive the cloudy water, most of the plants have been in other tanks for over a year, so its going through a bit of a bacterial die-off

 

I'm still not 100% sure what I want to put in there, so if anyone has some suggestions, let me know

I will be putting in (from other tanks); 6 pepper cories, ~5 Otos (2 existing, plus 3 new at some point), ~10 amano shrimp, (~10 CPDs...not sure on these)

My current thought is to add Black Ruby Barbs and Bloodfin Tetras (maybe 9-12 of each), but again...not "married" to this idea

Tank is currently sitting right around 73, but will most likely push it up to ~75/76 once I add the second ACO heater (currently in use), sponge filter, FX2, Small Aquasky light just for the sunrise/sunset, ACO 36in light, currently set at 40% (turned up to 100% for pic above), currently running a tetra air pump, but will be swapping with ACO pump so I have the battery backup if needed in the future.

Let me know what you think 

I'm happy with it so far 🙂

 

*edited to swap last picture for one with fewer glare

Edited February 28 by DebSills

[Tlindsey]

On 2/27/2024 at 3:51 PM, DebSills said:

Back in October, I found a 65 gallon tank (36x18x24) for $45 on FB Marketplace...not a bad deal, but it needed some work and I wanted to build my own stand for it. I work from home 4 days a week, so this tank is my zoom backdrop and also just as a stress reducer when I have to deal with annoying people 🙂

Here's the tank after we took the top rim off - it was cracked and there was some dirt between the glass and the frame from the previous owner leaving it outside on its side. It was not a pretty removal, but it made it a lot easier to get all of the silicone off - which took a LONG time...at some point, someone tried to reseal the tank but just went over the old stuff, so it wasn't pretty

here's the tank after I removed all of the silicone (forgive the blue...its an old Aqueon light that I threw on there)

my stand build - it has since been painted black

Heres the "pre-water" look

And here's the (almost finished...I might add more H'ra and/or a rock or two from another tank) planted look - forgive the cloudy water, most of the plants have been in other tanks for over a year, so its going through a bit of a bacterial die-off

 

I'm still not 100% sure what I want to put in there, so if anyone has some suggestions, let me know

I will be putting in (from other tanks); 6 pepper cories, ~5 Otos (2 existing, plus 3 new at some point), ~10 amano shrimp, (~10 CPDs...not sure on these)

My current thought is to add Black Ruby Barbs and Bloodfin Tetras (maybe 9-12 of each), but again...not "married" to this idea

Tank is currently sitting right around 73, but will most likely push it up to ~75/76 once I add the second ACO heater (currently in use), sponge filter, FX2, Small Aquasky light just for the sunrise/sunset, ACO 36in light, currently set at 40% (turned up to 100% for pic above), currently running a tetra air pump, but will be swapping with ACO pump so I have the battery backup if needed in the future.

Let me know what you think 

I'm happy with it so far 🙂

 

*edited to swap last picture for one with fewer glare

@DebSills I think you did a excellent job on the aquarium rebuild and diy stand build. I felt extremely proud of myself when I got the confidence to build a stand for a 180gal. 

[Tlindsey]

On 3/1/2024 at 6:48 AM, Tlindsey said:

@DebSills I think you did a excellent job on the aquarium rebuild and diy stand build. I felt extremely proud of myself when I got the confidence to build a stand for a 180gal. 

Pic of my stand build 2016.https://photos.app.goo.gl/MCAxhkaee15Hx4TVA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qog4yUiYptzY3BmV8

Edited March 1 by Tlindsey

[Whitecloud09]

On 2/27/2024 at 3:51 PM, DebSills said:

Back in October, I found a 65 gallon tank (36x18x24) for $45 on FB Marketplace...not a bad deal, but it needed some work and I wanted to build my own stand for it. I work from home 4 days a week, so this tank is my zoom backdrop and also just as a stress reducer when I have to deal with annoying people 🙂

Here's the tank after we took the top rim off - it was cracked and there was some dirt between the glass and the frame from the previous owner leaving it outside on its side. It was not a pretty removal, but it made it a lot easier to get all of the silicone off - which took a LONG time...at some point, someone tried to reseal the tank but just went over the old stuff, so it wasn't pretty

here's the tank after I removed all of the silicone (forgive the blue...its an old Aqueon light that I threw on there)

my stand build - it has since been painted black

Heres the "pre-water" look

And here's the (almost finished...I might add more H'ra and/or a rock or two from another tank) planted look - forgive the cloudy water, most of the plants have been in other tanks for over a year, so its going through a bit of a bacterial die-off

 

I'm still not 100% sure what I want to put in there, so if anyone has some suggestions, let me know

I will be putting in (from other tanks); 6 pepper cories, ~5 Otos (2 existing, plus 3 new at some point), ~10 amano shrimp, (~10 CPDs...not sure on these)

My current thought is to add Black Ruby Barbs and Bloodfin Tetras (maybe 9-12 of each), but again...not "married" to this idea

Tank is currently sitting right around 73, but will most likely push it up to ~75/76 once I add the second ACO heater (currently in use), sponge filter, FX2, Small Aquasky light just for the sunrise/sunset, ACO 36in light, currently set at 40% (turned up to 100% for pic above), currently running a tetra air pump, but will be swapping with ACO pump so I have the battery backup if needed in the future.

Let me know what you think 

I'm happy with it so far 🙂

 

*edited to swap last picture for one with fewer glare

Nice build u have there @DebSills! I would be 100% happy with that build! 

[DebSills]

thanks!! I am pretty proud that I was able to rebuild/reseal the tank (and it doesn't leak 🙂 ) and build the tank stand - its not the prettiest, but its strong as heck and I won't have to worry about water damage to a pressed board stand

some of my crypts are dying back and I'm a bit heartbroken about my huge one, but it will all come back eventually 🙂 I just have to force the patience and not keep messing with them

I'm going to finish up making my lids (corrugated plastic...I apparently suck at cutting glass...lol) and then I'm going to add the second ACO heater and put in my cories, otos and shrimp and then I'll probably start quarantining whatever else I'm going to put in here...can't wait for it to be all settled in, but I know it will take a while and that's ok too 🙂

[DebSills]

so, I added the first group of fish into the new tank, they're settling in well so far

what I added;

~10 CPDs (male and female and the males were too pretty to not add to this tank)

~ 8 Amanos

2 Otos

and a surprise of 3 pygmy cories

so...now that I have the pygmy cories in there, I may have to rethink my stocking choices/room so I can add more pygmies 🙂

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I have 25 or so Pygmy corys in my 60 g and it’s almost like they aren’t there. Only at feeding time do I see big groups. I keep telling my wife I need to add another 10-15! 

[DebSills]

yeah, I never saw the pygmies when they were in my 29...I just feel a little bad for them because there is only 3 of them, so I may get a bunch more and see if that keeps them out and about like they are now (they like to swim around mid water with the CPDs so far 🙂

the CPDs seem to be enjoying the H'ra that I put in the back of the tank...this morning I came down and they are all darting in and out of that and the males are all "sparring" near it and every now and then a female will dart out of there and then eventually swim back in...they spawned at least once in my 29 and I saw a few babies once, but there was basically no chance for survival and I would doubt any of these would survive either, but its still fun to watch 🙂

the shrimp are enjoying all of the "gunk" that was growing on the wood...they have cleaned up a bunch of it already 😄

still not sure what else I want to put in here (other than my 6 paleatus cories from my 20L), but this is a nice "problem" to have I suppose - I love to research, so I like to look at stock lists for a couple of the LFS in the area and aqadvisor and then play around with different combinations...I know aqadvisor isn't the best guide, but its still fun to get an idea

[DebSills]

an almost 2 month update: some minor changes, but nothing major - the big crypt in the back right is finally growing back in after melting back (probably 75% of the plant melted 😞 ). The windelov had some hair algae on it, which I fixed with some manual removal and adjusting my lighting. Everything else seems to be doing great and I'm really happy with how its turning out so far (other than my red flame...see post under plants).

I think I may have too many male CPDs, I think the few that I've lost in the past few years (have had them about 3 years) have been females, because I seem to see a lot of male posturing/fighting over the few females that I have (seems to be a 2-1 M:F ratio unfortunately)...the females could really care less, but some of the males will get minor injuries that usually heal in a few days...and mostly happens in the morning, the rest of the day they're fairly chill

I am still seeing my pygmy cories...they are so dang cute!

I don't think I'm going to put my paleatus cories in this tank...with the CPDs and the pygmies it just seems that the paleatus would look too big

I'm thinking of putting a group of golden white clouds in there - small enough in size, able to deal with some flow from the FX2, and will work with the temp (~72)

Sorry about the reflections, but here's the tank today 🙂

[HelplessNewbie]

Such a nice looking tank!

I supposedly have 14 pygmy cories in my 20 gallon long, but I only see 3-6 out at a time. So, I don't know if the group is still intact. But, they are sure so cute.