Day 1

I acquired a tank from an aunt, out of her basement. She told me it was a 55 gallon, I went to get it and turns out it is actually a 75gallon. It came with a stand as well but no goodies. There are a lot of things that I will be needing to gather before this is done but I look at it as an ongoing project to keep me busy this winter.

First thing I need to do is clean this beast up. The stand is metal and very rusty so I'm going to sand off the rust and give it a nice spray paint job haha. The tank is so full of gunk and crud I think it's going to take forever to get it to a point where I can call it clean. The good news is that it was filled for fishing minnows over the summer so I'm almost positive that it does hold water.

What am I going to do with it? Well I don't know. But with the help and advice of the good people here I am sure that I will have something really awesome when it is finished!

Here is what I am working with:
The stand: [

The Tank


Open to any and all advice, ideas, and theories. This is a clean slate for me and I want to have fun with it. Keep in mind that I am working on a low budget so don't suggest anything that will cost me an arm and a leg haha

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"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

I bet it will be lovely once done,cant wait to see the direction this takes.

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

You are off to a great start!.. Fill the tank with about 10 gal of warm water.. I'd not use any soap or ANY chemicals... Then scrub scrub and scrub.
Stand?.. a drill attachment that is basically a wire brush does hours of work in minutes..
Go to your pool supply store for Pool Filter Sand... you're going to need about 40-50 lbs in there... $10.00 for 50 lbs versus 80.00 for pet store offerings, and a great deal better if you plan on live plants... Lighting?.. It looks like you have the fixture... the bulb may be suspect so go to Lowes or HD ...look for 6,500 K bulbs at 1/4 the price you'll see at the pet store..
Join a local fish club, participate in their forum and dollar to donuts you'll end up with some cast-off fish.. Today I adopted a 8 inch pleco, 2 tennis ball sized Silver dollars, a 4-5 inch gold gourami, a fancy tail guppy and a black skirt tetra..(all from CL)...
My only question to you is: What's going to be your next additional tank?.... Bill in Va.

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12 Tanks, 900 gallons. Discus/Angels/Malawi/Lake Victorias. Just added a 135 & 2 - 29's..

Whoa, Bill calm your engines! One tank at a time! haha

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"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Summer that stand will hold your other 2 tanks as well on the bottom shelf so it will keep all of them together.

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SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!!
220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

looks like your gonna be busy for awhile cleaning and all, good luck with it

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What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

Thanks guys

Susan- I thought maybe another 75 would fit down there eventually ;) hahaha But in all seriousness, I can't put any tanks that low until Dominic gets a bit bigger. He'll have a field day going fishing or swimming lol

Rob72-Thanks It is keeping me busy along with a few other things haha

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"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Day 2:

Sanded and spray painted the stand and scrubbed the tank out. Still has some smudges but nothing that i cant work on onside the house. looks pretty good If i say so myself



Went to the hardware store. They don't carry peat moss, or straight ammonia. Jerks. lol I did get some play sand though and will work on the other stuff.

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"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Also...just noticed that the stand TOTALLY matches my stair railing. Score!

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"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Looking good!

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New to this and loving it! 29G all live plants, woood and rocks, 5 denison barbs, 2 synodonstis zebra hybrids and 8 guppies.

looks good

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What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

looks great!

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Lead me not to temptation...I can make it there myself just fine, thank you

Can't beat free!!

That is, so what I noticed when I saw this picture!! :p

Looking good!

And welcome to mts. Multiple tank syndrome! !

Oh forgot. Dual 75's!

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100 Dirt + Stuff. To be Angel baby tank.
37 Planted. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/pla...nal-20774.html
29 Tall community tank. 5+ Years up and running.
15 Soon to be RCS tank.

That looks like a totally different tank. Don't forget about getting a hood for it as well. I have found that hoods help a lot with keeping lights cleaner and all the other obvious benefits as well. One other thing, have you inspected the stand's joints? It looked kinda ragged in the first pic and it occurred to me that maybe the structural integrity might be a factor due to the rust issue.

Edit: Also, don't forget to inspect the center brace of the tank.

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75 Gallon Planted

Thanks, everything is very sturdy. The stand just had some surface rust, and after being sanded down to the bare metal it was like new. Center brace and everything else look great. I filled the tank last night with a garden house and am happy to report all water is still inside the tank this mornin haha. More pics soon, for now I'm on mobile since I broke the charger for my computer last night.....total klutz ugh

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"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Day 3:

Water has been added and sand substrate. "cleaned" filter media from teh 29 gallon in the water for this tank to give it a kickstart, and dosed some ammonia tonight. So we've begun cycling! :clap:

This is my version of redneck water filling



and 15 minutes later, voila! a full tank.
]

I have a shopping list going now of things I need to gather up to get this on the road to beautification.

1. Heater
2. Light bulbs
3. Drift wood (REALLY want something large and branchy, but we'll see what I can find and afford)
4. Rocks
5. Plants
6. Some kind of background....not sure what yet.

I'm sure I'll be adding to that list pretty frequently!

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"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Just a little update...tank is still cycling, into the 3rd week now. Ammonia stays down, nitrites are still way up there though. I added a few plants and an air stone. Heres an updated pic, please excuse the extra air line, didnt trim it down yet.

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"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Your tank is looking awesome. I wish I could score like you did. I am never in the right place at the right time. Someday, crossing my fingers....

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Sherry is owned by flyball champs Cagen&Chayse
44g platy tank, 1 c pleco, golden A.E. 3 panda cory's.
2-10g 2 rosy barbs, 1 glass barb, 1 chinese A.E.

Lookin good!