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Finally got my 55!!! (does everything from craigslist come with roaches?)
In a bit of a rambling mood this morning.... Anyways....
I found a 55Gal tank on Craigslist for $60, was super excited to get one so cheap and to be able to finally upgrade from my 29 and give my Pleco some running around room. It didn't come with a stand, but a quick search and a trip to Lowes and I had the stuff to make my own for about $20 and got the job done in a bit less than 3 hours. (I'll post photos a bit later) Compared to the wrought iron stands selling at PetSmart for $70 and the pressboard ones selling for $200, this thing is a bit simple, but you could park a truck on it and it won't even flex. Just 4 2x4s, an old oak dresser top that I saved for some unknown reason a few years back, some deck screws and a bit of stain and I'm ready to go fetch the new tank.
The tank came with an Emperor 400 power filter, lights, a 50w heater(?), 10 pounds of sludge and about 100 cockroaches... but it holds water.
Me and my neighbor with a pickup (there should be a special place in heaven for neighbors with pickup trucks) drove to the trailer where the tank was and to say these folks lived in squaller would be about 3 levels higher than what their home truly was. Decaying food and other nastyness abounds thruout.
I had told the previous owner to leave about an inch of water in the tank so I could shorten the cycle time when I got it home, her Oscar had recently died so I assumed the tank would still be 'fresh' and I comforted her on her loss in the emails before showing up.
When I got to the tank and lifted the lid, it was probably the 6th nastiest smell I've ever experienced. There were sea shells in there, rocks from her driveway, and probably the whole 3 year collection of Oscar's waste. Anyways we got loaded up as quickly as possible and got the heck out of there.
Once home, all the lids and non electrical stuff went into the bathtub and got a hot rinse down while I started to drain the remaining water and scoop out all the old substrate and sludge (the sludge was actually moving on it's own and I really don't want to know why). I finally got the tank cleaned, with one of the lights on the top to help see, and I happened to look thru the little vent holes on the top of the light and I see a roach staring back at me. Oh Joy. So I disassemble the lights knocking the roaches into the steaming hot shower in the tub, squishing those who try to escape and keeping my cat Deo around to eat any that I might miss. finally I put the still disassembled lights out on the porch hoping the cold night my convince any I missed to move on.
I start to take a break, wander by the tank and see another roach scurry across the filter... Joy. More disassembly, more hot water and squishing, thinking I got them all then finding a few more crevasses where the little buggers are hiding, and finally about 3am I declare victory assuming any remaining roaches will either starve to death or get eaten by Deo.
The tank is now 3/4 full, got an air bubbler running, and bit of gravel from my current tank. The $80 Emperor filter that came with it had the wrong elements in it that were only about half as high as they should have been, so I'll have to pick up some new filters, some fresh substrate, and I'm thinking about replacing the bio-wheels too depending on how much they'll cost.
I might take some pics after I get my second cup of coffee in me, but I felt compelled to share my adventure from last night, and to warn you all that just about everything from craigslist is going to have a hidden bonus inside, so when you get that great deal, be prepared to do some squishing.
eb
Last edited by Lucy; November 4th, 2009 at 10:55 AM.
Reason: Language, please check the rules :)
welcome to fishlore!!!!!!!
im glad mine were adventures like that either LOL ...id be definitely freaking out...allset with bugs...cant wait to see pics!
Congratz on the new tank. I hate roaches...I can't stand them, I can't look at them, I just can't be with them. eww I had too many bad experiences with them. I'm glad you can handle all that stuff man b/c I would of just dumped the filter and move on...Pls post pics when you're done (no roaches pls. lol )
Congrats on the new 55g. So sorry you had to experience such a mess all because of the previous owner's doing. Glad to see a photo of the tank in great shape and in good progress. All the work was worth it Always is! Hope to see more photos along the way. Good luck and keep us updated!
Welcome to Fish Lore Razmear! Congrats on the new tank. It looks like you've done a wonderful job cleaning it! Sorry that it wasn't a more pleasurable experience for you when picking it up. Your Pleco is going to be very happy.
Have fun and keep us posted.
Ken
wow your pleco is big! im sure hes gonna be lovin the new setup. i had a pretty funny mental image of you cleaning that thing up with your cat prowling for roaches haha.
congrats on the new tank! yuck i hate roaches! LOL
the stand looks very sturdy! i need to build one, so this helps
I used the plans from here: http://www.ehow.com/how_4853431_gall...ank-stand.html
to make my stand.
I went a bit wider (11 3/4 for the inside cross 2x4s) as I was using a top and didn't need to have the tank rest right on the 2x4s. I've got about 3 inches of table around the whole tank. I also used 3in screws instead of 2.5s.
I've got the lights de-roached and put back together, and got the gravel down. Used the smallest river rock style available at petsmart. Transferred more rocks and fake plants and water from the 29 over and have the filter up and working with new elements. Also bought one of them stick on thermometers to replace the one that's facing the back wall (ooops). It's coming along pretty nicely.
I think the heater is either dead or just too weak at 50w. The water is staying pretty much at room temp (68) so I might have to timeshare my 200w between the two tanks to get the temp up before moving day.
The fish getting a new home are:
1 14 inch, 5 year old pleco (one of the first fish I bought when I got my 10g and the excuse for all my upgrades since)
1 8 inch Dojo Loach
4 small khuli? loaches
5 small red fin tetras
6 zebra danios
I might add a small school of buenos aires tetras once the tank gets settled in.
Tomorrow I'll be sterilizing some slate and building some structures. I'll post more pics as the project goes along.
The gravel is all laid in and the 18inch bubble stone is working nicely being buried under the gravel.
The slate cave ended up being a bit more basic than I wanted, but I had to make it sturdy enough to deflect Plecky crashing into it. There are some good sized rocks inside the cave to keep any smaller fish from being crushed in the event of a collapse, but I don't think it's going anywhere.
I've got the heater from my 29 in the 55 trying to get the temp up. Currently 70 in the 55 and 76 in the 29. I might move the fish over tonight if I can get the temps balanced out.
The fish have been moved to the 55.
Plecky was a lot easier to move than I expected. I think he knew what was up and wanted to move to the new tank. I just had to guide his head into the net and he stayed perfectly still til he got released in the new one.
The fish seem to be doing fine, they had a 2 degree temp drop in their old home (78 to 76) which is being followed by a 2 degree temp rise in their new home back to 78 due to only having one working heater, but that shouldn't be anything worse than could occur in nature over the same timespan. Anyways, looks like the project is complete for now.
Heres a short vid of the tank showing the loach cave and a great close up of Plecky.
Just a small update.
I added 5 more Serpae so now there is a school of 10 in the tank, they look great when playing follow the leader around the tank.
Also got a small Red Fin Shark which I hope will become the 'feature fish' once he grows up a bit. Still trying to think of a good name for him...
I had to redo the Loach Cave as version 1 collapsed after some pleco abuse. It is now a more stable triangle shape. If this one falls down I'll start siliconing the slate together for version 3. Also added some cheap fake 'hair grass' just to break up the bottom a bit. The LFS (petsmart) has a horrible selection of plants so I'll probably have to do a mail order buy to get what I want, and then hope that Plecky doesn't destroy it too fast.
Here's a vid of the new setup with some closeups of the Red Fin.
Awesome tank (now) and what a comical story you told at first! Do you write??!! I would not have made it thru the roaches. Everything would have been gone once I saw them.... Goes to show you never really know the condition of a product until you SEE it in person. You've done a great job as your tank and fish look happy!
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Hope to see more photos along the way. Good luck and keep us updated! 
