Akari_32's 55 gallon blog

Getting a head start on this blog before I get the tank going

I got this tank for Christmas from my mom. It needs a lot of help, but it's easy to fix up. It needs:

New hoods
Substrate
New magnet for the filter
Decor
A very thorough cleaning


The tank will house (until the fish are larger):

-4 fancy goldfish (2, 2 1/2, 3, and 4 inches)
-1 sailfin pleco (4 inches)
-1 female Pearl Gourami (4 inches, fully grown)

And until spring it will also house a 2 inch common goldfish and a Molly, and they'll be moved out to the pond when its warmed back up.

There is also a fantail goldfish at Walmart I may buy if it's still there after I have the tank set up, as it's been there the last several times I've been in the store, and I don't go often. We all know the rule about fish we see multiple times...

The magnet for the filter is at the low end of the property list, as the tank came with a larger hob filter that I'll use for a while with my AC 50. I want to get the canister running though, as I want and need a good filter for this tank.

Today, I bought a really cool fake driftwood ornament, with plants all over it. It's 2 1/2 feet long! I love it It was 15% off because it's got a broken bit near the bottom, but it's an easy cover up. I also bought a bunch of live plants. Two boxes of aponogenton bulbs, a crypt WendtiI (I have a bunch of these, actually, but they're green), a Cyprus belferi, and an oscelot sword :3

I may at first, before bringing the goldfish in from the pond, just move all the fish from the 20 long right into this new tank, because I have a lot of tank shuffling to do. I need to rearrange and cut back on tanks. it'll be a challenge, as I have a betta problem to go with my goldfish problem XD

Pics of the plants will go up as soon as I get them in a tank, and pics of the tank will go up as soon as I get it to my house in the mean time, pics of the goldfish are in my 65 gallon pond blog, available as a link in my sig

 

Remember that fish at Walmart? Well... I bought him. I went in today because I wanted to buy a new bulb for the 20 long (which they didn't have the right thickness of...), and the poor dude looked dreadful! The other day he was active and happy, and today he was sitting low to the gravel, gasping, and not responding much to much outside the tank. I couldn't leave him there in good thought.

So, I brought him home, kicked the gourami out of the 6 gallon into a breeders net in the 20 long; and am QTing him in the 6 gallon. He's utterly huge, but it's all I've got. Plus it'll be clean, something he doesn't know exists. I'm going to give him a week of Kordon Rid-Ick Plus, and daily water changes. He'll be looking better in no time

Here are some pics of him

Looks like a male, but with out being able to flip him over and look better at his vent, it's just a guess for now. Names are welcome

 

New guys is looking much better today! He's eating, and moving about and digging for food. Definitely a male, as he's developed breeding stars on his gill plates :3

He likes to people watch, which is creepy. He'll just stop dead, turn, and stare at me for a long time. Creeper fish... <.<

Still needs a name, too...

 

Hiya guys!

After much consideration and debate, I've decided a few things.

1) This tank will be all female fish, except for the new goldfish. I think he deserves a tank full of ladies So, he'll have 2 goldfish girlfriends, the female Pearl Gourami, the female Sailfin pleco, and until spring, a female Molly and a female common goldfish. Lucky little boy! I may also house female Endlers, and a school of panda corries and/or 2+ Swamp darters, genders unknown lol

2) The substrate will be gravel. I wanted to do sand, but I can't stand how uneven and messed up sand gets! Plus, sand is more expensive. I'm going to partion off the CaribSea gravel to the corners of the tank with plastic canvas, and plant the heavy root feeders in that, and the rest of the tank will be plain black gravel.

3) I had originally given up on a DIY sump, but I'm going to give it a try. Just have to figure out how they work and how to build one. This will come later though. For now I have HOBs and a canister.

 

Actually, if you use play sand or pool filter sand, it is a lot cheaper than gravel. I think I paid $8.00 for enough sand to do 1/2 a 150 gallon tank, 2 10 gallon tanks and a 5 gallon.

And from my own experience - make sure you bury the canvas good. I put a layer of canvas between the soil and the top substrate when I did my 150 and on the sand side, it is starting to show through in spots. Cories are just such busy little earth movers.

 

New guys is looking much better today! He's eating, and moving about and digging for food. Definitely a male, as he's developed breeding stars on his gill plates :3

He likes to people watch, which is creepy. He'll just stop dead, turn, and stare at me for a long time. Creeper fish... <.<

Still needs a name, too...

Jack Ryder - The Creeper! Super Hero that strikes fear in the heart of... well Harley Quin!

Sorry, this is all I thought about when you said creeper fish! XD Good luck with your little stalking romancer!

 

Actually, if you use play sand or pool filter sand, it is a lot cheaper than gravel. I think I paid $8.00 for enough sand to do 1/2 a 150 gallon tank, 2 10 gallon tanks and a 5 gallon.

And from my own experience - make sure you bury the canvas good. I put a layer of canvas between the soil and the top substrate when I did my 150 and on the sand side, it is starting to show through in spots. Cories are just such busy little earth movers.

I want a black substrate, though. The canvas will be held in place by either silicon or suction cups. Not sure yet.

Jack Ryder - The Creeper! Super Hero that strikes fear in the heart of... well Harley Quin!

Hahaha, no way! Although Ryder in and of itself is a cute name lol
Sorry, this is all I thought about when you said creeper fish! XD Good luck with your little stalking romancer!

 

You could also go to Tractor Supply and get the Black Diamond. I think it's as cheap as PFS.

 

Oh that's true! It's really yucky at first though, isn't it? Have you used it before? Is it heavy enough that the goldfish can't throw it around so much? I really hate an uneven sand bed...

 

I haven't used it myself but I've heard it has a grain size similar to PFS. Don't know about how yucky it is.

 

I haven't used it myself but I've heard it has a grain size similar to PFS. Don't know about how yucky it is.

I hear it's real oily at first, and needs a lot of rinsing.

 

Your Pearl Gourami shouldn't be fully gown at 4 inches, they can grow up to 6 inches long. I have both a male and a female and both are almost 5 1/2 inches right now.

 

I hear it's real oily at first, and needs a lot of rinsing.

That sounds reasonable as it is coal slag.

 

Your Pearl Gourami shouldn't be fully gown at 4 inches, they can grow up to 6 inches long. I have both a male and a female and both are almost 5 1/2 inches right now.

She's stunted. Got her from my uncle, who know nothing about fish. She's got about an inch of tail on top of that 4 inch body length, but should have be a few inches longer. Her back is kind of hunched, so it gives her a male Cichlid look lol

 

Putting this here for myself later

 

Jack Ryder - The Creeper! Super Hero that strikes fear in the heart of... well Harley Quin!

This forum is becoming ever more "batty" Mwahahaha

 

So, this tank may be pushed back some. Hopefully not too much longer, though. I plan on keeping the tank in my room, which is actually a one car garage, and has no windows. With no hoods in place, I cannot set the tank up unless I can figure something out for lighting for the plants. If I didn't have plants to worry about, I'd just leave the bedroom light on until I got the hoods, but I have near $100 worth of plants in the tanks I'm combining to set up this one, so I'd like to not kill them off lol When I do order the hoods, though, they should come in 3-4 days. Hopefully I can order them on Thursday and have them by next Monday.

 

I'm keeping watch of this thread looking forward to photos!

 

Heh ... Why don't you go cheap/easy and get something like this:

It'd be more then enough to keep all those pretty plants of yours alive, based on how mine grows my plants.

 

I don't know how it will work for a 55, but both my 10 gallon tanks just have a cheap strip light from Lowe's laying across the glass top and the plants are doing great.

 

I'm keeping watch of this thread looking forward to photos!

Pics are a no brainer! As soon as I have pics to post, they'll be up!

Heh ... Why don't you go cheap/easy and get something like this:

It'd be more then enough to keep all those pretty plants of yours alive, based on how mine grows my plants.

I do like that... Its $10 cheaper too, than my original choice -> (two 24 inchers). Can I buy replacement bulbs for that at Lowes, Home Depot or WalMart? Are the prongs on the end of the bulbs the same length apart as T9's (or whatever regular fluorescent bulbs are)?

I don't know that I like the pink bulb. Do you have a pic of your tank with that over it?

I don't know how it will work for a 55, but both my 10 gallon tanks just have a cheap strip light from Lowe's laying across the glass top and the plants are doing great.

I have to look at it, so it has to look somewhat decent LOL Doesn't have to be fancy, but I don't want it to look tacky. I do have some standards

 

I have to look at it, so it has to look somewhat decent LOL Doesn't have to be fancy, but I don't want it to look tacky. I do have some standards

Yeah, they're not the prettiest things in the world, but not butt ugly either. They are single strips and do have covers and an on/off switch. And the price was right. I found one in the garage so it was free (at least I didn't buy it ) and the other was only about $10.

 

Do you have a link to them online?

 

What I got was something very similar to this:



I just laid it across the glass top and used it that way. It is only 18" long so you probably need something longer.

 

Does it come in black?

 

I only saw the white ones.

 

If it came in black I'd consider it, but white... No matter! I have lots of other options :3

 

I'm not crazy about the white myself, but it does the trick until I can afford real hoods for those tanks.

 

I'd rather spend the money now, and get it out of the way LOL

 

Oh ... lol Sorry I didn't see your question till now ... lol

I'm running an older version which has a different style bulb[2 of them instead of together but eh]. The color spectrum is also 2x 6500k which is different then that one ... BUT I'm running Actinics/10k on my 40gB and that's growing plants amazing too.

Here's the FTS of my 55:

 

So you don't have the pink bulb in?

Would you mind heading over to my newest thread? Something about Odessea dual strip whatever... Lol

 

Got it! But still, on this topic, I can't wait to see how your tank turns out!

 

Thanks bunches!

Omg, I know! I think I have most of it worked out. Just need to settle on a hood, get the bits to make a sump and/or fix the canister, have time to put it all together, and have more money to do stuff LOL So basically, the inside of the tank is worked out. It's the outside that's causing me problems

 

Leaving these here for myself

 

So, we measured the tank just now, and it's 48x13x18. Puts it at 48.6 gallons. Kind of strange... I wonder what company made it...?

 

That's actually about normal for a 55gal. They aren't truly 55 gallons. lol And then you have substrate and decor displacing more water and just eh. lol

Still ... EVERY time you post in this blog, I kinda expect an update like a certain light was bought/ordered! xD xD I'm such an impatient crazy person. I like all the other tanks you've had before, tho so I'm REALLY excited to see just how pretty this one comes out! Were you planning on a specific plant theme, BTW? Broad leafs? Needle leafs? or just ... whatever? Still going with the sailfin plec/goldfish/pearl gourami stocking thought?

 

55 gallons are supposed to be 21 inches tall. I've looked at every dimension chart there is and the closest I can come up with is a 45 long. Just looking at it you can tell its not quite 55 gallons. I thought it was because the trim made it look funny (I've had 10 gallons with shorter trim), but it really looks funny because it is funny lol



Yes, I'm still going with the same stock. No plant ideas, either. I buy what I like and figure it out later ( have a huge mixture of light requirements going on lol). Eventually I'll have a sump, but until I can get help making one ill run what I have on it.

 

I was thinking 55s were 19" deep ... oops. xD That's what being sleep deprived does to you, I guess.

Anyways, I kinda do the same thing with the plants. Just get whatever I find that I like and try it. Sometimes plants grow & thrive in the weirdest conditions! Still, IME, goldies tend to be better with broad leaf plants because they kinda strip narrow leaf ones... :S Some are really well behaved tho so we'll have to see which one your goldies are. xD

 

All of my plants should be safe from them except the guppy grass, maybe the wisteria, and very maybe the aponogenton. The others I have are java and Windelov ferns, banana plants, swords, crypt wendtiis, and dwarf lilies. I'm sure there's more, too lol

 

hehe, yeah, those will all be fine. even the guppy grass grows REALLY fast so it shouldn't be an issue. I guess I was meaning things more like rotala and asian ambulia and what not. I hate how goldfish look so good against those, yet they're delicacies! xD