Allie's 29 Gallon Build

Well today is the day I finally got 99% of the equipment purchased and ready to get going on my first big tank. Yay!! I am upgrading from at 10 gallon to a 29 gallon tank. Purchased the tank used for $20 off if FB. It was a steal!

I have leak tested it twice over the last 3 weeks and it is definitely water tight.

Here is what has happened on day 1.

Before:


Someone sponge painted it. What the heck?



All taped up ready to sand down the glossy paint:



Enlisted the help of the kid to reach the bend over spots on the corners lol



First coat of paint done, just waiting on it to dry before the second and possibly third coat:



Son was quite useful today, he put together the new stand today too.

 

I see a pretty big glob of silicone down on in the corner of the tank. Was it like that when you got it? Sorry, after getting a second hand tank and breaking it so easily, i'm kind of paranoid now lol.

 

I see a pretty big glob of silicone down on in the corner of the tank. Was it like that when you got it? Sorry, after getting a second hand tank and breaking it so easily, i'm kind of paranoid now lol.

Yes it was like that when I got it. It is why I did such a long leak test. I left it full of water for 7 days then emptied. Waited a few days then refilled and left for another 7 days. No leaks at all. I should probably reseal it, but it intimidates me. Since I am having no issues, I am choosing to just leave it alone. Do you think I should investigate it further?

 

Here is a picture this morning with the paint all finished up. There are a couple touch ups needed, but honestly I am just going to take a sharpie and fill them in. I only got paint inside the tank in one small spot in the corner. Not too shabby. It scraped right off with my fingernail. Today's task will be scrubbing the tank inside and out with vinegar water. Need to be sure there isn't and paint residue or any of that dust from sanding left over inside the tank. Plus it hasn't been really scrubbed good since I got it. Wouldn't want to put my healthy fish into an used dirty tank.




My new filter arrives on Tuesday, so I am wanting everything ready by then to just pop the filter in and go. I have seeded media ready to go into the new tank, so it should cycle pretty much instantly. The only thing I need to purchase is my substrate. My Tractor Supply store was out of blasting sand. So I will be picking that up on Tuesday also. (Unless I can convince hubby to pick it up for me today or Monday lol)

Here is the filter I will be using. Is it weird that I am excited about how cool this filter is? Here is the YouTube video that convinced me to spend the extra $20 on it also.






My plan is to set up the 29 gallon, move the fish from the 10 gallon into the 29 gallon. Then move the betta into the 10 gallon. I am going to divide the 10 gallon before I add him, so he doesn't get too angry when I split the tank in half for his new friend. Then I will be using the 5 gallon as my quarantine tank for my new fish. I have all sorts of extra media in my filters now, so I can be sure to share amongst my tanks. It actually was a good thing that my cycle crashed a couple weeks ago. That way all the new media is fully cycled at this point, and I saved myself a couple of extra weeks in seeding the media. I also picked up a cheap back up filter motor too. That way I can have a backup one running in the 29 gallon. Just in case.

 

Yes it was like that when I got it. It is why I did such a long leak test. I left it full of water for 7 days then emptied. Waited a few days then refilled and left for another 7 days. No leaks at all. I should probably reseal it, but it intimidates me. Since I am having no issues, I am choosing to just leave it alone. Do you think I should investigate it further?

If you did that long of a leak test, I'd just leave it alone

 

Well I moved everything around today, and then my TV broke. So hubby is off buying us a new one. He has to move the tank, it is too heavy for me to lift. But it is all clean and ready to come in from the garage at least. My dining room however is a giant disaster.

Here is the before:



After:












Oh and the empty TV stand lol

 

Tank made it inside and TV arrived

 

Looks like you had your work cut out for you today! Looks good.

 

I hated how I had it. So I got rid of my 1995 Honey Oak, particle board, china hutch. It was literally falling apart. We have a free garbage dump coupon for next weekend, so it was perfect timing. Definitely like this much better. I made dinner tonight too. So has been a busy one.

 

Looking good (talking about both the tank + stand as well as your dinner )

 

So yesterday's med infusion took 6 hours instead of 4, plus the drive it was a 10 hour day. I was able to get the BDBS, but didn't get to rinsing. It is on my list first thing this morning. Well I guess second thing since it is too early, and I don't want to wake up the entire house. I did set up my new filter though. I will be moving my Tetra 20I that has cycled media already in it over to the 29 gallon (from the 10g) as a back up filter in addition to the Tidal 55 gallon Power Filter. So I don't need to actually add the cycled media to it. Although I will share some filter floss and some rings once I get the tank mostly filled with water. (And the heater going) Closer to the time I am going to move the fish over.

Here is how I have it set up. Crushed coral (low dkh), ceramic rings, filter floss, sponge. I also added a prefilter sponge to the intake for some added surface area.

This filter has a fancy hook that you can clip your heater directly to the side. This allows for the water outflow to be heated consistently since it is so close to the output. So I added the heater too. Plus the digital thermometer.

 

We have water! Yay! I guess I rinsed the sand pretty well because the tank isn't too cloudy at all. I am waiting on the water to heat up before I add the other filter. It is at 67.4 degrees, up from 56. It has to get up to at least 70 or 72 before I want to move the filter and 75 before I even think about adding the fish. I of course dosed with Prime and will add Stability once I get the media moved around. I cannot believe I actually have this tank at the final stages. It has taken 2 months of collecting supplies, and now it's almost done! Yay!

 

I added a bubbler/airstone. I didn't need to have a particular size right? I mean it makes tons of bubbles, plus with the 2 filters going at once the surface is being agitated quite a bit. el337 BeanFish TexasDomer

Still waiting on the temp to get to 75, should be there soon though. Probably another hour. Moved the 10 gallon filter over about an hour ago now, when it hit 72.

Picture of the bubbler from the top of the tank. I may even turn it down some. What do you think?

 

JEALOUS. Lol. Specially of that Tidal filter.
The tank looks cool, even tho I am not a fan of fake plants yours look good, you combined the colors well and the sand contrasts very well with everything.
Why did you add the airstone? I like the look of bubbles but I stopped using airstones a long time ago in my main tanks, I only use them when I raise my temps but that is not often. If you added them for oxygenation purposes I don't think its necessary, specially with that Tidal.
If you don't like the airstone you don't need it.
What are you gonna stock the tank with?

 

JEALOUS. Lol. Specially of that Tidal filter.
The tank looks cool, even tho I am not a fan of fake plants yours look good, you combined the colors well and the sand contrasts very well with everything.
Why did you add the airstone? I like the look of bubbles but I stopped using airstones a long time ago in my main tanks, I only use them when I raise my temps but that is not often. If you added them for oxygenation purposes I don't think its necessary, specially with that Tidal.
If you don't like the airstone you don't need it.
What are you gonna stock the tank with?

I added the airstone to oxygenate the water, but if I don't need it, then I will pull it out of there. I had them on my small tanks, but I know the smaller filters don't agitate the surface well enough. I had a small one in the 10g, and an even smaller one in the 5g.

I am totally loving the Tidal filter. Definitely worth the extra money. It is soooo quiet.

I have 5-glo tetras and a DG currently that are going into the tank. So I am going to add

3-black skirt tetras
2-Bolivian Rams
8-Harlequin Rasboras
8-False JuliI Corydoras
3-4 Snails (either mystery or nerites)

Thanks! I am glad you like it. I have a feeling that I will be adding live plants at some point. I am not satisfied with how the right side looks, so I will be figuring out something else. I try to keep the colors pretty simple really. Makes the fish more prominent. I will be doing a background too, but can't decide what I want yet lol

 

The fish are in! The piglet that my darling Otto is, within 10 minutes he was begging for food lol

 

It looks great! You need a few more of the blue glo tetras, just cuz they're my favorite color . And love your DG! I got my new fish today too!

 

It looks great! You need a few more of the blue glo tetras, just cuz they're my favorite color . And love your DG! I got my new fish today too!

The blue ones have been hard for me to find, so I got him the second I saw him, back in October. His name is Rex lol I want to get away from the Glo-Fish altogether so I am going to switch to black skirts when I add more. That way I can phase them out. I think I will always have a Dwarf Gourami though. He is my absolute favorite. Even over our betta, Finnley. I could watch him all day. Soooo much personality.

Well they must all like their new home. They all were begging for food. I fed them very early this morning (4am) so it was definitely time for their dinner. (It's 3:30pm now) They gobbled it all up. Nothing left that I could see anywhere.

I am in the process of emptying the 10 gallon they were in, and I am going to put Finnley into that one. Then stomp the 5 gallon piece of acrylic garbage to bits lol (not really, but I hate that tank) That won't be completed until tomorrow. My back is killing me so I think I need to lay down for a couple of hours.

 

Looks nice! I would probably add some taller plants or floating plants for the DG.

 

Looks nice! I would probably add some taller plants or floating plants for the DG.

That is in my plans for sure. He looks lost up there. I only had 1 tall silk plant and I hated the way it looked. So I just left it out. I am definitely wanting floating plants too. Might start with those as my first live plants actually ..

 

Ok so I shared my video to my FB, and got this response from one of my friends. She said she had a 55 gallon tank at one point, but all her fish kept dying, so she gave up. Omg read what she said!! I told her I would have given up too lol (trying to be nice) I think she had Plecos not algae eaters (so not a fish species expert at all lol)

 

Having a rough night, so thought I just finish what I started, then I can sleep and not worry that I still have things left to accomplish.

I got Finnley moved into the 10 gallon. Boy was he not very happy with me at all. Now this guy hasn't flared at me in weeks. I purposely was trying to make him mad yesterday and nothing. Well he sure showed me tonight lol

I couldn't get a great picture of him, he was zooming back and forth too fast.

This HOB filter was a $10 one from Walmart called an Aqua-Tech 5-20. It has a gph of 125. I wanted to use my filter from the 5g, but it wouldn't fit over the tank frame. It was a generic no-name that I got in a kit. So I had to switch to my backup one instead. I set it up like I did the Tidal in the 29 gallon. Prefilter sponge on the intake, coral, rings, filterfloss. Left off the second layer of sponge until I hit the pond store this weekend. I used all of the media from the old filter, just replaced the filter floss was all.

My Aqueon 50W would not heat the 10 gallon above 78. I waited for hours and hours. So I used my backup heater the eheim 50W, (that was in the 5g) and it was heated to 80 within 30 minutes. At least I got a few hours of down time between set up and take down I guess lol

5 gallon before



10 gallon before



10 gallon after (nothing left in the 5g)

 

I have that same exact rock decoration that you have! The tank looks great

 

I have that same exact rock decoration that you have! The tank looks great

Thanks. I was going to do driftwood, but when I saw that at the store I got it instead. I really really like it.

I am totally hating the Tetra 20I filter as the backup in the 29 gallon. It is so loud it doesn't have a lid, and sounds like I have a creek in my living room. I had to lower the water level last night because the filter was splashing over the edge and dripping onto the floor. (Causing me to scorch a bag of popcorn and set the smoke alarm off btw) I might just be tired and cranky though. I was planning to go to a sponge filter as a backup after the tank was full established with both filters. So 2-3 weeks. I think I may just add a sponge filter now to both tanks and seed them early. Might be able to get that noisy thing off of there a bit sooner. I will have to play around with it. I could always transfer all the media from the Tetra to the Tidal and add the sponge filter. I don't want to lose my cycled media by messing with it too much. Gonna give it a week before I decide.

 

I have about....6 sponge filters! No, wait, I actually have 8 ( I keep two minI ones outside in my rain barrel). I like the fact that I can move them so easily and have a tank pretty much cycled immediately, you know...like when one breaks on me or when I find baby cichlids
When I was changing around all my tanks I had to change one from saltwater to brackish and have fish in it at the same time ( a dragon goby that HATES bad water, the sponge filter I put in there saved me from going through a full cycle ( I only had to do a water change twice and then the tank was cycled) I also pulled a filter from my cichlid tank and put it in the filter for the brackish tank which was fine because I've got two sponge filters in that tank as well. No minI cycle

 

dang this was an adventure!! what a transformation from the tank at the beginning of the thread!
congrats on the outcome of your hard work
(goshhh I love that video!!! it's so fun to see them swimming around like that!)

 

dang this was an adventure!! what a transformation from the tank at the beginning of the thread!
congrats on the outcome of your hard work
(goshhh I love that video!!! it's so fun to see them swimming around like that!)

Thanks! I am pretty proud of myself. I have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis that has disabled me. I was an RN when I could work. Been on disability for 5 years. This was a major undertaking, and I was actually successful at it. It has been a very long time since that has happened. I am definitely exhausted though. So no cooking dinner for a few days lol

I was sitting and watching today and it is amazing how they are behaving so differently in the correct sized tank. The glo-tetras are mid-tank dwellers, but when I had them in the 10 gallon they were always at the bottom and hid in their own little area. Now they are schooling and swimming in the middle of the tank.

Also Otto, my Dwarf Gourami, is schooling with them. So that's pretty cool to see too. I would imagine that will stop once I add some more fish, but who knows. Lol

Finnley, the betta, still hasn't forgiven me today at all. He hasn't eaten yet, but he has come out of hiding more. I am keeping the light off, but the tank gets quite a bit of natural light. So just letting him chill out and get used to it a bit more.

 

Finnley still wasn't coming out of hiding at all. Although I could get him to take some pellets, but he would wait until my hand was gone to go grab them. So I decided to go ahead and divide the tank. I had it in the plans from the beginning, but was going to wait until later to actually do it.

I did a DIY divider using plastic mesh and report slider bars. Took a few attempts to get the right size, but it worked really well. About 15 minutes after I got done, I went to feed him. He came right out, and ate out of my hand. Guess he prefers 5 gallons over the 10 lol (the tank is a bit of a mess, waiting to rearrange the stuff a little better until tomorrow)










Here is a photo of the 29 gallon today. It really looks so pretty. Water is so clear. Fish are definitely happy. Going to add a sponge filter tonight. Just got it in the mail a couple hours ago. Put one into Finnley's tank already.

 

Very neat Idea for the divider. I'm curious to know how well it stands up with the outer edging around the plastic canvas. I tried to do something similar once with just a piece of plastic canvas for a fish ready to drop fry and it didn't work out so well for me, but I didn't have the edging.
Silly fish! He just wanted to make sure your hand wasn't a net.

 

Very neat Idea for the divider. I'm curious to know how well it stands up with the outer edging around the plastic canvas. I tried to do something similar once with just a piece of plastic canvas for a fish ready to drop fry and it didn't work out so well for me, but I didn't have the edging.
Silly fish! He just wanted to make sure your hand wasn't a net.

Someone else here in the forum made their divider like this. I stole the idea. The report binder can be slipped onto the edge of the frame too. So I used it as a locking device too. I used 2 pieces of the mesh, and it is pretty sturdy.




Finnley was being extremely nosey lol

 

I will have to look into getting some of those report binders. I am using some white/clear plastic canvas to make an easter basket, so I've got some of that on hand already.

 

So I got my quarantine tank all set up, but thank goodness I didn't add my cycled media to it. Was going to do it on Wednesday morning, and my gramma ended up in the hospital. So it has just remained filled with sand, heater, filter & water for the last 3 days. I can't get fish until Tuesday now, so I will be getting the tank going on the cycle this weekend. Going to just use fish food for the ammonia source for a couple of days while the already cycled media starts working in the tank. I hate having a tank with no fish. It looks so weird lol




He is finally staying on his own side. Although from all the squeezing through the divider last week he has some fin tears. Nothing like daily water changes after spending hours at the hospital to add to your stress.

 

Oops double post. Sorry

 

Eh, I always look at an empty tank as a great land of opportunity. Sorry about your grandma, being in the hospital and then having to do water changes every day would be tiring. I think I am going to be getting my new tank next weekend sometime, reading everyone's posts on here is reminding me of how slowly I want to go with the new tank set up

 

I did get a background for the big tank this week too. I was going to go for all black at first, but this one is reversible. If I change my mind, the other side is black. I do really like it so far. It makes the tank seem more complete.

Before:


After:

 

Yup, makes that stone pop even more! Love the way the dg was all shiny in front of it in the top pic too

 

How do you like the seachem HOB? and what do you use for
filter media in it?

 

How do you like the seachem HOB? and what do you use for
filter media in it?

I absolutely LOVE it. It is so quiet. It comes with a sponge inside, it's got pretty wide pores, but a sponge is a sponge. So I have that as my first layer, then I have crushed coral (for my pH), then ceramic rings, and filter floss on top. I also have a prefilter sponge on the intake. My plan is to get a denser sponge from the pond store, but with the family emergency, I didn't get that accomplished this week. So I will be adding that in the next week or so. I am not sure if I will keep the prefilter sponge on the intake , but I am going to make the decision after I start adding more fish. I like the idea of not having to worry if I end up with fry, but it is a bit bulky. I just added a sponge filter too. I have a Tetra 20I that will be gone once the Tidal is seeded. The Tetra houses my cycle and I am not using that filter on another tank (it is so incredibly loud, it is going to be my backup). I can't wait until the quiet, efficient, lovely Tidal is my only filter in the tank. I think another week will do it. It is worth the extra money. Plus with Seachem you know you are getting a quality product.

 

Yup, makes that stone pop even more! Love the way the dg was all shiny in front of it in the top pic too

His name is Otto and he is my favorite

 

I've had a couple in the past, they are really beautiful fish! I can't wait to get a new tank so I can get another dg and some cories, I've never had cories before but they are really cute lol.