Fish rack.

Hey all, It's been forever since I've been on here. Tons have changed with my tanks.
First all, I now have 6 tanks. A 75, three tens, a 29, and a 2.5
My 29 is empty until I get my fish room set up, within the next month and a half.
My 75 houses 1 Red Eared Slider, and 2 unknown but I'm thinking YBS's, a Gourami, and two Eclipse Catfish.
One 10 houses an Electric Blue Crawfish, a Common Pleco (He will either get a pond or a big tank when it's needed), and four Ghost Shrimp.
Another 10 houses a Betta Falx, 10+/- Ghost Shrimp, 7 Cardinal Tetra, and multiple snails.
The last ten houses 13 adult Guppies (Getting an upgrade with the new room), and 23+/- Guppy fry in a breeding box (They are soooo hard to count).
The 2.5 houses a male Crown-tail Betta.

I was thinking of maybe keeping this open to track the progress of the tanks, and the progress of the new room and the plans for the new room.

So, here we go.




Stage one. I had one turtle. His name is Nemo. He was a rescue from a goldfish bowl. He had an inch of water and no heater, filter, and was with hot pink gravel. I found a 55 gallon tank for 40 dollars from a nice couple an hour away. They gave me two ten gallon tanks and a ton of hamster stuff, too.

Not too good of a picture, he was the size of a little larger than a quarter.


The same day we (best friend and I) went to Petsmart and Petco to decorate and stock the tank. Water Wisteria did super well under barely any light and in sand.

I had a 36 gallon bowfront sitting around upstairs after it housed a baby Chinese Water Dragon for a year. It got cleaned and set up alongside the 55.




The first picture was when I had it sitting on the floor. I got tired of it. It looked tacky. Went upstairs and dragged its stand down, too. I took the 36 down. It had a terrible algae bloom. I was young, didn't know how to fix it any other way but to give up. Fish from the 36 went into the 55.

My first ever Common Pleco passed away while housed in the 55. He was 5" long. It broke my heart. I loved him to death.



Later on, we rescued 6 turtles from a ten gallon tank forty five minutes away. We lost all the turtles but 2 from what we rescued. The other two now live with Nemo in a 75 gallon tank. They are Pockets and Nims.

Fast forward a while, 55 gallon sprung a leak on the left panel after moving a desk beside it. We lost all fish that were in the 55, I knew it was time to start over. To the dump it went. Christmas came and I got a 350 Gift Card to Petsmart.


The first night of the 75 being set up. It sat on my floor for a long time. I had a 4 week old kitten who was VERY curious about the turtles and fishes.

This was my only tank for a while, but I knew I wanted more. MTS hit and the "Fish Rack" was born.



This was taken after my Falx Betta came and Toffee the Crown-tail had to be moved to a 2.5. He was NOT happy about that, lol.




My first ever experience with a planted tank started with this tank right here.
That yucky brown java moss didn't turn over for a good couple of months, but now I have enough to separate it between the two tens.


Everything stayed like this for a while. Three tanks. I always had wanted to put a second ten beside the first ten, but didn't have the money to go through with it. Then, Petco's Dollar Per Gallon sale started, and I started to get money.



A trip to Petco before my first ever trip to Petland brought home a 10 and 29. I wanted a 40b and a 20b, but mother said no. Eventually.




After seeing the Tennessee Aquarium with my mom for the first time, I think it convinced her to let me go deeper into this obsession. We came home with 15 guppies, 20+ Ghost Shrimp, an Electric Blue Crawfish, and a Common Pleco. Petland had the best variety I've ever seen.

The drive home from Petland was a three and a half hour drive. That was not expected, mom wanted the "scenic" route. We lost a few Shrimp, but everyone else made it just fine.

Fast forward a day and we had lost a male Guppy. Suspected it was sick when we bought it. Lost another male not too far down the line. Realized I have too many males. Way too many. Males are getting moved out ASAP and more females are being bought.




I knew nothing about the Crawfish. Common sense should've said he would eat plants. Next day we headed to Petsmart to get another ten gallon. They now do a dollar per gallon sale, too. And they're much closer to me than Petco. Thank you.

The new ten gallon came home and in went the Crawfish and Common Pleco. They live peacefully together with four Ghost Shrimp and a few snails. They'll get an upgrade, too.

Don't know why the picture is sideways, that's annoying.


Ordered plants from DustinsFishTanks, I didn't think they were coming for a week. They came in two days. Love buying from him.



The plants were in. Excuse the mess, babies came and I was flustered. The babies grew and grew. They are a week old on Wednesday.

The first planted tank got a rescape the day the babies were born.



Still not happy with it, will be eventually.

Fast forward to today, at least 15 new babies were born and more are being born as I type this.
The Fish Rack now:



Actually, that was before the new plants came in, lol. But it's the same concept. .

Stay tuned.

 

Wow, welcome back haha! Pleasure to meet you!!!

 

Welcome back! I'll read through this in the morning as I am going to bed soon.

 

I have that same rack in my fishroom

 

Is that fish rack from Lowes? That's the one I'm using as a double tank stand lol.

 

Wow, welcome back haha! Pleasure to meet you!!!

Welcome back! I'll read through this in the morning as I am going to bed soon.

I have that same rack in my fishroom

HI and thank you! Also the rack is bending, well the boards are, so within a month it'll be gone and I'll have custome stands.. More on that later!

Hi, the rack is from Amazon.com but it could very well be from Lowes, too! I think Home Depot also had it. Amazon was cheapest for us, though. Haha.

 

Yea they're made by Edsal I think.

 

Yours has boards? Mine has welded wire shelves that are rated for 2000lbs per shelf.

 

Mine is rated I think 1800 per shelf? Or was it 1200? Somewhere around there. It's like particle board? I'm not sure. I don't trust it. I can't wait to move them off of this stand. The 75 sits on the metal railing so I'm not worried about it. But the tens have started to tilt.

 

Lol my stand is only 36x18x60, nothing too crazy. I do have a 75 on another room but this stand only has a 40B on top and 29 on bottom. Shelves rated at 500 per.

 

Mine is rated I think 1800 per shelf? Or was it 1200? Somewhere around there. It's like particle board? I'm not sure. I don't trust it. I can't wait to move them off of this stand. The 75 sits on the metal railing so I'm not worried about it. But the tens have started to tilt.

I think the smaller models of the edsal racks use the particle board stuff (which is absolutely terrible for any application where it is going to be exposed to water). The one I have is something like 8' long x 3' wide x 6.5' high.

 

Yea my shelves have the particle board so I try real hard to get it wet or wipe it off right away if it does.

 

I think the smaller models of the edsal racks use the particle board stuff (which is absolutely terrible for any application where it is going to be exposed to water). The one I have is something like 8' long x 3' wide x 6.5' high.

Mine is a little smaller than yours. Depth wise. The height and length are close. I'm 5'2" and use a ladder to get to the top ten.

Yea my shelves have the particle board so I try real hard to get it wet or wipe it off right away if it does.

Yup. Scary when it gets wet. I try my best but it does get wet. I have a towel I use just for my fish tanks.

Lol my stand is only 36x18x60, nothing too crazy. I do have a 75 on another room but this stand only has a 40B on top and 29 on bottom. Shelves rated at 500 per.
View attachment 172908

That looks cool. But unsteady to me? I don't know. Even though my shelves are rated so high, I'm terrified they will break.




I might not be making sense atm. Very tired. Have marching band/color guard camp tomorrow and then the two upcoming weeks. Thank god I'm a senior.
More details about the new fish room tomorrow after practice. Pictures and measurements. Advice will be needed for sure.


Night all.

 

It might just be the angle I took the pic, its crooked. But I can assure you its straight lol.

 

Dom90 40b are a little over 450 lbs with just water in them, be careful if that's only rated for 500, that would be disastrous if it didn't hold up.

 

Yea I been watching, so far so good though. If it starts to creak, I'll get a wooden board cut at Home Depot and replace the particle board.

 

Really nice tanks, great to see how they have progressed. Anytime I have wood under a tank, I always waterproof it to prevent water or moisture to creep and weaken the wood. Best of luck.

 

Really nice tanks, great to see how they have progressed. Anytime I have wood under a tank, I always waterproof it to prevent water or moisture to creep and weaken the wood. Best of luck.

How do you waterproof it?

 

They make paint on clear sealant for decks and also a spray kind I believe. I've used the paint on kind for various things over the years, it works great.

 

Now if only I knew of this last week before I got hit with the MTS bug lol.

 

Alright, just got back from Guard Camp day 1 out of 10.
I wanted to do a whole wall length of stands for my tanks in the new room.





Sorry about the sideways pictures. I'm way too tired to fix them.
The first picture is the wall I want to put the tanks on. I'm 99.99% sure that wall is the same wall I can see on the outside of my house. We are over a basement, though. Extra support needed?

Under the window I would put my supplies cabinets and the last picture is where I really hope to DIY an antique bird cage and start keeping birds again.

I want to paint the walls, but the ceiling is so high. Would show a picture but seem to have deleted it from my phone. The walls are like... 8ft? 7ft? tall and then they slope up another 6 or so feet. I'm only five foot two. Great,

I don't know what colors to paint the new room, but I also would really like to not have to put backgrounds/pay for backgrounds for the tanks.

Here's the measurements of the room that I got a few days ago.
Door way 37" 1/2 inches
Closet interior 44" 1/2
Closet entrance 2ft
Wall closest to door 89inches not including door way
Exterior wall 12 foot
Interior wall 12ft 27" 1/2
Closet depth 22" 1/2
Window 43"
Window eight 71"
Left side of window41" 1/2
Ride side of window41" 1/4
Door 34"

Sorry if they don't make sense, the wall the tanks will go on is the "Exterior wall" I might put a 20/40? gallon tank in the closet to grow out plants. Or for fish that don't like a lot of traffic in their area. The door is getting replaced with a curtain to maximize the space in the small room.

The room is gonna be "animal themed" meaning I want to do animal themed decorations, cute things, DIY things. I want to spend as little money as possible.


Sorry for the post being all over the place.

 

They make paint on clear sealant for decks and also a spray kind I believe. I've used the paint on kind for various things over the years, it works great.

Why did I never know of this? Haha. I will definitely start doing something like this on every stand I ever own. I'm way too paranoid.

 

Just look for deck water proofer, I can't remember what it's called exactly. Some places have it in with the paint and some over by the lumber etc. it's really handy stuff.

 

Just look for deck water proofer, I can't remember what it's called exactly. Some places have it in with the paint and some over by the lumber etc. it's really handy stuff.

Alright. I'll look at Home Depot. Gotta go eventually to look at paint, so will look for that while I'm there.
Thanks!

 

What would be better, a lot of smaller tanks, or a couple bigger tanks?12feet is not much to work with.. I could stack them? Meh.

 

A couple bigger tanks if you have the space and money for sure. You could stock of what you want or bigger fish.

 

A couple bigger tanks if you have the space and money for sure. You could stock of what you want or bigger fish.

I don't know if I would go bigger than like.. 40b's. Maybe. Who knows. I'm stuck living at my parents house for another two-ish years so now I don't have to worry about tearing down tanks in less than a year. That's nice. I would love to eventually have a huge tank. Like... 125-200 area. But the thought of that is scary, lol.

I kind of like small tanks because they are easy for me. But I don't have experience with anything bigger than a 36 bowfront. My 75 revolves around the turtles, so I don't get to experiment with it.

So with 12 feet of space.. I could fit like... Four? 40b's. If I did a stacking thing then I could do more on top. That is a ton of weight. I would be worried about the floor.. But should I be? My 75, three tens, and 2.5 are on that rack right now on an interior wall that joins to an exterior wall and seem to be doing fine. Although, my floor is a tiny tiny bit slanted to begin with. I'm unsure about the new room. I am probably just overly paranoid/worried that the worst possible thing that could happen would happen.

 

Went and got a 2.5 gallon as a grow out tank for the baby guppies. I've lost three babies in two days. I don't know what's happening with them.

 

Is the 2.5 cycled? Could that be the reason they are dying?

 

Is the 2.5 cycled? Could that be the reason they are dying?

They're not in there yet. They're still in the same tank as the parents, just in a breeding container thing.

 

Depending on how many fry they have and how many you want to keep, a 2.5 may not be big enough lol.

 

Depending on how many fry they have and how many you want to keep, a 2.5 may not be big enough lol.

I know it won't be big enough for very long. I'm just going to use it to put newborns in and then move them out of that into another tank. By the time these guys are old enough to be with their parents I'll have a tank big enough for that. I'm limited on space for another half month.

 

It looks like there's only one light above your turtle tank? Hard to tell. Is it a mercury vapor bulb? UVB? Heat? They do need both a basking lamp and a UVB bulb (changed yearly) but mercury bulbs accomplish this. Be ready for MTS to hit harder, your turts will get huge fast.


Here's three of my four that live in a 180 gallon that sometimes seems too small


Edit: Ahh I can see the ZooMed UVB bulb I also highly recommend the ZooMed brand of turtle pellets. Way better than those sticks of no nutritional value. And the red shrimp as treats. Boy so my girls love that. My male is a little shy haha


Heres an adult female. About ten years old


This is a size difference between that female and her mate lol

 

It looks like there's only one light above your turtle tank? Hard to tell. Is it a mercury vapor bulb? UVB? Heat? They do need both a basking lamp and a UVB bulb (changed yearly) but mercury bulbs accomplish this. Be ready for MTS to hit harder, your turts will get huge fast.


Here's three of my four that live in a 180 gallon that sometimes seems too small

The second bulb is so bright you can't see it very well in the last picture of the 75 gallon. But it's there. I am VERY passionate about caring for animals, especially my turtles. As soon as I can afford something bigger, they're getting it. I've wanted to build them a pond in our backyard for years now but the parents aren't too willing to do that since we live on a lake and that could be their "pond". I wouldn't be able to monitor them then. I don't like the idea of that so they're stuck in their 75 which I know is small especially considering the rule of 1" of turtle = 10 gallons. And they are already huge. I have two males and a female and my female is pushing 6". She will get anywhere from 10-12. The youngest, Nemo, was 1" when we got him. He's now 3". and my other male is now 5". They seem to grow a few inches every six months or so. They're crazy growers. Haha. Thank you for the concern, but I believe they are in good hands. .

 

Haha you ninjad me on my edit lol

They are super awesome animals. Tree of our four were rescued from a lake here. My brother runs a security company that patrols marinas as for some reason two winters in a row he found stray babies out in the open in the cold at night, half dead. Brought those little buggers home :3


They like to fatten up the feeders they get as treats like once a year before taking them down 0.0'

 

Haha you ninjad me on my edit lol

They are super awesome animals. Tree of our four were rescued from a lake here. My brother runs a security company that patrols marinas as for some reason two winters in a row he found stray babies out in the open in the cold at night, half dead. Brought those little buggers home :3


They like to fatten up the feeders they get as treats like once a year before taking them down 0.0'

That is so cute! Haha.
Mine are all rescues. Nemo was from a "betta bowl" with hot pink gravel and an inch of water. They fed him reptomin baby pellets. Yuck. I rescued more from a lady who had them in a 10 gallon tank. All didn't make it but the two that live with Nemo now. They are still battling shell problems but are getting better. When I brought them home they finally started to shed scutes that were so thick and gross I was really worried. Now they shed and new pretty scutes come up. Nemo didn't shed for a year when I brought him home. But now that he is finally shedding, he's growing like a weed! They are just like little turtle children. My dream is to have a couple thousand gallon pond with rescued turtles. It is so nice to finally talk to someone with as much passion for these animals as I have.

 

I lost another male guppy and a female guppy. The female died after giving birth, and her babies died, too. Looked like dropsy..
Yuck. Did a water change.

 

Sorry to hear about the losses.

 

Good to hear!!!

 

Maybe I'll look at colors to paint the new room while I eat icecream.