Leeman's 75 Gallon Upgrade

I have been contemplating an upgrade for a while. I have had my 55 gallon for almost 4 years now and it was time to upgrade larger. I was able to obtain a used 75 gallon set up to make the change! Here's a current pic of the 55:


I got the tank yesterday and have filled the tank to make sure that no leaks formed during transit.

Meanwhile, I've determined that I'm going to give the stand a facelift by painting it. I'll be sanding it down today and hope to get the actual painting of it within the next day or two. I'm not sure what color to paint it. I'm always a sucker for black, but am kind of thinking that a gray like pewter color may be cool. I'd love thoughts form others on what they have painted their stands.


Excited to bring in this new tank to my home!

 

Black goes with EVERYTHING. Though sometimes a nice varnish is great too.

 

Black goes with EVERYTHING. Though sometimes a nice varnish is great too.

It's true, and the tank has the typical black top and bottom, so it would make sense. I just feel like I always paint stands black, so I'm wondering if there's something I missing!

 

I say of not black, then PURPLE!! Royal fish tanks!!

 

I debated on painting my two new stands black or gray, but ultimately decided on black. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with either one of those colors.

 

I suppose if you wanted an even more neutral color,a beige could work. I feel the black or gray might hide any stray marks a lot better though. And water spots.

 

2 coats of exterior grade black satin paint on the stand I just built.

On the stand we built for the 29 - stain and poly. Rest are sitting on purchased stands OR old furniture - dresser/cabinet. Which reminds me...I need to refinish one of those this year before I put the tank back on it...

 

2 coats of exterior grade black satin paint on the stand I just built.

On the stand we built for the 29 - stain and poly. Rest are sitting on purchased stands OR old furniture - dresser/cabinet. Which reminds me...I need to refinish one of those this year before I put the tank back on it...

Ha! I'm glad you said exterior paint! Never even occurred to me to use that!

 

Ha! I'm glad you said exterior paint! Never even occurred to me to use that!

I'm using exterior black satin as well. : )

 

So, I decided to give in to peer pressure and have gone with black exterior in satin finish. Two-ish coats in and I know I made the right choice!! One more coat tomorrow in the sunlight to reveal anymore trouble spots, and I'll be done with the painting!!

 

Definitely looks nice so far!

 

Painting is done. Going to the hardware store soon to get new knobs for the stand. Then, will be moving it and the tank into the living room. I tested the tank for almost a week to ensure no leaks and emptied it just this morning. Loving the new Pythom for that!!

I also set up the Cascade 1000 with new media and some seeded media to test it out in another tank. It's doing great! I'll be setting up the Sun Sun 302 to see if I can fix it's leak and use those two for the 75 together.

I am hoping to get all this done and do the actual change over today. We'll see how it goes. Once I get to the point of no return with moving fish, I'll have to keep going to completion.

 

Finished touchup, hardware install, and creating a shelf on the left side where there was a big hole over the doors. Nobody will ever mistake me for a craftsman, but I think it turned out ok.

I'm trying to stay motivated to get it all done today. I have a hard stop in 3 hours and know that once I start the launch sequence I cant stop. So I'm contmplating at the moment.

Here's the before:


And the after:

 

Finished touchup, hardware install, and creating a shelf on the left side where there was a big hole over the doors. Nobody will ever mistake me for a craftsman, but I think it turned out ok.

I'm trying to stay motivated to get it all done today. I have a hard stop in 3 hours and know that once I start the launch sequence I cant stop. So I'm contmplating at the moment.View attachment 876426

My goal is a little easier. Not planning on new fish til end of week/next weekend!! Less stress that way...just happy to be ready to go basically, minus water.

 

My goal is a little easier. Not planning on new fish til end of week/next weekend!! Less stress that way...just happy to be ready to go basically, minus water.

You definitely have it better! I have to leave to pick up my wife at the airport in 3 hours and will only have after 2 pm tomorrow to try to switch tanks betore going away for the week for work Monday morning. I should be able to get it done tomorrow if I can't today, I just hate time crunches!

 

I am just waiting for a package to get here, get it set up then add water tonight or tomorrow, then get my cories probably thursday or friday. May have to hit 2 stores for all the cories i want. Neither seemed to have the total quantity i wanted.

 

Ok getting here late. But I use chalk paint and then wax over it. The wax waterproofs. Next just not a fan of black. I go with a gray with streaks of black.

 

Ok getting here late. But I use chalk paint and then wax over it. The wax waterproofs. Next just not a fan of black. I go with a gray with streaks of black.View attachment 876442View attachment 876443View attachment 876444

Like the doors on that middle pic especially

 

Like the doors on that middle pic especially

Thats my favorite too.

 

The good news: The switcheroo went off sucessfully with the help of my kids, particularly my 16 year old son. It's good to have a big Offensive Lineman to help you move things!

The tank is up and running. But the not great news is that we put the tank too close to the wall and we can't get the 2 HOBs from the old tank on the back. They're only temporary while canister 1 cycles (it slso has some seeded media as well). I also need to add my sponge filter today and get my 2nd canister going. Once those are going well and cycled, I'll remove the bookend Penguin 350s and put on the glass tops.
I have no idea how long it will take to get to the place where I can remove the HOBs, but hopefully not too long. It's hard having it not complete and looking kind of goofy.

 

Looks great! Congrats!

 

A week later and after the first WC. I love this tank! Still waiting to lose the side mounted HOBs, but that will come soon and then I can get the tops on and the lights in the correct place.