My 55g Living Room Build

Having created build threads for the tanks I've set up since joining Fish Lore, I thought I'd create threads for the tanks set up previously! So, here we go...

Around Christmas last year I decided to come back to fish keeping after a break of about ten years. I got my 55 gallon tank out of storage and set to work making it habitable again.

The dimensions of the tank are 48x15x18.

After cleaning up the calcium riddled glass, I decided to paint the back and sides black. I went with an under gravel filter and a light coloured gravel substrate.




I wanted a large statement piece of wood to go into the tank, and would have to go with artificial plants as live ones wouldn't work well with the under gravel filter.

After weeks of searching I finally found the perfect piece of wood, the only problem being that it simply wouldn't sink.




It actually floated for about two months before finally becoming totally waterlogged.

I then filled out with artificial plants, and introduced my first fish, a group of six Bronze Corydoras.




I did a fish in cycle, which took about one month, using TSS.

With the temperature set at 26C, I decided to stock gradually, introducing fish in the following order.

8 x Rummy-Nose Tetra
1 x Clown Plec
8 x Amano Shrimp
2 x Electric Blue Ram (pair)

These were introduced over the period of about three months.

All was going swimmingly until the two Rams were introduced. Everywhere I'd read described them as peaceful community fish. That seemed to be the case for about three weeks. Then, one of them turned psychotic.

He chased the other one everywhere. Gave it no rest. Within 48 hours of the chasing starting, the other one was dead.

So then it was the turn of the Rummy-Nose Tetras, and within another 48 hours my school of eight was down to seven.

I couldn't let this continue.

Not being able to catch him with such a big piece of wood in the tank, I had to remove everything, including 75% of the water. I eventually got him netted and moved him to another tank that had only been set up a month or so - more of which on another thread.

Anyway, I've now had the tank running for over nine months, and have made a few improvements.

I've started using live plants tied to rock and wood - Anubias and Java Fern - and am also experimenting with keeping Echinodorus in small pots.

This is how the tank looks at the moment from my favourite chair...




I now intend to keep this thread updated with any changes I make to the tank. ️

 

Okay, so I thought I'd share some s of some of the inhabitants.

I'll kick off with one of the Amano Shrimp clinging onto the underside of the large piece of bogwood.




Followed by one of the very lovely Rummy-Nose Tetra.




Next up is one of the industrious Bronze Corydoras.




And finally an oddball! This Endler sneaked into the bag alongside my Clown Plec. Didn't realise he was there until I opened the bag.




He actually thinks he's a Rummy-Nose Tetra, and schools around the tank with them 80% of the time!

Sorry there are no s of the Clown Plec. I count myself lucky if I see him once a week, and as soon as the lights are on, he's gone...

 

Eek! My heater has failed!

Temperature has dropped from a pretty steady 25C to under 23C overnight.

It's the first time I've ever had a heater fail in over ten years of fish keeping across dozens of tanks.

It was a Hidom 300W model, and is only 10 months old. Thank goodness it failed in the off position otherwise my fish could have been cooked!

I've just ordered a new Eheim Jager 300W model as a replacement from Amazon which will be here tomorrow.

In the meantime I've cranked the central heating up and hope the tank temperature doesn't drop any more.

 

Okay, so my new Eheim Jager 300W heater arrived about an hour ago and it's enormous - it must be at least 20" long!

Here it is next to the broken Hidom one...




It's way too long to install vertically so I'll have to do a bit of rearranging and install it along the back at an angle.

Hopefully the electricity cable will be long enough to reach the socket if I do this.

Thankfully with my central heating being cranked up the tank hasn't dropped below 23C so I'm going to leave it on all night and install the heater in the morning! ️

 

Right, so I've done a bit of rearranging and installed the new heater, and I hate it!

It's far too long at over 20", cannot be installed vertically as recommended, and is impossible to hide.

Here's a before and after shot of the tank...




I think I'll be looking for another, smaller one pretty soon!

 

That is a big eyesore! Could you switch it to the other side behind the plants?

 

Agreed with Angel, why not put it on the other side? I use all Eheim Jagers, and put them horizontal down low in my tanks--both for aesthetic reasons, and so they stay underwater during water changes.

I will say, though, you bought a much larger one than you needed... You only needed the 150w with your tank size!

 

Beautiful pictures of your tank!

Here is a link about the heaters, the watts depend on the ambient temperature.
What Wattage Heater Do I Need For My Fish Tank Aquarium
I agree Eheim Jaeger heaters are huge! But I think a 300 is overkill, if you need more watts, two heaters are usually recommended. If you have a malfunction, you don't want to fry your fish.

 

Some heaters are more efficient than others. Going by Eheim's recommendation, 150w is totally sufficient for a 55g. I have that size in mine, and it has no problem maintaining 80 degrees in a 65 degree room.

 

Thanks everyone for your advice and suggestions.

Unfortunately, I can't place the heater on the right hand side of the tank as the cable is far too short. The same applies for running it low down and horizontal. Why don't they make the cables longer?

Regarding the wattage, I was using the table linked above! In the winter, if I have my home heating turned off, the ambient temperature can drop to below 10C so I need to be able to heat the tank by at least 15C so a 300W heater would appear to be my best option wouldn't it? Other than opting for two 250W which I don't really want to do.

 

I have my power strip mounted underneath the frame of my stand (right under the tank) with a couple zip ties on one tank and Velcro on the other. That lets the cord reach okay.

10C is chilly, but I still doubt you need a 300W. If you want to replace it, I'd contact Eheim customer service to see what size they recommend. I have to say, I'm very happy with mine, as evidenced by the five of them I own

 

I love my jager as well... you can try also placing it on the side, behind the "hornwort" diagonally if it fits.... just be sure you have good circulation (filter or powerhead nearby) in order to disperse the heat evenly....

Beautiful tank

 

I have my power strip mounted underneath the frame of my stand (right under the tank) with a couple zip ties on one tank and Velcro on the other. That lets the cord reach okay.

10C is chilly, but I still doubt you need a 300W. If you want to replace it, I'd contact Eheim customer service to see what size they recommend. I have to say, I'm very happy with mine, as evidenced by the five of them I own

That's a great idea! I'm going to try raising my power strip to give me the extra 18" of cable length I require to position the heater horizontally. I should then be able to hide it behind the plants.

Yeah, I love the Eheim Jager range too - I have another three of them! They're all standard length though, which is why I was so surprised that the 300W one was soooo long!

 

I love my jager as well... you can try also placing it on the side, behind the "hornwort" diagonally if it fits.... just be sure you have good circulation (filter or powerhead nearby) in order to disperse the heat evenly....

Beautiful tank

Me too - well my other ones that are a reasonable length! Unfortunately I don't have power at the other side of the tank and my powerhead is at the side I've positioned it.

I'm going to try raising my power strip to give me some extra cable length to play with so I can try positioning it horizontally.

Oh, and thank you!

 

Okay, so I managed to raise my power strip up and gained some extra cable length on my heater.

This meant that I could position the heater horizontally, much lower down in the tank - which I did this morning during my weekly water change.

Hurrah! No more eyesore...




You can just about make it out behind the plants at the bottom on the left hand side.

The plan is to introduce more live plants into this tank, making the planting much denser at the back. So, eventually you won't even know the heater is there.

I'm much happier now!

 

Yay! So glad it worked out.

 

Yay! So glad it worked out.

Thanks, and thanks also for the idea of raising the power strip! It worked out really well! ️

 

Tank looks great . I make it a point to have an extra heater on hand for my 75 gallon tank. My youngest son has a 10 gallon and his bedroom is the warmest in the house pretty much year around so I can always wait for a delivery or pickup a small heater for cheap at the LFS. Its a terrable fright to see a temperature change like that.

 

Tank looks great . I make it a point to have an extra heater on hand for my 75 gallon tank. My youngest son has a 10 gallon and his bedroom is the warmest in the house pretty much year around so I can always wait for a delivery or pickup a small heater for cheap at the LFS. Its a terrable fright to see a temperature change like that.

Thank you! Yes, the temperature drop was definitely a bit of a shock. First time I've ever had a broken heater in over a decade of fish keeping. I'm definitely going to be getting a spare. ️

 

Looking great, I love the process of the tank.
I hope all goes well with everything!

 

Looking great, I love the process of the tank.
I hope all goes well with everything!

Thank you! The whole process is part of the fun of fish keeping for me. I find making little adjustments to equipment, rearranging and rescaping almost as fun as introducing and watching the fish!

 

Well that was a lot easier than I thought it would be!

I've just been performing a water change and decided to clean the sponges my internal filter.

With my old Eheim Aquaball filters you create such a mess in the tank it puts you off doing this type of maintenance and I've been dreading it.

However, with the Eheim Pickup I installed in this tank it was simplicity itself.

You simply pull the top of the filter off while it's still in the tank and then remove the sponge! Easy peasy! No mess at all.

Will definitely be upgrading the Aquaball to a Pickup in my 40 gallon now!

 

So, I had some time this afternoon to go to a couple of local pet stores and was hoping to bolster my school of Rummy-Nose Tetras.

Unfortunately I couldn't find them in stock anywhere.

However, I did see this beauty...




It was marked up as a juvenile Silver Arowana, and was only £40.

I've only ever seen them in YouTube videos before and was quite taken by how graceful and elegant he was as he moved around the tank.

Don't worry, I didn't purchase it! I can only dream of owning a tank large enough to house a fully grown adult.

As it was, I returned home with a couple of packs of frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms, and a few bunches of Elodea! ️

 

Okay, so I've finally tracked down some Rummy-Nose Tetras to bolster my existing school.

I now have a grand total of twelve.

The new ones are big healthy looking specimens and I got them straight from the QT tank of my favourite LFS where they'd been in quarantine for a few weeks.

I decided to put then straight into the tank as my own QT tank is currently home to 13 Ember Tetras.
My 15 gallon Quarantine Tank Build

Anyway, here's a look at a couple of them...







In other news, while I was acclimatising the Rummies, I caught a fleeting glimpse of my Clown Pleco for the first time in about a month! Still haven't managed to get a decent photo of him yet though.

So, a good day all round... ️

 

Aw, what cuties!
My clown pleco is usually hiding, but sometimes darts out.

 

Aw, what cuties!
My clown pleco is usually hiding, but sometimes darts out.

Aren't they? I know they're quite common but I think they're my favourite shoaling tetra. They had a display tank with about 50 in at the LFS and they looked spectacular. Hmm. Wonder how many I could fit in the 55g?

My Clown Pleco lives in the huge piece of bogwood and rarely leaves it. It has hollow bits underneath and he goes in them for weeks at a time. I quite often wonder if he's still alive! lol ️

 

I love my rummynose too. I have 13. When they were new they always stayed in a tight school, but now they are comfortable enough to just swim around. So peaceful. Unless the GBR have eggs. Lol

 

I love my rummynose too. I have 13. When they were new they always stayed in a tight school, but now they are comfortable enough to just swim around. So peaceful. Unless the GBR have eggs. Lol

I've had mine for about 10 months now and they still stick close to each other, even though there's nothing in the tank that could harm them since I removed my psychotic Electric Blue Ram! I love that when the lights go on they're always found huddled together somewhere below one of the pieces of wood. They're terrific little fish!

 

Some sad news this morning when the lights came on. Three of my new Rummy-Nose purchases are gone.

Two were AWOL when I went to bed last night but I assumed they were hiding in the plants. This morning a third was missing.

After a thorough search all I've found is the disembodied head of one of them.

At least my Amano Shrimp have been well fed.

All water parameters are testing normal, so I can only assume that even though they looked fit, healthy, strong and were feeding, they weren't as well as they looked.

SIP my little friends...

 

Oh no sorry to hear

 

Oh no sorry to hear

Thank you. It's a real shame as I thought I'd found some great stock.

They were the first fish I've added to this tank for some time so I'm wondering if the other fish have built up a tolerance to something I'm not measuring. Not sure what that could be though.

 

More likely then not they were stress from shipping to the store, then additionally stressed when added to the tank... if you didn't see signs of illness while they were in your tank quick deaths are usually due to acclimation/stress...

 

More likely then not they were stress from shipping to the store, then additionally stressed when added to the tank... if you didn't see signs of illness while they were in your tank quick deaths are usually due to acclimation/stress...

Yeah, I tend to agree, just second guessing myself if I could have done anything different.

The remaining two new ones look great! They're feeding, shoaling with the others, have bright red noses and show no signs of stress at all - just like the other three were yesterday morning.

I've got my fingers crossed for them. If they make it through the first few days they're usually fine.

 

So, the good news is that I haven't lost any more Rummy-Noses, and the whole school is looking fit and healthy.

In other news, I saw my Clown Pleco for the second time this month, which has to be some sort of a record!

I even managed to get a quick snap of him...




Handsome little chap isn't he?

 

So, I went back to the LFS where I purchased my last batch of Rummy-Nose Tetras and it turns out that I'm not the only one who has been experiencing losses.

The shop assistant said that I was the fourth person this week to ask if there had been a problem with their Rummy-Nose stock.

The conclusion was that the fish had probably been stressed more than usual during shipment and possibly hadn't been acclimatised properly as a new member of staff had placed them into their quarantine tanks unsupervised.

I suppose it made me feel better that it may not have been my fault that the little guys perished, and I received store credit to cover the losses, but I'd rather have had the fish enjoying their new home.

One of the five is still with me though, so at least my school is back up to eight, which is where it started back in January!

 

Oh, forgot to say that while I was at a different LFS purchasing a new batch of Ember Tetras, I noticed that they had some new Rummy-Nose Tetras in stock, although they wouldn't be for sale for another week or so.

Of course, I asked them to reserve me half a dozen!

 

Guess it’s good news it was a bad batch of tetras (good it’s not your tank I mean). Hope the new ones are up to scratch!

 

Being wild caught, many times rummys are a little more sensitive at first (so I’ve read and experienced). But once established in your tank they should do great!

 

Guess it’s good news it was a bad batch of tetras (good it’s not your tank I mean). Hope the new ones are up to scratch!

Yeah, sort of good news. We'll find out for sure when I pick up the next batch!

 

Being wild caught, many times rummys are a little more sensitive at first (so I’ve read and experienced). But once established in your tank they should do great!

It's funny that during my first stint of fish keeping I hardly ever experienced losses. I think fish were much hardier in the past! You're right though, once established they seem to do well.