Turning old crested gecko 60 gallon aquarium into fish tank

So, my brother had this crested gecko that he kept in a 60-gallon aquarium (first two photos). Said gecko has been rehomed and my brother didn't want the tank so I'm turning it back into an aquarium. It's definitely an aquarium, not a reptile tank. The glass is very thick and there's plastic on the top for 2 glass/plastic covers. The tank is 48in L x 14 in W x 21 in H (122cm x 35.5cm x 53cm) which is perfect for the fish that I already have in a 15-gallon tall and a 23-gallon long tank temporarily. The plan is to move them into this tank once it's scaped and cycled, and get rid of/sell the smaller tanks. There are just a few problems...

As you can see, my brother tried to make a waterfall in one corner. It leaked toward the substrate so he never really used it. I've been taking things slow the last few days and removed the decor only, yesterday. I had everything sit in a 5% bleach 95% water solution for a bit (a cork wood piece and driftwood piece I let sit in overnight) and put that aside. Today I removed the rocks from the waterfall section, rinsed them, and am having them sit in the same solution overnight, given there were all sorts of cricket and gecko waste in them. Might use the rocks and wood but right now, I don't know and figured soaking them anyway would be smart.

I'm going to remove the substrate tomorrow and work on the stickers on the glass (3rd photo is how the tank is currently). My problem is the waterfall section (4th picture). If I could keep it there, I would. I can use it for scaping and I think it would be neat if I could get it hooked up with the filter system I have planned (I want to try my first canister filter: a Fluval 407) but I don't know how well that would work or if there's something else I could do with it.

My brother has informed me he used Flexseal to put it in place and I'm wondering if anyone has any solutions for dealing with that because tucked behind the waterfall is a pump of some kind that I need to remove and there's tubing sealed into the waterfall (5th picture). I might be able to get it out through a hole in the base of the waterfall but I'm not sure. Googling told me WD40 or acetone with a razor could remove Flexseal but I don't want to use anything toxic for fish since it's inside the tank nor do I want to damage the glass. If I can use the tubing that's in place then great but I figure it might just be better to remove the whole thing and start from an empty tank and use egg crates for height building if I wanted.

For the moment, the whole thing is just a dirty mess, but I'm working on it. Once the substrate is out, I'll do a good rinse, another rinse and scrub with bleach water, rinse again and go from there. Tips would be helpful!

 

You might try cutting through the Flexseal with an exacto-knife. More or less a razor w/ handle. Arts & craft stores sell them.
Looks like quite a difficult job.

 

You might try cutting through the Flexseal with an exacto-knife. More or less a razor w/ handle. Arts & craft stores sell them.
Looks like quite a difficult job.

I'm probably going to try that. Some of it is already coming off the glass and just running my fingers over it to try and see how soft it is left black residue on my fingers. Hopefully, it won't be too hard but I'm going to try today and see how it goes once I get the substrate out. I'm thinking if I can get it out, clean it up, and disinfect it, I might be able to put it back with silicone and use it as a hiding space for the tank heater.

 

Progress! Substrate was removed and I tried a knife on the waterfall section but it was awkward to use in the way I wanted. It was working though so I tried something else and huzzah! A paint scraper did wonders! Turns out the waterfall had 1 layer of flex seal over 2 different layers of silicone so it was way harder than I thought. 3 hours later though and I managed to remove the waterfall and divider.

I moved the tank outside and placed it on a towel, rinsed it out and scrubbed the glass with a dish scrubber for any reptile debris. Then I started to fill it up for a leak test and worked at scraping some of the left over flex seal off. Cut myself getting the razor blade out of the package and one finger knuckle blister later and I got the front and side glass mostly clear on the inside. I only took it down to where it wasn’t visible so I wasn’t risking the silicone that seals the tank. I’ve got one more side to finish tomorrow and the stickers. Though my idiot brother put a thin layer on the bottom too. I could leave it but I like a clean look so I’ll probably scrape it off anyway.

The tank soaked with a bit of water and some bleach too for disinfecting for a little while. I then dumped it, sprayed it with some lemon juice for the calcium deposit on the glass, and scrubbed it a little. Might not have left it for long enough but I’ll go through with a razor and get what I missed.

I do have the rocks that were in the waterfall though. I rinsed them repeatedly, let them soak overnight in 5% bleach 95% water, and rinsed them repeatedly again. Would they be safe to use as a bottom substrate later? I have other gravel I can use as well, but these are a bigger size which would be easier. I want to do a 3 layer substrate. Rocks/gravel on the bottom, aqua soil above that in mesh bags and loose, then capped with a substrate I found that looks good: CaribSea Super Naturals Jungle River Aquarium Gravel. It's very small and closer to sand than gravel (0.5-1.5mm grains that look rounded and safe for my cory).

 

I did it! All silicone/flex seal from the waterfall is off (other than where it overlaps the original seal), stickers are off, and a brief soak with a paper towel in lemon juice cleared up the calcium deposit on the glass. Gave it a wiper down with a damp paper towel, dried, and it looks like a fish tank again! Now the fun part.

I have the gravel from the waterfall (mentioned in previous update) that I can use as a bottom substrate layer. I have one 20lb/9kg of smaller gravel I can use instead if you all think that the process I used to disinfect it wouldn’t make it fish tank safe (Repeated rinsing, overnight soak in 5% bleach 95% water, and more repeated rinsing).

Then, I have to start the tearing down process of the two tanks I plan to merge into this one. I have seiryu stone that isn’t in those tanks but the wood from those tanks I want to move into this one. That… and both those tanks have aqua soil I want to transfer over. The tall 15 gallon has loose soil that’s a mix of older and newer soil. The long 23 gallon has newer soil in mesh bags under the sand. The bags will be easy to grab though I will definitely keep track of any balance issues that may occur when I do make a mess. The other I can scoop out.

I need to wait for the top layer of gravel/sand though but it’s supposed to be delivered soon. So layers will be gravel, aqua soil with crushed root tabs mixed in, then sand/very tiny gravel. One question would be if you think the stand will hold up the weight once water is in.

 

The tank will likely weigh between 500 - 600 lbs. You'll need to figure out a way to evaluate the sturdiness of the stand.

 

Stand....my concern is that I don't see any cross bracing in the back so the potential to rack the stand, and have it collapse is there. Might be small chance but for my one sanity I would buy a piece of plywood and make a back to attach to the stand (top & bottom) to prevent that from happening. I tend to overbuild things (I have Grade 8 hardware holding on the bumper on my 78 Trans Am) so take it for what its worth.

Substrate....for my own piece of mind I'd just toss it and start fresh rather than hoping/praying that all the bleach was rinsed away. Probably one of the more cheaper items to purchase when setting up a tank. But that's just me.

 

So here are more pictures of the stand. I was hoping if the tank ends were lines up with the legs it might be okay but I was more concerned about the weight being focused on the legs and damaging the floor. If I need to add to it, where should I add wood? We have some leftover wood from a DIY pool deck that’s about the same width as the rest.

My brother said it can handle 500-600lbs. He had himself and two 200lb guys sitting on it and said it was fine. I also have a yoga mat I could put under the legs to make it level. My brother says the floor it's on it uneven but stable.

As for the rocks, they’ve been sitting outside the last few days to dry but if I can’t use them then I’ve got a 20lb bag of much smaller gravel I can use instead. Aqua Natural Gold Pearl gravel

 

IF it were mine, and again I overbuild, I'd be looking at the following....

1. Add a back to the stand. 1/2" to 3/4" plywood, top to bottom, glued & nailed into top, legs to keep it from racking.

2. Horizontal trim piece in front that connects the legs to the top to keep it from racking.

**I have 3 boys who at some times try to recreate WWE scenes. Add in their cousins who visit from time to time and the stand as shown could potentially have a leg knocked out from under it causing a tank to come down. I err on the side of caution. Your household may very well be different and not have those concerns.

IF you're concerned about the feet punching through your floor, put a "foot" on them instead. 3/4" plywood underneath to spread the load out across the front to back.

 

IF it were mine, and again I overbuild, I'd be looking at the following....

1. Add a back to the stand. 1/2" to 3/4" plywood, top to bottom, glued & nailed into top, legs to keep it from racking.

2. Horizontal trim piece in front that connects the legs to the top to keep it from racking.

**I have 3 boys who at some times try to recreate WWE scenes. Add in their cousins who visit from time to time and the stand as shown could potentially have a leg knocked out from under it causing a tank to come down. I err on the side of caution. Your household may very well be different and not have those concerns.

IF you're concerned about the feet punching through your floor, put a "foot" on them instead. 3/4" plywood underneath to spread the load out across the front to back.

1) Racking down? Like the top section that the tank is on bowing down? Or do you mean the legs themselves bending inward/outward? (I attached a poorly made drawing to explain what I'm worried about and if that's what you mean).

2) It has a horizontal piece in the back that runs from the legs on the left to those on the right unless you mean putting another one in the front? Or doing something up at the top? Or adding another set of "legs" in the middle? The top itself is 3 separate pieces of wood.

**It's in the front living room well out of the way of any animals or people running around. Shouldn't get bumped into at all as we don't really use that room for more than when guests come over (we have a larger living room-type space we use instead).

Brother said the floor in that room is on top of concrete and is a solid foundation but that the floor isn't level (though I checked the stand, tank, and floor just now and they're level). That's why I wondered if a yoga mat or (as you said) a foot would help level it out.

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Welp, brother doesn't want to help me and instead insisted it's fine and can hold the weight. Called up his friends who helped build it who also said it's "already overbuilt" and will hold 600lbs fine because the weight is distributed across the three separate top boards, not in the middle, and the 8 connected legs support that. Him and I sat on it and it was stable (we add up to about 350lbs) plus the dog (another 50lbs). So, I'm kind of stuck with the stand and hoping it's fine unless I can find out from the one other handy-person if it needs more support

 

So, I checked the rocks from the waterfall. I put a handful of them in a cup with water, tested the water and it was 7.4 ph. Left them overnight and it went up to about 8.0ph so I am now going to soak them in 7.4 ph water with a bunch of Prime to hopefully get rid of any lasting bleach/chlorine. I'll test them one more time and if the ph rises again, then I won't use them as a base substrate layer.

The top layer of gravel I plan on using is arriving today though. Only fun thing will be removing the hardscape from my other tanks and getting the aqua soil bags out from under the sand in the 23-gallon tank to transfer them over to the new tank. I'm hoping this won't cause too much of an issue in that tank as I'm going to need to fish to stay in there a day or two until this tank is set up.

I plan on doing the substrate and hardscape all in one day, then do the planting and transfer of half the fish the following day. With the other half going in after them in a day or two. I'll use both filters from the 15-gallon and 23-gallon tank initially to give the tank the extra boost for cycling (I still need to purchase the Fluval 407 canister filter), which should be quick with all the hardscape and everything I'm transferring (fingers crossed).

I've seen a few different ways I can do the hardscape as well and was wondering what you all think. I could do a peninsula sort of setup with a long strip of "land" leading down the middle of the tank (image 1). Or I could do two islands on either side of the tank (image 2). Or I could have it sloped from the front back and do a more scattered scape (image 3). The plan is to put the canister filter inlet/outlet on the left side of the tank and the heater is easily hidden.

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I have some leftover “Behr premium plus interior paint and primer” in flat black. Would this be safe to use to paint the back of the aquarium on the outside? I want a black background and if that’s safe I’ll use it. Otherwise I can get some plasti-dip and spray it on as I’ve heard that is safe.

And I think I’m going to do a more scattered scape or something line the peninsula but more in the back left corner. The top layer gravel showed up today and as expected it’s practically sand-like. I’ll start setting it up tomorrow I think.

 

Tank has been painted black on the back (took a whole day and 3 coats) and I put the substrate in today!

This required moving the fish and plants from the tall 15-gallon to the long 23-gallon so I could steal the aqua soil from there (bags of aqua soil were removed from 23-gallon too). I had to put up a barrier so the two Angel fish wouldn’t bicker in the 23-gallon while with all the other fish. Prime was added just because of the fish addition and the removal of aqua soil just in case, though they should only be in there a day or two max.

I used a mix of the waterfall rocks and the 20lb gold pearl gravel as a base layer of substrate. Put aqua soil on top of that, then capped with the CaribSea jungle sand (it’s very small gravel that’s closer to sand than gravel which is perfect for my cories). I’m going to put the hard scape in tomorrow and find a formation I like. I have a ton of seiryu stone and some nice big pieces of spider wood so we’ll see how it goes!

If I’m lucky I’ll start planting as well and fill it up. I only have the one fluval HOB I can use but I will use the other HOB from the 23-gallon as well until I get the canister filter. Plan is to do hard scape and planting tomorrow. Fill it up and let the one filter run overnight. Then move half the fish the next day. Leave them for a while, get the canister filter set up (if I haven’t already), and move the other fish. Hopefully everything goes well!

 

The transformation from the first photos to now is wild!

 

I meant to get a picture before I put the plants in but forgot. Whoops. But here is the finished product! Angel fish, nerites, and cories were moved in first. Then I checked the levels (0,0,20) and went ahead and added the tetra, platy, and otos. I will keep an eye on the levels for the next week or so.

All plants, spiderwood, and rocks were from both tanks. I had a few other seiryu stones lying around so I just picked what worked. Plants are: Java fern, anubias, crypt wendtii, rotala, hornwort, dwarf lettuce, vals, Amazon sword, dwarf sag, a little bit of Java moss, and ludwigia.

And I still don’t have the canister filter yet so I’ve got the two fluval hob filters from their previous tanks working instead. Hoping to get the canister filter in the next week.

The lights are just the LED from the 15-gallon and the fluval aqua sky from the 23-gallon so the colors are a bit weird but if needed I can get another aqua sky or even switch it out with an LED I have from my reptile tank.

 

Angel fish were rehomed today. The zebra wouldn't stop harassing the marbled so I made the decision to take them down to petco where they'll be housed separately until someone adopts them (lady was super nice. said they looked amazing and that I did great taking care of them ). Instead, I bought other fish that are sitting in the 23-gallon tank (which will be my quarantine tank for a bit) to slowly be transferred into this one.

Current inhabitants: 3 mickey mouse platy, 1 mickey mouse platy x swordtail, 3 oto, 3 green cory (one new) and 1 peppered cory, 2 nerites, 8 neon tetra.

New inhabitants: 3 turquoise rainbowfish, 3 boesemani rainbowfish, 10 red minor tetra.

I do want to get more red minor tetra, more neon/caridnal tetra, and 2-4 more cory but the shops were out of neons, I took all their red minors, and all they had cory-wise were very small baby cory. Let me know if this stocking is okay! So long as the levels are good tomorrow I will add either the rainbows or the tetra, then wait and eye the levels again before adding whichever I don't add tomorrow.

 

Hello

bored411,​

super random, but I love crested geckos! I have bred them for 3 years. They are super awesome little guys.

 

Hello

bored411,​

super random, but I love crested geckos! I have bred them for 3 years. They are super awesome little guys.

Yeah, my brother had one in this huge tank, and wasn't giving him the proper care. He had him in a sparely decorated tank, low humidity, and fed him only crickets. I had to take over caring for him. Got him all sorts of fake plants to climb on, got him a fruit-mix food with crickets once a month, and misted his tank frequently. Then, I got busy and couldn't afford to continue to take care of him. Brother gave him up to me so I rehomed him to someone who absolutely adores him, got him in a smaller tank which was better for him, and sends me updates.

But now I was able to turn his old home into a big aquarium and I love it.

 

He's gorgeous! I have a male just like him. Here his daughter Unofry. (Storage name. I know).