Utar's 55 gal build

High everyone,
I am not new to the hobby and enjoy building my own stand and canopy. I am still in the process of building and getting my 55 gal tank setup, cycled and then stocked. I am going to attempt a dirted fully planted tank.

I am not to the point of adding water yet, but getting there. Right now I have the 55 gal tank setup in my living room, with stand and canopy built, and painted.

Since I have never used a canister filter before I am learning how to safely use mine out in the garage on a 29 gallon tank. I don't want to flood my house, lol. I will let this run for a day or two.

Right now I am waiting on a custom print sized to fit the back of my 55 gal tank. I need to get this on before I can continue. I should have it all up an running by the end of next week.

Here is a couple of pictures of the stand and canopy setting on the tank. I took these pictures using my cell phone and the color came out almost pink. The actual color is a dark red color, similar to red brick. This was the paint I had plenty of and didn't want to buy more.

I chose to go with an open stand this time. My first stand was enclosed for my other 29 gal tank, which I have had up and running for two years now.

 

I am going to try using a small canister filter as a prefilter with sponges, using three different sponges, coarse, medium, and fine. I learned this from pond guru on youtube. This way I don't have to take down and clean the larger canister as often. I might even be able to fill my larger canister filter completely with media. I bought 5 pounds of Biohome Ultimate media from amazon. It is supposed to support both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.

I will seed it with media from my present 29 gallon tank that has been up and running for two years now.

Here is link to all this on amazon.
The small canister filter as the prefilter.

The larger canister filter.

Biohome Ultimate Media

 

Welcome! to the community.

I am going to attempt a dirted fully planted tank.

Interesting!

Good Luck!

Learning all the Time.

 

Here is some more pictures of the stand. I left four inches to the top on the right side to set stuff I will use everyday like food etc. On the back of the stand I left six extra inches to butt it up against the wall and still keep the aquarium away from the wall. I build it for a ten gallon tank on the bottom for a hospital/quarantine tank.

Here is a few pictures of the canopy. I made mistakes building the canopy, but I made it work. I have a power strip on the back. I also made a shelve inside to set up an air pump. This is all still a work in progress.

Thank you for the welcome.

 

Today I got both canister filters connected up and running but it was a learning experience. Right now they are setup in my garage on a 29 gal tank as a test run before moving them into the house on my 55 gal tank. This was not plug and play. I had to use hose clamps on the small canister.

 

Here is the start of my model scenery that I will have on top of the canopy. Still gotta to do a few touch ups on this
.

 

An update on some learning pains here, and mistakes of plenty on my part. lol
Concerning the setup of the large canister with a smaller booster canister filter. I have gotten considerable about of water on the floor of my garage twice now.

First the large canister has 3/4" connections and the hose is 3/4" inside diameter by 1" outside diameter. The smaller canister had two options for connecting hoses, 1/2" and 3/4" inside the box. These connectors are also valves in a single unit. This is a must for this little guy, I just hope these plastic valves will hold up over time.

The larger canister filter has a shut off incorporated in the top connection unit. After inserting the unit, flipping the black lever back on to the filter opens for water flow. Flipping the black lever up to remove shuts off water flow to the hoses for removal. Don't do like I did and just take the top off the canister with the hoses attached, because water will flow through the hoses from the tank ending up all over the floor, nasty.

The small booster canister filter and removing it without spilling water. I shut off the water for the intake side by closing the bottom valve. But when I removed the hose by unscrewing the valve on the bottom. Then the water flowed out of the open end coming out of the bottom of the canister, getting water on the floor.

This is my dilemma trying to figure out how to remove the small canister for cleaning, without spilling the water, and loosing prime on the hoses.

 

Looks mike your build is coming along nicely.

For your smaller "prefilter" canister, I suggest for you to check out Eheim's Double Tap quick release hose connectors. They are used on their Classic series of canisters and available separately for purchase. They come in different sizes to accommodate various hose diameters.

How much does the 5lbs of BioHome fill up the larger canister, 2 baskets worth ?

If the pre-filter canister is full of foams, consider adding some layers of Polyfil batting in half of the bottom basket of the main canister. It will keep your BioHome cleaner.

If you want. "Pre-filter" for the pre-filter, check out the "ATI Hydro Max III". Amazon might have them, but I buy my ATI products from the Ken's Fish website (along with my fish food and other supplies). It comes with various adapters to fit almost all intake pipes. I use them on 3 Aquaclears and 1 FX4 canister, I like them a lot.

Your hood looks good, do you mind posting more pics of it, especially the inside. I've though about making hoods for our tanks. Hood give tanks a very clean look and I'm interested in how yours is constructed.
.

 

Looks mike your build is coming along nicely.

For your smaller "prefilter" canister, I suggest for you to check out Eheim's Double Tap quick release hose connectors. They are used on their Classic series of canisters and available separately for purchase. They come in different sizes to accommodate various hose diameters.

How much does the 5lbs of BioHome fill up the larger canister, 2 baskets worth ?

If the pre-filter canister is full of foams, consider adding some layers of Polyfil batting in half of the bottom basket of the main canister. It will keep your BioHome cleaner.

If you want. "Pre-filter" for the pre-filter, check out the "ATI Hydro Max III". Amazon might have them, but I buy my ATI products from the Ken's Fish website (along with my fish food and other supplies). It comes with various adapters to fit almost all intake pipes. I use them on 3 Aquaclears and 1 FX4 canister, I like them a lot.

Your hood looks good, do you mind posting more pics of it, especially the inside. I've though about making hoods for our tanks. Hood give tanks a very clean look and I'm interested in how yours is constructed.
.

I haven't used the BioHome media yet, but I believe you are right about it filling two baskets. I am doing a test run on the canister filters to make sure they don't leak without any media or foam pads inside. I am also learning about them, so I don't flood my living room when I set them up for real, they are in the garage running on a 29 gal tank.

I will check out the Eheim's Double Tap quick release hose connectors, and Ken's Fish website, thanks for both of these.

I made the hood using 1by2 boards and 5mm plywood, bought all the materials at Lowes. I ended up using L brackets in places for support. The problem I ran into after building the frame was that one of the boards was not straight. An oops on my part, so now one side is a bit higher then the other side. I didn't want to have to rebuild the frame, waste material, and drive back to Lowes for more. Lowes is about 25 miles from where I live. So I made it work.

Here are a few more pictures. This was my first hood, so please excuse some of the hick ups. In one of the pictures I show the shelve I built for the air pump. The shelve is clear so only the pump will block some light. Because the 5mm plywood is so thin I added some pieces of 3/4" plywood for knobs and light attachment.

 

Today I got my background picture in for my 55 gal tank, so I taped it on for a test run with scotch tape. I will tape it back on later using clear gorilla tape. I just wanted to get a feel for it first. But I really like it.

I had it printed here Uprinting an online printing service. This is a vinyl print so it should hold up. It is the same vinyl that is used for hanging signs, et.

I had to take the picture at an angle otherwise the flash on my camera shined back off the glass, making to hard to see.




Here is a another pic from the front without glare.

 

Excellent work!

 

Excellent work!

Thanks, I've had the print on the back of the tank for several hours now. Its night and I turned off all the lights, leaving the tank lights on. It is fantastic, l finally did something right. lol

Now I need to get on with. I need to order some plants, and get this all up and running.
What kind of plants do you recommend?

 

My only knowledge of plants are the simple anubias in our community tank kept in a terra cotta pot and in the sand substrate, and the Golden Pothos ivy (common house plant ivy) that we keep on top of the lids on some tanks and the roots hang down into the water.

There are a lot more knowledgeable members here than me regarding plants. Ha!

 

Right now everything is on hold for getting this project up and running. I am waiting on the last two ingredients I had to buy online. Should all be in and ready maybe the end of this month are the start of June.

 

Well your plant choices are going to depend on what kind of look you want. You could take a gander around on buceplant to get a general idea of what you want.

 

Well your plant choices are going to depend on what kind of look you want. You could take a gander around on buceplant to get a general idea of what you want.

Thank you for the tip, I am not ready to order plants yet, but it is never to early to start looking.

 

Been awhile since I updated my 55g tank build. I finally mixed my aquasoil, but I did a test run in a 10g tank first. I ordered three Echinodorus Red Rubin from Buce plant, which I believe is in the Amazon Sword family of plants. Planted these in the the dirted 10g using this aquasoil. In a few days they started wilting away, and maybe died. I hope they come back. But I don't think this is a good test for this aquasoil.

So I mixed up enough for my 55g two days ago, let age a bit, and started adding it to my tank.


I have two inched of aquasoil. Then I covered this with an inch of sand, then capped all this off with two inches of pea pebbles. Using a wheel barrel to clean the sand and pea pebbles worked great, much better then using a bucket. I cleaned entire bags at a time in my wheel barrel.




So now I have two inches of aquasoil dirt, inch of sand, and two inches of pea pebbles. That is a total of five inches of substrate. Then added water. The inside glass is covered with small air bubbles, but those will go way, if not I will wipe them off.




Right now I am using my old fluval C4 HOB, full of poly-fil, running to clean and polish the water before using my canister filters.

Yesterday I found a nice piece of wood I am going to try. It is a root system from a tree. The land next to mine was cleared awhile back and the bull dozer pushed trees over. So I cut off the root system on one of the smaller trees, cleaned it up, and now have it soaking outside in old 55g tank.
Top view.



Side view.



Under water with weights holding it down to water log it.




Of course I will have to boil it good as the last step before using in in my new 55g tank.

It will be awhile before I start adding plants and fish, maybe a month or better for plants, and much longer than that before adding fish. I want the tank and water to age a little first. I am going to be doing water changes to remove tannin released by the peat moss in the aquasoil.

 

I think it looks good so far! That root you found is really cool. If I may offer a quick suggestion, I think it would look cool if you pushed some of the gravel sort of back and to the corners to create a nice slope to give the tank a little more dimension, especially when things are planted. I find that doing this makes aquascaping a little easier since the substrate can give you a solid base to work off of in terms of making a more "layered" scape in the end.

 

Thank you for the substrate advice. I am winging this by looking at other pictures of planted tanks. I have been studying the shape of the substrate and intended on leveling it out at least. When I do I will also shape it higher to the back and corners.

 

Here is the cost in US Dollars, and recipe for the aquasoil I mixed for my tank.
12LB Bag of Earthworm Castings----- 16.99
3LB Bag of Blood Meal-------------- 6.87
13.5LB Bag of Bag of Baking Soda--- 6.59
3LB Bag of Ironite Plus----------- 6.28
4oz Yellow Iron Oxide-------------- 7.99
50LB Bag of Pro Aglime------------- 4.69
10LB Diatomaceous Earth(Food Grade) 19.99
7LB Epsom salt for plants---------- 5.48
1LB Osmocote Plus------------------ 7.59
40LB Bag of Black Kow-------------- 5.28
Large Bag of Peat Moss------------- 9.96
25qt Bag of Miracle-Gro Organic---- 11.99
Total Cost-------------------------109.70
Does not include cost of pea pebbles, and pool filter sand.

Supplements
1/2 cup (4 oz)
Earthworm Castings (Made from earthworm farms, has lots of benefits)
Blood Meal (High in Nitrogen lowers ph)
Baking Soda (an alkaline compound raises ph)
Ironite Plus 15-10-10 (Slow release because plants need iron)
Yellow Iron Oxide (For more pure iron,it is safe for aquarium use, slowly breaks down over time)
Pro Aglime (raises ph used in soil for plant growth)
Diatomaceous Earth (for calcium made from ancient diatoms)

1/3 cup (2 oz) very little of this stuff
Epsom Salt for plants (helps with bad bacteria)
Osmocote Plus (slow release)

Main ingredients 16 cups
Black Kow
Organic Miracle Grow
Peat Moss (lowers ph Helps to keep aquasoil from compacting allow an easy time for plant roots)

4 cups of Pool Filter Sand (will also help to keep aquasoil from compacting)

Mixed with just enough aquarium water (do not use tap water) to create a paste like aquasoil, you don't want it soupy. This way it will spread in the tank and not mix with sand and or rock cap.

After adding this aquasoil to my 55g tank, I mixed up a second batch of 16 cups of Black Kow, and 16 cups of Organic Miracle Grow. Mixed this with aquarium water to a paste. Then added this on top of the aquasoil. Giving a 2" total depth of aquasoil in a 55g tank.

I cleaned a full bag of Pool Filter Sand, 1" capping on top of the aquasoil.
I cleaned 2 full bags of Pea Pebbles for a 2" capping.

 

One of the latest thing I have done is create a feeding tube. I drilled through the canopy top lid a 2"+ size hole, then drill out the same through the Polycarbonate Clear Multiwall Roof Panel that I cut and used to for the tank lid. (this is under the wooden canopy top).
Then cut to length a 2" piece of pvc pipe to used for feeding my fish. This way all I have do do is lift off the 2" cap, instead of pulling everything down everyday to feed. I have the pvc pipe in two pieces stuck together using a coupling.

pvc pipe cut to size with cap and coupling



Hole cut in Polycarbonate lid for pvc pipe feeding tube.



pvc pipe feeding tube setting on top of Polycarbonate lid




feeder tube setting inside canopy top




pvc feeder tube with canopy lid




pvc feeder tube bottom

 

I have yet to setup my canister filters with bio-media, just filled with poly-fil to clean the water.
This is day four since I added the aquasoil capping it with sand and pea gravel.
For the past two days I have seen a huge bacteria bloom. The water turned a milky color so bad I could hardly see through one side of the tank to the other.
Today I tested everything, I believe the high ammonia is caused by the aquasoil.
ph 7.6
Ammonia 8.0 +, this was surprising the vial color shows a dark green, so it could be off the chart.
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
GH 125.3
KH 143.2

 

Ok worked at this today and got everything back up and running. I drained the tank to within a couple of inches left because of the 80+ ammonia. I believe this is because of the aquasoil. I added no ammonia to the tank, and my tap water as no ammonia. Like I said a couple of days in after the first tank of water I got a huge bacteria bloom. The canister filters only had poly-fil in them. So no bio-media to help home the beneficial bacteria.

For anyone that might be interested my cansister is the same as the SunSun 704b, but a different brand. So there are four trays which are 9"x9"x2 1/2" thick. The 5lbs of bio-home ultimate media I bought filled up two of these trays. So each tray will hold about 2 1/2lbs of the media.




Yeah I know I got the sponges upside down, the dimples should go down toward the flow. But I cut them wrong and then figured that out. duh. I don't want to waste them so I used them anyways.

I cleaned a sterilized the rocks I found down by the railroad tracks. When it comes to rocks that are found, use a knife to scratch them. If the knife can scratch them, then the rocks are probably to soft to be used in an aquarium.
I could not scratch these rocks, they are very hard indeed.

So let the cycling begin.

 

June 9, 2020 I setup the tank. I filled the canister filters with poly-fil to catch anything left behind after cleaning the pea gravel.

June 11, 2020 I noticed a huge bacteria bloom, where the water turned a milky color. I tested the water GH 125.3, KH 161.1, ph 7.6. But I only had poly-fil in my canister filters.

June 13, 2020 I tested for ammonia 8.+ off the scale for the API Master Test Kit. I later read somewhere here on fishlore where someone said that potting soil will release ammonia. I did 100% wc. Re-setup the canister filters with proper cleaning sponges, and bio-media. I used 5 pounds of bio-home ultimate which filled the top two trays of my Sunsun 704b canister filter. I used the method for cleaning sponges in the bottom tray of course, medium, and fine. The tray above this one I filled with more poly-fil.

June 15, 2020 did a complete water test.
GH 125.3, KH 125.3, ph 7.6, ammonia 4, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5. Tested my water source, Nitrate 0. Did a 60% wc to help control the ammonia, because it is being released by the potting soil in my aquasoil.

 

Today is June 23, so it has been two weeks since I setup my 55g tank. I have seven Amazon Swords plants. Today I did a complete water test on both my tap water and the aquarium.
Tap Water
GH 7 drops - 125.3
KH 7 drops - 125.3
ph 7.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

55g Aquarium
GH 7 drops - 125.3
KH 8 drops - 143.2
Ammonia between 2 to 4
Nitrite between 0.5 to 1
Nitrate 20

In this picture the flash washed out the API color chart, but the vials still look for the color.



So the cycling is on its way, but I believe it will take at least another two more weeks. Then at least another month before I will add fish. I don't want to jump to soon for stocking my tank. Patience is the key here. I never had to worry about an ammonia source, because the potting soil in my aquasoil produced all the ammonia I needed for the cycle process.

 

An interesting note here is water temperature. For comparison I have a ten gallon tank setting right beside my 55 gallon tank. The ten only as a thin layer of pea gravel on the bottom, this will be my quarantine tank.

The ten has a constant temp of 74.7° F. The 55 has always read much higher with temp of 78.0° F, and this started out even higher at 80.2° F. I thought this could be because of the tap water temp that I am using, but I have measured the temp and it never showed over 76° F.

Makes me wonder if the aquasoil has something to do with the higher temp readings in the 55. I do have two thermometers in the 55, one on each end and they agree with a few points. The temp is slowly going down over time.

One more note I was thinking the higher temp had something to do with the hood covering the entire tank and retaining heat. I removed it for the past few days and saw no significant difference in temp.

 

Well my tank is close to completing its cycle. I have added 4ppm of ammonia twice in the past few days to check the cycle. The next day the ammonia is all but a trace of 0.50ppm.
Yesterday I did a complete water change, the added 4ppm ammonia. Here are today's results.
ph 7.6
ammonia 0.5
nitrite 0.5
nitrates 80+

Pic of the tank that I had posted before on a different thread.

 

At this point on June 9 I am still waiting on the cycle to complete, getting close. The Nitrosomonas which converts ammonia NH3 to nitrite NO2 is colonized and going strong so there is zero ammonia. But the Nitrobacter which converts nitrite NO2 to nitrate NO3 is still not where I want to be yet. I am still reading 0.25ppm nitrite. But it is growing because of the nitrate is on the rise.

 

Today June 12, still have nitrite of 0.25 so cycle is stubborn just hope it finishes soon. Funny I setup a ten gallon quarantine tank on 6-30 and it finished its cycle. I have added liquid ammonia to the ten gallon twice and each time the next day or so ammonia is 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate 40. Not getting any fish until the 55 gallon finishes cycling.

 

Water tests show my tank is cycled on 12th, July. On July 16, I added too very small Angel Fish and ten Red Eye Tetras. Today the next day they all seem fine. Everything in this tank is natural, wood and plants. I enjoy watching my little angels pecking at the wood. I have fed them and they are eating.

 

Good job!
Just give it some time before you add anymore stock.

 

High everyone,
I am not new to the hobby and enjoy building my own stand and canopy. I am still in the process of building and getting my 55 gal tank setup, cycled and then stocked. I am going to attempt a dirted fully planted tank.

I am not to the point of adding water yet, but getting there. Right now I have the 55 gal tank setup in my living room, with stand and canopy built, and painted.

Since I have never used a canister filter before I am learning how to safely use mine out in the garage on a 29 gallon tank. I don't want to flood my house, lol. I will let this run for a day or two.

Right now I am waiting on a custom print sized to fit the back of my 55 gal tank. I need to get this on before I can continue. I should have it all up an running by the end of next week.

Here is a couple of pictures of the stand and canopy setting on the tank. I took these pictures using my cell phone and the color came out almost pink. The actual color is a dark red color, similar to red brick. This was the paint I had plenty of and didn't want to buy more.

I chose to go with an open stand this time. My first stand was enclosed for my other 29 gal tank, which I have had up and running for two years now.

Think about capping it with something I started off just dirt it started out well but any moving in the tank causes a mess and forget about vacuuming after about 2 months I capped it with small rock gravel

 

Think about capping it with something I started off just dirt it started out well but any moving in the tank causes a mess and forget about vacuuming after about 2 months I capped it with small rock gravel

Yes I did cap my aqua soil with sand and pea gravel, and I have not had any problems with it. Today I have two angel fish and ten red eye tetras.

Did you see any ammonia produced by your soil, because mine was an ammonia factory. Two days after adding water I tested ammonia and it was off the color chart it was so high. So I had to do water changes daily just to control the ammonia. But because I had seeded with cycled media out of another tank, within a month the tank cycled. No ammonia, nitrite but showing nitrate.

 

July 16, I added two little Angelfish about the size of a quarter and ten Red Eye Tetras. Before that I had added plants three times and most are doing great, a few have wilted but not to bad. Today I added four albino corys from my old 29 gallon, I have had them for around two years now. But the corys are not going to stay in this tank, because I need to move their tank and reset it up soon.

 

July 16, I added two little Angelfish about the size of a quarter and ten Red Eye Tetras. Before that I had added plants three times and most are doing great, a few have wilted but not to bad. Today I added four albino corys from my old 29 gallon, I have had them for around two years now. But the corys are not going to stay in this tank, because I need to move their tank and reset it up soon.

View attachment 716497

Looks good I also had an ammonia spike at first and it took about 20-25 days before I cycled also using old media from the pic u shouldn’t have an issue I didn’t cap with that much so when I do vac I always pull up dirt

 

On 6/9/20, setup the tank running only polyfill in the filters to clean the water from what was left over after cleaning the sand and pea gravel.

On 6/13/20 I drained all the water and refilled. I setup the canisters with sponges and media (Adding media from my 2 year old 29 gallon tank) to began cycling. I added plants during this time.

On 7/13/20 the cycle finished. At the start the potting soil in my aquasoil was an ammonia factory so I didn't have to add ammonia. Two days after setting up the tank I measured the ammonia and it was off the charts, so I started controlling ammonia with 75% water changes every day. Keeping the ammonia down to 4ppm.

On 7/16/20 I added two small Angelfish, and ten Red Eye Tetras. I kept a close eye on water parameters doing tests with API Master Test Kit. Never saw any increase in ammonia or nitrites, but the nitrate can climb fast so I keep an eye on it and do water changes when needed, right now every three days.

 

Its been eight days now sense I added my fish and everything is going fine. Everything in this tank is natural, the wood, plants, even the big rocks. Nitrates can still get a bit high so still doing water changes about every three days.

I am really enjoying my new tank setup, very soothing and relaxing to watch.
Here is the latest picture, where one of my two Angels is on the far right, the Red Eye Tetras in the middle and one of my old Albino Corys swimming in the middle. The picture is not very clear because I just did a water change and bubbles are still on the glass.

 

Today I got both canister filters connected up and running but it was a learning experience. Right now they are setup in my garage on a 29 gal tank as a test run before moving them into the house on my 55 gal tank. This was not plug and play. I had to use hose clamps on the small canister.View attachment 694068
View attachment 694069

OMG - your filters make my 40 gal filter look tiny

 

OMG - your filters make my 40 gal filter look tiny

I really don't need the smaller pre-filter, its just there to make cleaning easier. I just clean the smaller one instead having to clean larger one. The entire setup cost me around 125 dollars, so not too expensive like other options.

Polar Aurora canister filter

Sunsun pre-filter