New to keeping fish. Just moved from 10 to 55 gallon.

[germanyt]

I started off with a ten gallon tank that my sister gave me and a very basic hang in the tank filter. I bought an oranda to keep in it and used the old blue painted gravel she had. Not long after I bought some new gravel, a different background, and a black moor.



I'd been dying to get them in a bigger tank. After going to Pet Smart several times I finally decided to pull the trigger on a Top Fin 55 gallon starter kit w/ LEDs. Problem was that my wife didn't want me to set it on the floor and I didn't want to buy a stand. Little did I know that the stand I decided to build would cost as much as the stands at Pet Smart. Oh well, at least mine is stout and going to last forever. The ones at the store were poorly built.

I'm trying to post pics but it's telling not to use IMG tags. Then when I use the tab for inserting images it uses IMG tags and gives me the same message.

 

[shellieca]

Yay for you! Aquariums are quite the addiction.

 

[germanyt]

Can anyone offer any advice on posting pictures?

Edit.
Nvm I see it in the faq section. Im off to work but will post pics this evening.

 

[spiketooth]

Welcome, this site is full of people that will be able to help you answer any questions you can come up with and ideas.

 

[Angel_fish]

Welcome to the exciting world of fish keeping. Once you were a normal person, but soon you will be a nerd like the rest of us

 

[germanyt]

So the picture embed feature on this forum sucks. I'm not going to resize every photo to embed it. Here are direct links.

Old tank
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130113_141316.jpg
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130224_181227_zps957bb34e.jpg

New stand I built.
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130223_172946_zps2b89b8a7.jpg
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130223_172952_zpsd0521e96.jpg

My daughter helping.
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130224_110751_zpse008efe0.jpg

Old gravel and filter to speed up cycle. (filter not in at this point)
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130224_110751_zpse008efe0.jpg
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130224_170137_zpsfe919f27.jpg

http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130224_161617_zps9533ec34.jpg
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130224_170131_zps8aeb2186.jpg

Water was ready in 24 hours except for slightly high nitrites. Hadn't decided on a theme yet.
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130224_194359_zps0604dfbb.jpg

Stuck this background on it and hated it. Then flipped it around to the white rocks on blue background and hated it too.
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130227_183142_zps69e2f745.jpg

I ended up with this background. The flip side is stacked slate too so it'll look good too when I want to change things up. The rocks came from a local place that let me cherry pick what I wanted for .23/lb.
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130301_182126_zpsed03ddfb.jpg
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130301_182137_zpsc804a909.jpg
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130301_182151_zpsa0e3eab4.jpg
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130301_182156_zpscd6319d8.jpg

The water's a little cloudy there because of all the stirring of the sand.

It's clear now.
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae324/timgermany/20130302_203748_zpsc96215fd.jpg

 

[spiketooth]

Be careful of limestones, they will increase your ph ( dont know if you have any just letting you know)

 

[germanyt]

Actually I think it is limestone. I looked up a couple of photos of limestone river rock and found what I think is the same bin from the same company that I picked mine out of. I just had my PH tested yesterday at 7.2. What type of rise in pH should I see with the limestone? It's only been in there for a couple of days and I did boil the Rock's first.

 

[spiketooth]

Not a clue lol, i just know it will change PH, GH and KH. It does level off so just watch your level. Might want to check the PH of your tap water so when you do water changes, later when you test you will know why the ph is off a little. If you do small water changes you will prob not see a change at all