New Addict

[Toro]

Hello, I recently bought a 10 gallon tank at the end of November/beginning of December while petco/petsmart had a sale on cheap tanks.

My wife and I felt bad for the bettas in the cups so we decided to rescue one. So we went out and bought the eco substrate, gravel, sponge filter, plants, lava rocks etc...
It holds 2 cory (I know now) a loach (I know now) 3 snails and a male crown tail betta


That tank led to another 10 gallon. Another betta female crown tail and 4 loaches, 2 snails and discovered today a third, must have been a plant hitcher. The newest tank we decided to use the potting soil sand method and planting.

Those tanks led to us buying a 20 gallon convinced it was the last one until we get a house..... so of course, we went out and bought another tank (40 gallon breeder) the 20 and 40 remain empty at the moment.

We are a little nervous after seeing reviews of Aqueon tanks bowing and leaking/failing. Also, we will be placing it on an old solid wood dresser that I have had forever. It should be level, at least as level as most of the cheap things sold as tank stands today.

Now, once we get over the nervousness of filling the 40 gallon. The plan will be to destroy the 10 gallon I posted the picture of in order to capture the lone loach and put it with its own kind to make a group of 5 minimum. The two emerald cory we will pull from there as well and place those two in the 40 gallon with 8-10 other cory. My wife and I did not know that the loaches should be no less than 5 and cory 6. So the plan is to fix that ASAP.

Also, my wife and I both love FF7 so I am thinking of having a FF7 theme in the 40 gallon. Using different colored glass balls as "materia", LEDs to light them from underneath and furniture PVC pipes/air stones, LED and black silicone to add texture to the pipes.

Hopefully it will match in the tank whats in my head.

Guess that is my long dull introduction. Now off to surf this place and learn some things.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Welcome to the community. Looking forward to seeing and hearing about what you are getting up to.

FF7? Final fantasy? God, its probably decades since i last played through that. FF12 was my favourite, although sephiroth is the coolest character.

 

[Toro]

Yes, Final Fantasy. We loved the original of 7, although 8 is probably my favorite, but now that they just released part two of the remake of 7 we are enjoying going through the familiar story in a new way.

Thank you for the warm welcome

 

[Andy Sager]

Welcome to the site
Yes, MTS ( Multi Tank Syndrome) is real. LOL I have a host of tanks that aren't being used ( for now) and I just can't push myself to sell them off. LOL

As for your piece of furniture for the 40 gal: You need to be careful when using items not made for fish tanks. Tank stands are made for the weight of the tank where the supports are strategically placed. Keep in mind that a gallon of freshwater weighs just under 8 lbs so your 40 is going to be at least 300lbs. Add to that the weight of the tank itself, the gravel/ substrate and any decor you add. So if the supports from this piece are not under the tank, you could have an issue. You CAN do a test by having 400 lbs of people stand on this piece but if it doesn't hold all the weight, you could ruin the piece. Then again, is it better to ruin the piece or have roughly 35 gallons of water on the floor?

 

[Toro]

Thank you for the welcome and the warning. I do plan on testing the piece first for sure.

The main reason I plan on using the dresser instead of a dedicated stand is it is solid wood and has held a 40 or 55 gallon before when I got rid of my water dragon.

Difference between then and now is back then I couldnt have cared less about the aquarium/fish. I just liked the sound of water and the tank was there. So all I did is shoved a few plants in there, a few snails a sucker fish that I know now as a pleco. Im pretty sure I incorrectly stocked it bala sharks with some random fish I got from walmart at the time. I figured a fish is a fish and didn't think twice about temperament aggressive/non-aggressive etc.

The stands I looked at recently had high reviews but also had reviewers that edited their original review when the stands top began sagging and caused tank failure.

The dresser did right by me before for a year or so, Im hoping it still has it in it to hold up the weight, but the test will be the deciding factor. As you said, better it fails the test than all that water on the floor.

Thanks again

 

[Andy Sager]

Thank you for the welcome and the warning. I do plan on testing the piece first for sure.

The main reason I plan on using the dresser instead of a dedicated stand is it is solid wood and has held a 40 or 55 gallon before when I got rid of my water dragon.

Difference between then and now is back then I couldnt have cared less about the aquarium/fish. I just liked the sound of water and the tank was there. So all I did is shoved a few plants in there, a few snails a sucker fish that I know now as a pleco. Im pretty sure I incorrectly stocked it bala sharks with some random fish I got from walmart at the time. I figured a fish is a fish and didn't think twice about temperament aggressive/non-aggressive etc.

The stands I looked at recently had high reviews but also had reviewers that edited their original review when the stands top began sagging and caused tank failure.

The dresser did right by me before for a year or so, Im hoping it still has it in it to hold up the weight, but the test will be the deciding factor. As you said, better it fails the test than all that water on the floor.

Thanks again

Yeah, the pressboard stands do last for a while ( until they get wet ) but truthfully, I've only had ones for nothing larger than a 10 gallon tank. I used either angle iron stands or concrete blocks with 2 x 4s for all my tanks.

 

[Toro]

Thank you for confirmation.

The concrete block/wood combo was what I was going to go with until I remembered the dresser held up to that level of weight and stress before that's when the cinder block idea became plan B but is still a real possibility.

Especially if I have space to lay out enough cinder blocks to sit the 20 gal beside the 40 so I can "age" the water I believe its called to gas off some of the chlorine? To use in water changes.

 

[Andy Sager]

Thank you for confirmation.

The concrete block/wood combo was what I was going to go with until I remembered the dresser held up to that level of weight and stress before that's when the cinder block idea became plan B but is still a real possibility.

Especially if I have space to lay out enough cinder blocks to sit the 20 gal beside the 40 so I can "age" the water I believe its called to gas off some of the chlorine? To use in water changes.

Check with your water company for whether they add chlorine or moved to Chloramine like most of the country has. Chloramine ( a combination of chlorine and ammonia) does not gas off like the old days of just chlorine and needs to be chemically dealt with.

 

[Figuringitout]

Hello, I recently bought a 10 gallon tank at the end of November/beginning of December while petco/petsmart had a sale on cheap tanks.

My wife and I felt bad for the bettas in the cups so we decided to rescue one. So we went out and bought the eco substrate, gravel, sponge filter, plants, lava rocks etc...
It holds 2 cory (I know now) a loach (I know now) 3 snails and a male crown tail betta
View attachment 389709

That tank led to another 10 gallon. Another betta female crown tail and 4 loaches, 2 snails and discovered today a third, must have been a plant hitcher. The newest tank we decided to use the potting soil sand method and planting.

Those tanks led to us buying a 20 gallon convinced it was the last one until we get a house..... so of course, we went out and bought another tank (40 gallon breeder) the 20 and 40 remain empty at the moment.

We are a little nervous after seeing reviews of Aqueon tanks bowing and leaking/failing. Also, we will be placing it on an old solid wood dresser that I have had forever. It should be level, at least as level as most of the cheap things sold as tank stands today.
the
Now, once we get over the nervousness of filling the 40 gallon. The plan will be to destroy the 10 gallon I posted the picture of in order to capture the lone loach and put it with its own kind to make a group of 5 minimum. The two emerald cory we will pull from there as well and place those two in the 40 gallon with 8-10 other cory. My wife and I did not know that the loaches should be no less than 5 and cory 6. So the plan is to fix that ASAP.

Also, my wife and I both love FF7 so I am thinking of having a FF7 theme in the 40 gallon. Using different colored glass balls as "materia", LEDs to light them from underneath and furniture PVC pipes/air stones, LED and black silicone to add texture to the pipes.

Hopefully it will match in the tank whats in my head.

Guess that is my long dull introduction. Now off to surf this place and learn some things.

Hi Toro, my name is Figuringitout, and I too am an addict. Welcome to the forum!

 

[Toro]

Check with your water company for whether they add chlorine or moved to Chloramine like most of the country has. Chloramine ( a combination of chlorine and ammonia) does not gas off like the old days of just chlorine and needs to be chemically dealt with.

Did not know there was a switch. Thanks for the info.

Hi Toro, my name is Figuringitout, and I too am an addict. Welcome to the forum!

Thank you for the welcome.

 

[Andy Sager]

Did not know there was a switch. Thanks for the info.

Thank you for the welcome.

Yeah, it happened a while ago( 1980s) here in Florida. Also check if the water company sends out notices when they flush their systems as that too can cause you to have bad water. Our water company was sued because a lot of people and pet stores lost their stock when the water company flushed and didn't tell anyone. After that, every pet store was sent a warning about the dates it was being done so that we could advise our customers when not to do water changes. With so few pet stores around the country, I would think it would be too easy to miss the info.

 

[Toro]

It passed the weight test, so it will soon be tested for real as well as test the tank for leaks soon, but provided it passes the real world test this will be the 40 gallon set up.