Building my new 55 gallon :D

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omni024

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So I've been in the hobby for... Let's just say under a year now and I started out with a 5 gallon and quickly upgraded to a 20 gallon after doing some reading. And now I've finally talked my wife into letting me get a 55 and I just want to share with you all my story with this tank so far and things as they happen.
So I picked up this tank stand hoods and light from an elderly lady in town for 100$. It's an older 55 and it measures 48L 15w and 18T so after I got it home I noticed the lids were for a standard 55 and the light looked as old as the tank so right off the bat the tank looks funky if you look at it to close (in my opinion). The stand was a diy job that didn't have a canister filter in mind when they put it together. So I had to *ahem* modify it a bit and I painted it to better match what my wife and I want in our home. After we had gotten in the home I went out and bought substrate (a whiteish large particle sand) heater, new light bulb and a couple pieces of lace rock and made a rough aquascape which is shown in the pictures. Well it's not done yet but it's getting there :)

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My diy canister filter hole and removal of part of the shelf (yes I know it's not a very good job :p)


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It looks good so far! Nice find.


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Working on getting some more decor for the tank may go up the canyon near my home and go hunting for some in one of the river beds


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Just remember to boil anything, I've gotten all my rock out of my yard for my freshwater
 
Will do I have couple of other tests that I've looked up as well for rocks at least


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Conifer or another type of acid that produces the same reaction I heard the the same stuff that you would find at a fish store the lowers oh does the same thing


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So what I found is that vinegar doesn't produce much of a reaction. And I was out of my ph down stuff so I went out and bought this for 5$ and oh dang this works!ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1457214213.053182.jpg
Also FYI it's better to use it outside because it produces visible vapors that you should not breath in and wear gloves


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These are the rocks that past the tests. I probably tested.. 75-80 rocks and this type of rock was the only one that was inert I believe it's a type of granite but I could be wrong. I also picked up a pair of terra cotta pots and some other small rocks from the Dollar store similar to the small rocks in a previous picture. I'm also going to be using some of the decorations from my 20H shown hereImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1457218633.714728.jpg


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Aquascape so far working on getting the go ahead from the wifeImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1457225937.361514.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1457225948.632159.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1457225960.337891.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1457225980.797297.jpg


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I've put water and fish in the tank and my filter from my other tank and everything is stable. I've had to cull two fish already ?? I didn't want whatever they had in the tank affecting the other fish and I've also had to take out all the little stones come to find they were losing their polish in the tank ?. I'll have pictures and a current stocking list hopefully later today. But I hope to add a background and a few more fish here soon maybe another plant or two. Any suggestions for low light pants that will do decent in sand or attached to decor?


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Current stocking list
4 peppered Cory
2 cockatoo apisto
2 Kribs
1 gold gourami
1 red tail shark
3 Yoyo loaches

Any suggestions on which fish to add and color of background? Probably going to get another Yoyo loach but I'm still thinking about it.


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Oh and a peacock eel is also in the tank... My wife thinks that he acts like a mole haha!


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I added another plant!!


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So I don't know if anyone still reads this thread but I added 3 Cyprichromis leptosoma uinta the... Neon blue cichlid or whatever you want to call them and I may be adding more in the future. I had to put my gourami in fish time out because he wasn't letting them settle in. I also picked up some lava rock and attached a plant to on of them :)
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Hopefully the next thing I do is add a background as I hear that helps with the fishes stress level.



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I use poster board from Hobby Lobby and tape it on the back. Obviously less permanent than paint and looks good.

Your tank looks great by the way!

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