# Tank Upgrades



## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

Tomorrow I will be getting a 55G tank from a friend, which means it will be time to begin the upgrade process! I will finally have happy, healthy, appropriately-sized homes for all my fish, thanks to the guidance and knowledge I have been given by coming across this forum!

Here's my setup right now. My smallest tank is a 1G tank for my betta, Rex.








I hate the incandescent lighting on his tank, it's too small, and it's not heated. He's a beautiful and lively fish - you can't quite tell thanks to the lighting, but he has a purple body with red fins and a beautiful purple trim along each fin.

My middle-sized tank is in the bedroom, and is a tropical community tank in which I have begun to cultivate plants.








The plants are doing well and I am actually most happy with this tank out of all three - but I can't really put all the fish I'd like to have in this tank (more corys, more tetras, and a dwarf gourami or two).

My biggest and longest-running tank is my 30G in the living room (same room as the betta tank but on the opposite side).








You can see my three goldfish, as well as one of my mystery snails. I have another similarly sized snail and just last week I found a plum-sized snail in a LFS. This was actually an upgrade from their original 10G tank (housed two goldfish and one snail) but I have since realized it's still not big enough. I also want to go with a more natural look for all my tanks, using live plants, rocks, and driftwood, instead of fake ornaments. 

***

So here's the plan. I will be picking up the 55G and stand tomorrow. The goldies and snails will go in the 55G in their current spot in my living room. The 30G tank will be moved to the bedroom, replacing the 14G tank and housing the tropical community. The plants will remain in the 14G tank, which will be moved next to the 55G, and Rex (the betta) will move into a much bigger and healthier home.

Aquascaping will be done with pool filter sand as substrate along with some driftwood (Malaysian and Mopani) from the LFS and some rocks from the beach that I have already boiled and let dry for a week. I have all the the other equipment I will need. I will begin posting pictures of everything later but right now I need to go to a rehearsal.


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## ImBrovvn (Oct 10, 2012)

Sounds like a plan! Its gonna look good.
Are upgrading your beta to the 14G residential suite or are you puting it with the other tropical fish?


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

Realized I didn't clarify that - yes indeed, my betta will be king of the 14G all by himself. I'm sure he will love it.

Pictures of the driftwood and some of the other stuff to come! Rehearsal got out insanely early tonight so I will have some time to prep for the next couple days.


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## ImBrovvn (Oct 10, 2012)

Dang, he's gonna go crazy lol. That's awesome though.
I think you will like the whole natural living look intead of fake plastic plants. Your fish might love it too.


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

Forgot to mention, that picture of the 30 is old. It's had an AquaClear 110 hanging on it as well for the past two weeks to seed it for the new 55.

Changed the water that I am soaking my driftwood in and thought I would snap a few pictures for you guys.

This "little" guy is going to go in the 14G and hopefully be the home for some java fern and anubias, or whatever other plants I can get my hands on that can't be planted in the substrate. It's probably about 8-10 inches long.









These two pieces are going to go on opposite ends of the 30G. Lots of little holes and caves for the fish to swim through or hide in. I really love the look of the one on the left and you may not be able to see it but the one on the right has a deep recess in the middle.









This last one is the biggest. It sits diagonally in my 5 gallon bucket and still sticks an inch or so above the water when completely filled. It's going to go in the 55. I haven't decided how exactly - it tends to lie flat like this based on the weight but I might see if I can use a few rocks to prop it up or bury it partially in the substrate too. Might just let it lie flat so my dimwitted but lovable goldies don't find a way to knock it over onto each other.









Still plenty of tannins leeching into the bucket water so these won't be going in tomorrow but I can't wait to see them in the tanks.


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## ImBrovvn (Oct 10, 2012)

How do you get the wood to stop leeching?


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

This is my first driftwood but supposedly if you soak it for a long enough period of time the water will eventually stay clear. I have noticed that the water isn't quite as deep a brown as it had been but it's still nowhere near clear. That's why they'll be staying in the bucket for a while.


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## ImBrovvn (Oct 10, 2012)

Ahh I heard that the brown stuff is beneficial to fish? What are your thoughts on this?


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

no harm in tannins just most don't like discoloring.The mopani will leach the longest as it is the most dense(that's why it sinks right away even when dry).


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

That's why I'm doing it. I don't really want brown tinted water since two of the three tanks wil be displayed in prominent places. I know it won't hurt the fish. Since I'm mildly impatient that most likely means the water won't run completely clear before the wood goes in. I still want it as close to clear as possible.


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

The new tank is here! My friend was gracious enough to stay and help with the move. Here's a shot of the 55G next to the 14G in the living room.










I have since added the goldies and snails into the 55G tank. They are exploring as we speak.

The 55G came with about 20 lbs of pool filter sand already in it. The 14G currently still has the community fish in it and the 30G is currently sitting with a low water level in the bedroom while I recuperate from all the heavy lifting. The filter media there is sitting safely in a bucket of water from the tank.

Here's what's left to do tonight:


Scoop the old gravel out of the 30G
Rinse 100 lbs of pool filter sand
Pour 50-60 lbs of sand into the 55G and the remainder into the 30G
Get the filter and heater up and running on the 30G to prepare it for the community fish

I will let the 30G run until tomorrow before I move the fish in there. I want to make sure the heat level stabilizes and the water isn't too cloudy. I'll wait another few days to get the 14G ready for the beta (raising the heat and such).

I also need to do some light aquascaping in the 55 and 30. I have some rocks that I will put in for now. I will probably be willing to put the driftwood into the tanks by the end of the week.


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## Sherry (Nov 22, 2011)

Very nice, I love my 55g. You can do so much with them. Looking forward to seeing your progress. All your hard work will pay off.


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

I have accomplished a lot in the past few days but I haven't had the time or energy to take pictures. I still have two from Sunday night that I didn't share. It took me another 2-3 hours but I got all the gravel out of the 30, rinsed all the PFS and got it into the two tanks. I did more yesterday but I will save that for a post tonight.

It didn't seem like the PFS needed much rinsing but my tanks are nice and clear by now. I took these pictures right after filling so things are still a bit cloudy. I also decided I could live with slight discoloration of the water so I loaded the driftwood into the two big tanks. LI and behold, I must have soaked it all enough because its barely had any effect. Anyway, here are the tanks as of Sunday night. 


















Like I said they have cleared up a lot since then.

Coming later tonight: everyone in their new homes!


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## ImBrovvn (Oct 10, 2012)

My my my. That's quite a dirty tank you havethere. Lol.


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

Can't even tell the filter and heater are in the 30g  I swear it was better Monday morning. Pics later!


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## jbrown5217 (Nov 9, 2011)

Looking good, I am glad to see that you are upgrading all of your tanks to more appropriate sizes (your 14g was the one I thought was most appropriately set up before you got the 55) and you are heading i nthe right direction


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

Thanks - the 14G was the one I felt the best about, and did the most research for. I am looking forward to stocking it with a few more fish now that space is bigger. More on that later.

As promised, here are more pictures!

I moved the community fish and the betta into their new homes yesterday. Temperatures were a bit warm over the weekend so most of the tanks were hovering around 78-82 degrees. The heaters didn't even need to kick in until this morning and both tanks are holding steady around 82. The tanks have completely cleared up. I removed the fake plants from the betta tank and placed the driftwood in there as well, cramming a small bundle of java fern into a crevice and hoping it takes hold.










Here's a few close-ups of the goldfish. They're pretty tough to snap a steady picture of with an iPhone camera.

























Those scales on the side of my calico have been like that since I got him over a year ago. At first I was worried but it seems that is just his coloration.

You can actually see straight through the community tank now!








I love how the driftwood looks. I caught the cores huddled together underneath the one on the left a few times. The tetras seem to have staked out the right side of the tank. I'm definitely going to increase both schools and add a dwarf gourami. I also may be getting a few pearl danios from a friend who needs to find them a home. I'm definitely open to stocking ideas and recommendation. I've plugged some potential ideas into aqadvisor and I am always no higher than 70-80% capacity but I welcome your input.

Last but not least the betta mansion with a few good shots of Rex!








I moved the tiki into this tank because he likes to hide in it, but I haven't seen him in there yet. I guess he has a lot more space and likes to hide in the plants better. I may remove it. The driftwood is growing some white fuzz but I have been assured that this will go away in time. I'll keep an eye on it.


















The next thing I will be doing is a bit of aquascaping with the rocks I've got. I will also make a trip to a few more local beaches to see if I can find some bigger rocks. I will also be adding some plants - I am interested in cabomba, hornwort, duckweed/frogbit, anubias, various swords, and maybe even adding another stem of wisteria or two. I'd like to get some of these into the two bigger tanks.

The problem I'm facing is that the lighting systems for the bigger tanks are quite old, T12 fixtures. I don't know that I can find an appropriate bulb for them and I can't afford to buy new lighting systems right now. I suppose the only way I can find out if plants do well is by trying them but I was hoping to fill the larger tanks (eventually) with clippings from the plants in the 14. For now, that means I need to choose wisely.

How soon do you think it would be safe to add new fish to the 30? I tested everything today and it appears there is a tiny trace of ammonia in each tank, and nitrates around 20-40 ppm. All of my filters were running on established tanks before being transplanted, and I was careful to keep the media moist while doing the transfer. I am going to continue testing each day for the foreseeable future but I am just curious how soon it might be safe to add fish. 

Thanks for reading!


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## ImBrovvn (Oct 10, 2012)

When I saw your betta *manly tears* came out.  what an astonishing creature you have there.

As for the whole cycling dealio, your tank needs a source of ammonia. Fish and their poop are an excellent source of ammonia. Having said this, if you wait too longafter you have finished your cycle, the bactria colonies will die off. I think its really when your most comfortable. Or when your ammonia and nitrites are both 0ppm or unreadable and your nitrate is lower than 20ppm. 

Source??? rite hier boiiiiiiii lol no seriously that's the sauce of what I just told you.


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

As of the last few days all my tanks were still showing low (.25) or 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and nitrates of 20 ppm or lower... so I went out and got four more neon tetras and a bristlenose pleco for the 30G community tanks!

Meet Kirby:










I've been researching lighting and the fixtures I've got and I don't think I'll be able to add anything new any time soon - these light strips are OLD! At least they work. I will be keeping the plants growing in the 14G for now and transplanting the occasional cuttings to the 30G tank to see how they do.

I ordered some duckweed, frogbit, and hornwort off aquabid a few days ago. I'll put a few of each in the goldfish tank to see if they like them and let the rest grow in the other tanks. Hopefully my goldfish will turn into extra-plant disposals!

EDIT: Also forgot to mention the bad news. After the move, I noticed that my smallest mystery snail was not moving over the course of a few days. I took him out and sure enough he stunk like dead snail. Shortly thereafter, my biggest snail found his way onto the AquaClear 110 and got himself vacuumed to death. My wife swears that she hasn't smelled anything worse than giant dead snail. Before I could get a sponge over the intake, my wife found the third snail stuck to it the very next day *frown I will be making sure to get something to cover the intake before I think about adding more snails.


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

Long time no update! Unfortunately I come bearing some bad news. The BN pleco died last Friday. I wasn't totally sure if he was eating but the algae tabs were being broken up at a much faster rate than I think my three corys could possibly match, so I think he was. Thursday night when I went to bed I saw him swimming around - must have startled him and he went back into his driftwood cave. Friday when I got home from work I found him belly up in the corner of the tank. He had a big red bubble or bulge just in front of his anal fin - not sure what exactly this was.

A few days beforehand I also lost a neon tetra and never found the corpse. Either somebody ate it or it magically disappeared, because I had no fish on the floor and the ammonia levels never went up. Two days ago I noticed another tetra missing, but this time I found the body on the floor behind the tank. I had filled up the tank planning for the impending hurricane but must have filled it a bit too much and it was too easy for the fish to jump out.

Yesterday I clipped some plants from the 14G tank and moved them into the 30G tank. I am looking to upgrade the lights on both the 30 and the 55 - if anyone has any recommendations, please let me know or see my thread in the general freshwater forum!

We never lost power so my fishies survived the hurricane just fine. Most stores are still closed around here so I will probably wait until next week to see about adding more corys and maybe the dwarf gourami that I wanted. I think I will stay away from plecos until I figure out what might have gone wrong with the last one. Anyone have any recommendations for other peaceful community fish that could go in a 30G tank that currently has 7 tetras and 3 corys, and will eventually have 3 more corys and a dwarf gourami?


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## goldie (Aug 4, 2012)

Great tanks Dustin and plenty of room for all your fish. Keep the progress & pics coming. Love following anything like this and i so wish i could get pics as clear as that


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

Things are going great with my tanks! Plants are growing insanely well and the fish are doing great. I've added some new residents since my last update!

The first thing I was able to add was the dwarf gourami that I have wanted for ages. He is relatively energetic, and I have read a bit on dwarf gourami disease, so hopefully he will be in good health and live a good long life. I think they are beautiful fish and I was so happy to finally get one.









Next I got some Bolivian Rams. I have been interested in keeping cichlids for a while now but I knew that it would be tough since they are generally territorial and aggressive. Most of the cichlids I happened upon would not be suitable for my community tank. That was until I discovered the German Blue Ram, and then, the Bolivian Ram! I was amazed to see six healthy looking rams in Petsmart so I brought home three. I believe they are too small to sex. They haven't really paired off but they have colored up a bit since I got them - I am guessing they are happy!
























I'm actually not sure if those are all three different fish - I think the first and third may be the same fish. I took those pictures yesterday so I don't quite remember if I was able to get all three. They are terribly fun to watch though!

I also got three new cory catfish today, but I had to get them from Petco as nobody else in the area seems to stock the peppered cory on a regular basis, or when they do, they want over $5 for them. I think that's insane when I'm pretty sure I paid $2-2.50 for the first three, and even the rams only cost $5! Unfortunately, the lady at Petco was a little.. aggressive with the net. All of the fish were swimming fine in the tank, but one of them appeared to get injured somewhere in the process, as my wife noticed he was swimming strangely on the drive home. Sure enough, when we got home, I could tell he was not doing well and unfortunately he died in the 1G tank that I use to acclimate fish before adding them to the tank. The other two appear to be doing just fine in the tank, fortunately. Guess I have to make a trip back soon... 

Yesterday I added five ghost shrimp to help clean up in my betta tank, and because I thought it looked a little lonely with just one betta in a 14G tank. I know I can't put much else in, but I have noticed that Rex (the betta) has enough trouble seeing food - I didn't think he would be bothered at all by the shrimp. Sure enough, he hasn't paid them any attention whatsoever - here you can see him exploring his domain while some of the shrimp feast on an algae tab.









The goldfish are doing just fine, though I am looking to try to get some java fern and other goldfish-friendly plants because their tank seems so empty! I also check my LFS weekly for another piece of really good driftwood to use in their tank.

As far as plants, the growth has been outstanding! I had added some clippings from some of my plants as of my last update, and before I added the rams to the 30G I was able to clip some of the willow hygro, wisteria, and hornwort and add it to the 30G. I would like to add a few more plants but I think the tank will begin to look really good as these plants grow in. My next major acquisition will be MUCH better lighting for the 30G - the current light in only a 22" bulb, though based on the root growth on the duckweed, the light at least seems to be adequate to keep my plants alive.


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

So I broke down and ordered some new plants for my tanks last week.. I have to say I'm pretty happy with how the 30G looks now!


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Nice! 


Needs more plants though


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

So almost two months later, I think you will agree that I am doing fine with plants right now 

Unfortunately, the beautiful red broadleaf ludwigia I had added lost most of its leaves, and most of the other stem plants I bought last time did not do well. It is at least regrowing but is nowhere near as beautiful as the last picture. The rotala indica nearly completely died off but it's doing okay now. The cabomba and crypt are doing well, and I just added A
anubias to driftwood in the 30 yesterday. 

The marineland HOB I had running failed in the middle of December - something got stuck and the impeller melted before I noticed. I wasn't really a big fan of the design anyway. I had a second Fluval 306 from Black Friday after ordering one also for my 55g tank, so I hooked it up to the 30. I so much prefer canister filters now. 

As for the fish, my corys are doing fine and I have not lost any tetras. There is one tetra who is convinced that he is a catfish - he hides with them underneath the driftwood rather than with his cousins. The dwarf gourami you can read about in another thread, and the rams are doing great, even though I haven't seen any more breeding behavior since their last failed attempt.










The willow hygro is incredible. It came from one stem maybe 1/3 of the size of the one in the center of this tank. The original stem is in the 14g and is maybe twice as tall. Once I added a Nova Extreme 2xT5HO to the 30, the clippings took off. It grows thicker and faster than ever before. I have five stems in this tank alone, and a huge clipping in the 55g as well. It's beautiful - long, thick, flowing leaves that are a beautiful green. It's my favorite plant. The wisteria that is becoming a forest in the front is a close second. 

The plant growth in my 14g that seemed so impressive at one point has paled in comparison but I still like the tank. Rex is ver happy in there. I added a feeding ring because I found that the space was so big he wouldn't find food before it fell down to the bottom. Now, when I lift the lid to feed him, he is there in the center of the ring, looking up at my expectantly. He has taken to resting in the nooks of the stems of some of the larger plants too. Sadly, I seem to have long two of the ghost shrimp, but the other three are still doing fine. 










I added some more driftwood to the 55g and have started transplanting plants in there. If I can plant them well enough that they stay for a week or so, they root well enough that my goldies pestering them is not an issue. The lace java fern I had added really impressed me - it did nothing for weeks, then all of a sudden about two weeks ago I started seeing sprouts. Those sprouts have grown amazingly fast. 

The fishes are doing well. Peaches (orange fantail) is showing signs of growth and is nearly as big as Sushi (moor). He was by far the smallest when I added him back in July. Mutt (calico) seemed to have some degree of fin rot or decay but I think that was from when I fell behind on water changes back when things got busy in December and I was waiting for my python to come in. His tail has stopped deteriorating and maybe even looks a bit fuller than last week. He (and the others) are fine otherwise. 










As mentioned in the 20 long thread, I will be adding a 20 long to my setup shortly. It will go on a stand that I am building in place of the 14. The 14 (and Rex) will go on a shelf below the 20. I have a Coralife dual bulb T5HO that looks great and a Fluval 206 on the way. I have also ordered a sponge filter and set up my old 10g on the shelf below the 55g to use as a quarantine. My dwarf gourami has been building nests so I want to try to add a female or two for him!

Hopefully I'll have another update in a few weeks with pictures of the new stand and the 20 long!


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## Dustin86 (Sep 22, 2012)

As promised, here are some in-progress shots of the stand and the near-final setup!

My father working on cutting 2x4's









The 2x4's assembled, beginning to cut the plywood to skin the tank









Plywood attached and in place









Molding attached, sanded









Stained









Awaiting final coat of polyeurethane









Stand is here, draining the 14g so I can lift it and move it to its new place on the stand









Everything in place!









Possible setup? Cichlid stones and cave-shaped rock from craigslist.









I need help deciding what to put in here! I have 3 rams (one pair that has laid eggs once almost 2 months ago), a dwarf gourami exhibiting mating behavior (but no idea where to find females), neon tetras and corys. I want to separate the rams and gourami so the rams will maybe be a bit more comfortable and lay eggs again. I can't decide who to move where, though!


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