55 Gallon Multis

[LyraGuppi]

I have been planning this tank for months, and finally, it's arrived!
The tank was originally my relatives', used for reptiles and baby quails. The inner silicone seal (not the adhesive between the panes) had been ripped off, and the stand didn't have any handles, but otherwise, the tank was in good condition.
I did a awful job of resealing the tank as far as appearance goes, but it still hasn't leaked after a week! Now that I say that, it will leak, right?

Cloudy!
The sand is normal play sand, the rocks are some kind of limestone. I don't have the energy to search wikipedia for the exact type, but they have little fossilized marine organisms in them. I soaked and washed them the weeks before this tank arrived.

And as usual, the shells are escargot shells. I'd like to put Aponogeton in this tank, so it won't stay biotope-ish forever.
The rock structure didn't turn out quite like I wanted, but it's better than I thought. It could use more height, and more rock in general, but I fear for the tank floor

I found this tiny bug in the tank! Turns out it's just a book scorpion, a tiny beneficial arachnid that likely hitchhiked in on my sand, which was near an old bookshelf.

Unfortunately, my heater has a leak, so the Multis will have to wait a little longer to go in. It leaves time for the tank to clear, anyway.

 

[Munroco]

Sounds great, I think these are fascinating fish. None of your pics are working for me. Looking forward to updates

 

[LyraGuppi]

I'll have to fix it in the morning, I lost my uploaded photos. Sorry about that!

 

[LyraGuppi]

Sorry about all the picture trouble! I hope I got everything fixed.
Here's a picture, nothing much to update. The tank has definitely cleared.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Looks great. Just a side note for concern when adding rock to a tank and worrying about the floor of the tank not being able to handle it...

Milk crate can be added under the sand and this will spread the weight of any rocks out so that it minimizes the load on any particular spot.

With that said though, I had a 110 gallon tank and we piled up the rock to nearly the very top of the tank... 20 inches high. Never even the slightest hint of a problem. It sat like that for over 2 years before we rescaped and eventually removed it all.

 

[LyraGuppi]

That's what I used under the rocks I have right now. I'd just rather be cautious, a tank breaking is one of my worst fears with this hobby. I also don't have any other large rocks that look like the ones I have now, but if I did, I'd love to make a large rock scape.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

With the milk crate, you can sleep easy.

 

[hobby5]

Other people use acrylic glass or polystyrene underneath.

For the multis you don't need rocks. Sand and shells is all necessary. Maybe a few stones to protect your plants, but that's it.

 

[LyraGuppi]

I should have a decent shell bed after I move the shells from the 20 gallon over. c:

 

[LyraGuppi]

Heaters are in! I don't think one works (shame on me for being cheap), so I put a spare 50W in there (after I took the above picture) to keep things running. It's sitting at 79 F, which is right where I want it.
I moved my poor Aponogeton from the 90gal into there. Hopefully it doesn't get too stressed, but it did do much better in my 20gal than the 90gal. It actually outgrew the 20gal!
I moved the filter media from the 20gal over, along with bottled bacteria. I put in a little ammonia, hopefully enough to get a decent reading, and I'll be checking that tomorrow.

(I'll admit, this journal is a little behind real time, because of some photo uploading issues)

 

[LyraGuppi]

I moved the large Pothos in beside the smaller one, hopefully those will take off.
After a water change, everybody went in, the Multis, 6 danios (my mother really likes them, so they have to stay), and Pam, my ancient nerite snail. It was an adventure that I never want to do ever again, and don't have any pictures for just yet.
I'll be able to go to a good LFS this weekend, so Pam should get more snail friends then. I'm thinking four more nerites, and perhaps a mystery snail?

 

[LyraGuppi]

The aponogeton has taken off! Much better than the softwater growth.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Still trying to regain sleep and get back into my usual routine after being out for work, so no pictures today.
The LFS had no aponogeton or mystery snails, so I just bought four nerite snails. One zebra, and three tiretrack. Pam has friends!
We've got diatoms. :c I know I should expect them, but still. At least the nerites will have something munch on.
The 20 gallon is still up, empty and deserted. I rescued three tiny fry out of it, barely large enough to see. I think there's around five in there, but if I can't find them, they'll have to go out with the old sand. I'll be switching out the old 20 gallon black sand for play sand, my mother prefers it. It's much softer, as well, which will be nice for skrimps. q:
My parents moved a small HOB for a 10 gallon into there after they had some issues with the Aquaclear. I've got the filters sorted out, and everything looks okay (I still haven't checked params though), but I'm watching everyone just to make sure.

 

[LyraGuppi]

A stack!

 

[LyraGuppi]