whew... I just wrestled a 40 pound slab of limestone out of my old built in 30 gallon

[Magnum Man]

this will likely be my last detailed post, before I start working outside... my goal is to get this 30 gallon up and running before that...

a word of advice... watch out for the heavy rocks... most of my tanks are now running, and while the resin pagodas are the same size, they were significantly lighter, I'm not currently using any thing even remotely close to that heavy... to complicate, it's built in, and under a running 45 gallon, so I had to be very careful, and of coarse it was on the opposite side of the tank... now to move a large amount of 1 inch lava stone, and the under gravel filter plate, then a quick dry shop vacuum, then a quick rinse, and a wet shop vacuum, and it'll be ready for substrate, and a fill.... it'll be a few weeks, before it gets the rest of the amenities, and fish... but all that is the easy part...

be careful putting in heavy rocks, into your tanks, when you are in your prime, so they aren't so hard to remove at retirement age

 

[TwoTankAmin]

African cichlid keepers have a trick they use to help protect the bottom glass from heav rocks in cash you drop them only a little bit. they put a piece of Egg Crate on the bottom glass before they add the substrate. You can buy this at any store that selles lightin supplies as it is overne the inderpiec of overhead flour. lighting.

"If you’ve heard about egg crate but don’t know what it is, it’s simply louvered light diffuser. It can be purchased at your big box DIY stores, among other places, and typically comes in sheets that are 24″ x 48″. Plaskolite is one brand, but there may be others. Aquarists use it to line the bottom of their aquariums, typically under the substrate, but the reason is a bit misleading. You’ll read that the purpose of the egg crate is to distribute the weight of rocks in the tank. That is true but it’s not the only purpose. The glass floor or your tank is perfectly capable of supporting much more weight than you think without using egg crate. A more applicable reason for using it is that it can protect your tank from a rock fall that might otherwise impact the glass directly at just the right (or wrong as it may be) angle to exploit an already existing (but unseen) concentrated area of flaws. Glass flexes but it has a flex threshold at which point the integrity of the bonds are compromised. This is true with or without egg crate. But the egg crate can lessen the flexing and thus protect those weak points (existing flaws). Remember, not everyone uses substrate in their tanks."
https://thecichlidstage.com/why-egg-crate

 

[Ceez]

this will likely be my last detailed post, before I start working outside... my goal is to get this 30 gallon up and running before summer...

a word of advice... watch out for the heavy rocks... most of my tanks are now running, and while the resin pagodas are the same size, they were significantly lighter, I'm not currently using any thing even remotely close to that heavy... to complicate, it's built in, and under a running 45 gallon, so I had to be very careful, and of coarse it was on the opposite side of the tank... now to move a large amount of 1 inch lava stone, and the under gravel filter plate, then a quick dry shop vacuum, then a quick rinse, and a wet shop vacuum, and it'll be ready for substrate, and a fill.... it'll be a few weeks, before it gets the rest of the amenities, and fish... but all that is the easy part...

be careful putting in heavy rocks, into your tanks, when you are in your prime, so they aren't so hard to remove at retirement age

Retirement age for many means nothing to do and a quicker timetable to meet your maker sadly. Those that have plenty to keep them busy tend to stay with us far longer. I'm always on my Dad about keeping busy and I won't do anything around the house for him that I think is in his wheelhouse to accomplish. Climbing ladders and digging up water mains, stuff like that i jump to do but edging the lawn, pulling weeds or just normal activities that dont require a lot of physical strength i never volunteer for just because it keeps him busy and honestly he enjoys them. I want him around for as long as the good lord will allow him to stay healthy.

Last year he had 3 surgeries and gave me quite the scare. I usually leave for work between 3-4am everyday. I woke up one morning to go take a shower and noticed all the lights in the house were on. When I walked into the kitchen he was standing in front of the coffee maker. I asked him what he was doing and he told me trying to make coffee. I told him well, freaking make it and he said he couldn't find the grounds or filters....he's been making coffee in this house for over 30 years and the grounds and filters have been in the same place the entire time. This was just the beginning of his confusion, dementia like symptoms. I took him to the ER after I got off of work that day and they said he was fine....


About 2 months later I came home from work and he wasn't home. When I opened the front door I almost got knocked off my feet by the smell of gas from the range. Every single knob on the range was wide open but no flame. After I turned them all off and opened every door and window in the house to air everything out I heard something down the hallway. He had left the shower on and the bathroom was flooded out into the hallway. I made some calls and ended up finding him at my sister's. He had shown up down there in his underwear with his shirt on backwards and no shoes. My sister lives about an hour away and he had driven himself there...guess she doesn't have a brain and let my dad stay with her snd the grandkids all day.

Long story short I ran down there, picked him up and called an ambulance to meet us at our house. Off he went. Diagnosis...blood infection and gall stones galore. 3 surgeries later no more gall bladder and no more blood infection.

I talked extensively to his Dr. As you get older you can get dysphoria or dementia like symptoms from simple things like a bladder infection. There were days talking to him that broke my heart because his cheese seemed to have slid off his cracker and I was beginning to think his days were numbered. Once they figured out he had a blood infection and treated it hes been back to normal since thank the lord.

Moral to my long winded story, I love seeing older/elderly folks keeping busy. Prolongs your life in a lot of cases having purpose.

 

[Magnum Man]

doesn't look like much yet, but you can see how it would be hard to work on, being built in, this is under my African Tetra tank, that can be viewed from both sides, as does this tank.... however this tank is not visible from the end as there are concrete blocks on the end, supporting the 45 gallon on top...

 

[Magnum Man]

dry vacuumed, and rinse water in the tank... I have a double size sponge filter ( rated for 60 gallons ) , that will go in here, it'll be a couple weeks before I'll have spare funds for the substrate, and another heater... I actually got further with it today, than expected

the box of limestone slabs, close to 100 lbs. went up the basement stairs, as well as 25 lbs. of old substrate... time to clean up my mess for the day... tank holds at least an inch of water, so must not have damaged the bottom seal too much

 

[Magnum Man]

just looked at the other 30 gallon, last of my old tanks to restart... awesome... no limestone, just a few plastic plants, and a few inches of aquarium gravel... that one will be a piece of cake, to restart...

 

[GaryE]

Big chunks of stone are very easy to put in, at any age. Taking them out is dangerous, at any age. Maybe, just maybe, as we get older, we understand the demolition we can cause with one little slip...

I have a beautiful rock outside the garage, against the exterior wall, and this year, I decided to leave it there. Forever. Taking it out when it had a biofilm on it would have been hair raising, if I had hair. And eventually, what gets put in a tank has to be removed.

As for @Ceez - yeah. The older people here are lucky to have all these aquarium projects, as eccentric as we may look. I'm retired but take care of a 91 year old family member, and she has no outside interests. She can't stand to be away from the TV for any length of time, and that isn't how I want to live.

I've made progress in life. I have finally figured out that it doesn't matter how good a large rock looks, I don't need that specific beauty in my tanks. I want to be making mistakes and trying new ideas for as long as I can. This can be a challenging hobby if you let it grow on you.

I know a lot of people with zero interest in anything at 25. We're all lucky we care enough to participate in a fish forum, whether we're 15, 50 or 500. I mean, one of us may be a tortoise. We don't know.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

In the days of yore, almost 5 decades before I got my first tank, they made them with slate bottoms amd metal frames. My dad had a small tank in the entry way of out home. Fast forward and here is was getting hooked on the hobby and working with placos, I would have loved to have a slate bottom tank or two because many plecos in the wild live some or much ot ther lives on had surfces like that.

I have used tanks like 30/40/50 gals (which all have 36x18 inch footprints), a 75 gal. (48 x 18 inch) and even a 125 gal. (72 x18 inch). Can you imagine how heavy any of these would b if they had a slate bottom?

Tanks have kept me busy for over 24 years now. I turned 77 very recently. I am posting today having spent several hours in the emergency room from about 10:30 - 1:30 today. I was X-rayed , EKG'd given a triple dose of 2 nebulizer medicines and a new anti-biotic. I was a cigarette smoker from age 15 to a few months short of my 62 Birthday when I finally was able to quit. My reward for that stupidity has been COPD.

All any of us can do is the best we can. The only sin is not trying to do so no matter what comes out way.

 

[Ceez]

In the days of yore, almost 5 decades before I got my first tank, they made them with slate bottoms amd metal frames. My dad had a small tank in the entry way of out home. Fast forward and here is was getting hooked on the hobby and working with placos, I would have loved to have a slate bottom tank or two because many plecos in the wild live some or much ot ther lives on had surfces like that.

I have used tanks like 30/40/50 gals (which all have 36x18 inch footprints), a 75 gal. (48 x 18 inch) and even a 125 gal. (72 x18 inch). Can you imagine how heavy any of these would b if they had a slate bottom?

Tanks have kept me busy for over 24 years now. I turned 77 very recently. I am posting today having spent several hours in the emergency room from about 10:30 - 1:30 today. I was X-rayed , EKG'd given a triple dose of 2 nebulizer medicines and a new anti-biotic. I was a cigarette smoker from age 15 to a few months short of my 62 Birthday when I finally was able to quit. My reward for that stupidity has been COPD.

All any of us can do is the best we can. The only sin is not trying to do so no matter what comes out way.

Youre always on the go. Fish club to poker and everything else fish wise. Hope you feel better now after your hospital visit and everything is going to be good for you now.

 

[Magnum Man]

@TwoTankAmin... you are describing my 1st tank above... I'm sure my dad bought it used, as he was "thrifty" that way... it has a stainless metal frame ( down the corners as well ) and a slate bottom... it was a smaller tank10-15 gallons... unfortunately I no longer have that one...
I do have a vintage glass tank as well ( still have this one ) a 55 gallon made of all 7/16 or 1/2 inch thick glass rigid enough there is no top center support... that one is a heavy tank...