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57 Gallon Tank (Learning from my first planted tank)

20K views 115 replies 29 participants last post by  andrewss 
#1 · (Edited)
Part 1: Decommission and replace old tank with a new planted tank in 8 hours (What you can do in a 3 day weekend)

My Story: Swapping a tank

I live in Washington, DC in a 2nd story 120+ year old brownstone. Apartment living makes it difficult to have multiple tanks. When I decided to swap out my 29 gallon tall with something different and better I realized I would have to do it quickly. I don’t have the space for two tanks and with a roommate having the house covered in aquarium equipment, plants, fish, and critters can cause issues…


So what gonna change:
My current tank is in the living room, sitting next to our fireplace. I wanted to replace the tank with something that would be more visually stimulating. The new tank will be rimless, and will fill out the space where the old one sits. I want the lights to be hovering over it with a fixture. As little equipment as possible will be visible to audience. Filter will have an inline heater and diffuser. The intake and exhaust from filter will use Glass

Important note: This brownstone is ~100+ years old so it can’t weigh as much as a VW bug.

I searched Craigslist and found one - (nearly rimless) Oceanic Illuminata 57 gallon.

The dimensions of the old tank 24x12x24 vs 36x18x21. It fills the space well. I after some time I found the old tank too tall and it was a pain to clean. The new one is a little shorter, but tall enough to frame a nice visual experience.

Old Tank Below:
 

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#107 ·
Tank is still looking GREAT!!!

The Pencil Fish are still my Faves! Glad to hear about the diffuser still going good! I am really thinking of going that route! About how long are the CO2 tanks lasting? Just wondering because my Son has a few of them from his Paint ball days, and I hate to see them just lying there when I could be using them!!! ;)

Anyway keep up the GREAT WORK!
Drew
 
#108 ·
Decisions, decisions...

I wanted Discus a while back - Not sure I want test my plants ability to deal with the warmer water (aside from finding homes for the other fish that can't tolerate the warmer temps)

Help me choose one of the below:
  1. 10 Neon Rainbow fish?
  2. 15 more cardinals? (I may do this anyway)
  3. 6 Peacock Gudgeons? (Just saw these for the first time and wow)
  4. 4 more cherry barbs?

Edit: currently the tank's residents include 4 cherry barbs, small school of Pencilfish, small school of cardinals, 2 cory sterbai, 3 otos, 3 apistogramma, and a partridge in a pair tree... /Edit

Any other recommendations? I love schooling fish but I think something personality would be nice.
 
#110 ·
Your tank is looking really nice Sundragon. That tiger lotus looks terrific.

And so do the tiger barbs by the way. I have always liked them but since I keep angels it is not to be for me. I am curious why your list for more fish does not include increasing that school.

As for the discus idea, I would have to vote no for this tank. It would completely upset everything that is working just right here; keep the idea for a larger tank. It IS a good idea, just not for this tank.

Keep the pictures coming!
 
#111 ·
Your tank is looking really nice Sundragon. That tiger lotus looks terrific.

Keep the pictures coming!
My Apistogramma Hongsloi II had babies! I'm now scrambling to figure out what to feed the little guys.

Thanks! The tiger barbs are gone, I replaced them with cherry barbs - a lot less agressive.

I'm gonna post a video of the babies and momma, she's done a costume change - looks totally different from the other female.
 
#113 ·
REEEEBOOOOT:

Got sidetracked by projects and other obligations. My tank looked horrible so I trimmed it down. The Staurogyne repens carpet had died out so I bought a bunch and restarted it.
I lost all but two Emperor Tetra to carpet surfing. I also lost a few Cherry Barbs, and a few cardinals. Today, I went and purchased 15 Cardinals, 10 Emperors, 2 Otos, and a few Apisto agassizi Fire Red! looking forward to how this grows out.
I am looking to give away some of the Tiger Nymphaea as they are over running the tank.
 

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#114 ·
lovely tank! I am curious did any of the hongsloi fry survive?

lets see some pix of the new apistogrammas :D
 
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