Yet another tank

[dugg]

I got such a great deal on a tank today, that i couldn't pass it up. There was a guy on the Orlando forum selling a complete 55gal setup that i got for $100. I got a stand, 55gal tank, amirical sump and overflow, mag3, mj600, heater, auto feeder, and 50 pounds of sand. It also had the stock light hoods, but i walked off and forgot them, so i'm in the entire setup $160. Everything looks like it's maybe 6 months old without a scratch.

I am setting it up as a freshwater tank in my livingroom for now. I've been needing a tank in there that it doesn't matter if the kiddo drops a penny or something else in the sump. It's been a long time since i had a freshwater tank. It should be a breeze with using RO/DI water instead of the tap water i used last time i had one lol.

I'll post some pics after the sandstorm dies down. I used sand because i plan to keep local native fish, and the lakes around here are sand bottom. We have fancy guppies in the lake down the street lol. I guess that's what the are anyway. They have big blue fan tails. Never caught one yet, but from the dock they look like fancy guppies. Whatever they are, they will soon be wondering where all the skeeters they used to feed on went lol.

 

[JR719]

Good find Dugg. You can always leave your windows open and they'll have skeeters....

 

[dugg]

I could raise larve for them, but if they miss one, i don't want to wake up with a swollen face lol. I am a skeeter magnet, and one thing Florida is NOT in short supply of is skeeters lol. No sense bringing them inside on purpose.

 

[MyMonkey]

Nice find. Any idea what you might put in there? I have been considering Malawi Cichlids.

 

[dugg]

I'm going to put in some local native fish from the lake down the street for now lol. My brother is bringing his throw net saturday. I will probably end up with cichlids of some sort later. Either that or change to salt after a while, and go FO. Sometime this summer, i plan to go to Sebastion inlet and snorkle a bit. I am told you can collect lots of different non reefsafe fish there. It's gonna stay a $160 setup lol. What ever goes in from this point will be stuff i can catch. That way it doesn't hurt so bad when the kiddo crashes it and kills everything with a crayon lol.

I also forgot to list the coralife dual 55w PC ballast and 2 18inch 50/50 bulbs never used that came with it. I replaced the standard NO bulbs under the hoods today with the PC bulbs.

 

[dugg]

Here are the murkey pictures. I didn't bother rinsing the sand, just dumped it in straight from the quickcrete bags. You can also see the sacrificial goldfish i put in to cycle.
Everything there including the plug strip with timer came with the deal . Now i have to go staighten up cord spaggetti.

 

[aaparkr]

Our Malawi Cichlids lasted about a year. We started with 10 and in 6 months were down to 3. I have heard that you have to rearrange the rocks frequently to keep them from getting too territorial, but we didn't do that soon enough ... Anyway, I have a 55 in the living room now that we took the last cichlid out (gave it to a pet store). probably move everything out of my 44 gallon breeder.

I don't think I have ever seen a sump on a fresh tank...

Tony

 

[dugg]

Well, i have it all done now . I ended up with an Arowana fish that will outgrow the tank one day lol ( up to 48" ). He is about 10" right now, so i'm sure he will be with us for some time. This freshwater stuff is too easy after keeping a reef for so long. I still have to find a large mangrove root to place in the tank, but it's basicly done, just feed and watch grow lol.

 

[Matrexz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8939482#post8939482 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aaparkr
Our Malawi Cichlids lasted about a year. We started with 10 and in 6 months were down to 3.

Exact oposite with me I started off with about 12 in a 90 and they just took off spawning and I had around 50 fry. It was 10 gallon grow tanks in almost every room. I thought my wife was going to shoot me if I got another tank for fry.