Andy's New 55 Set Up

Andyoybna · 07-06-2008, 09:17 AM

Well, It's finally finished and all set up! It was actually incredibly kind on the wallet as well! two cans of spray paint ~ $8 re-finished the stand, re-painted the molding on the tank, and put a nice background on the back glass of the tank. Next, (how did gravel get so expensive!?!?!?) that was about $18... ouch! As far as the lighting, I just used a 4x65 PC fixture, and took the actinics out, and the filter is an old fluval 405 I had laying around, I also took the 300 watt heater out of my "parts bin" So all in all, I got a brand new looking tank and stand for right around $30!

The decor came all from a local river during a recent fishing trip, I washed it off really well with high pressure water, and some bleech, then rinsed, and reapeted over and over..... Anyways, I threw my Jack Dempseys in there for a while until I find them a home since they have recently been on a murdering spree (green severum and yoyo botia)

Future plans for the tank are going to be, 2 severums one green, one gold, and maybe a small group of apistos, most likely 5. To top if off a Synodontis Eupterus Catfish .

Now for the fun part, some pictures of the finished tank, minus the eventual fish!

I still have a bit of mineral deposits on the glass that I need to scrape off though, you can't notice it until you take pictures

Judge · 07-06-2008, 11:35 AM

Great looking tank...and love the price! I am happy for you and glad that you have shared your photos. Thanks

Andyoybna · 07-06-2008, 08:35 PM

Yeah, the price was definately right!!! lol when you've been doing this stuff for a while, it's pretty easy to have enough "spare parts" laying around so you don't have to do too much to set a new tank up! My next project is setting up my 90 gallon with maybe 2 frontosas and maybe 15 or so peacocks and haps now that it's pretty much empty except for a pictue, red tail botia, and a pleco.

Duffee · 07-06-2008, 08:41 PM

Nice long weekend project! I like the rustic river look.

Andyoybna · 07-07-2008, 06:15 PM

Thanks duffee, lol I really had no idea how I was going to set if up until I started putting the stuff in the tank, I had a whole pile of different rocks and driftwood pieces, after I put those in there, I thought it looked good just like that and anymore would be overkill, I've really notice that the fish seem to be a lot more comfortable, and even when they're "hiding" they're out in the open to enjoy.

It really reminds me of when I went fishing last weekend and looked down in the water at all of the fallen limbs, and roots going down into the water on some banks, the bass really loved hanging out there!

orb4me · 07-18-2008, 07:17 PM

I really like your tank, very unusual and at the same time interesting. I had no idea that those fish got that big!!

BlueAcaraGuy · 08-09-2008, 08:34 AM

Looks like you did awesome with the gravel. I paid $100 to fully gravel my 6x2x2 tank. Ofcourse i could have saved my self a fortune by shopping online, but what are you going to do.