# My 56 gallon tank from start to finish



## Blackmoons (Oct 27, 2010)

Well, I'm a new member here but I thought it would be nice to have a clear record of setting up my 56 gallon tank. Advice is certainly welcome along the way. This is what's happening so far:

A couple weeks ago I purchased this tank










which you can see here: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3804456

I have it in my bedroom... with gravel purchased from petco. I'm going with a natural theme so here is a taste of the gravel I got:










I think its really pretty, has nice rounded edges for the most part and will go with any future decor (whenever I finally move out of my parents house, haha). 

Since I am replacing my 10 gallon tank, the fish for my new tank already includes a 6" common pleco and two corycats. I do hope to add a few community fish to liven the tank up a bit (since the pleco hides most of the day). I'm thinking maybe a few dwarf gouramis though I haven't decided for sure yet.

As far as decor, I have a piece of mopani wood that I boiled for over 8 hours and am still soaking in a bucket (its been about 2 weeks?) and is still leaking tannins... but I'm ok with that. I also have an awesome 3D rock wall background on its way in the mail (I'm trying SO HARD to be patient!!) which is going to really give the tank a great look I think. I have a nice big air stone and will have to add some plants and maybe some rocks and I think it will be complete.

Filter and background are on their way in the mail now and should arrive Monday... so excited! The background was custom cut to have places for water flow through the background (don't worry they also covered the holes with mesh so fish can't get through) so I can hide all my hoses and things behind it. I can't wait to see how it all looks and I will post pics of my background installation process next week.


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## SHizzle (Dec 18, 2008)

Very nice, my father just cleaned out his shop so I am hoping to make a hybrid stand that is on the floor/wall for support soon. Can't wait to see it when it is done, good luck!


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## Blackmoons (Oct 27, 2010)

Well.... I got my background in the mail on Monday! YAY! 

Issue: I am a moron and completely misread the description of the type of background I ordered. I thought it was made out of a flexible material which can easily be folded in order to fit into a tank with a center brace. But... mine was actually made from a thick industrial foam which I didn't realize until I opened the package.

Now, I can't complain because its totally my own fault and OMG DID THEY DO A GREAT JOB CUSTOMIZING IT FOR ME!!! This thing is brilliant.

So, a GIANT shout out to DESIGNS BY NATURE for their amazing work and even better customer service. They were amazing. When I called the man who was helping me with my order to ask advice on how to proceed since my new background clearly needed to be cut in order to get into my braced tank, he was more than happy to talk me through the process (an easy fix, by the way). I truly could not be happier with this company and would recommend them to anyone considering a 3D background. 

Now I know what you are thinking, "show us pictures!" 

So here they are:

The background as a whole









Close up of the top where you can see one of the water flow holes (but only because of the angle... such good work!










Now the fact that I hafta chop this thing in half and re-attach it inside the tank makes me nervous... but... I think I can do it. That will be tonight's adventure. More on that next time. Wish me luck!


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## Blackmoons (Oct 27, 2010)

Alright! Progress... slowly but surely...

I got the background installed! It was definitely a little nerve racking breaking my background in half but it went well and I was able to glue it back together inside the tank without issue using clear aquarium silicon. I let that sit a few days before using black silicon to attach the whole background to the tank walls/floor.

Before securing the background in, I added a hole at the bottom and fed an airline tube through it so that I can add an air-stone in front of the background. So glad I didn't forget that little detail! That would have made me so mad if I had forgotten.

Right now I still need to let the silicon set for another 24 hours before adding water but I added in the gravel and a few of my decorations so I could see what else I might like to add. For once I had the good sense to wait and see how it all looked before just buying a ton of decor. 

Here is what I have so far:








A little sparse, I know! But my I'm just so pleased with my mopani wood - it has a little hook almost which will keep that plant in place and makes it look like they came together. We'll see how pleased I am when I add water though... that thing is going to leak tannins for years at the rate it's going. 

I'm on the hunt for a nice rock cave which will match my existing decor, and some tall plants to create a little "grove" on the right side (also where the air stone is currently hidden below the gravel). 

That should just about do it I think. I am thinking I may add some dwarf gouramis down the line when the tank is cycled so I may keep my eyes pealed for some floating plants (fake ones, since I highly doubt I have the patience for real ones).

:fish:​


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

nice that looks amazing with the background cant believe they got the dimensions so perfect. having the water flow hole is a good idea it looks like its screaned off so fish cant get into it which is awesome. how did u put it in just set it in there or did u silicone it to the glass?


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## Blackmoons (Oct 27, 2010)

Yeah they did a really amazing job. There are 3 holes with mesh and then an overflow at the top (also meshed over) just in case anything ever got blocked off somehow. 

Because it was all one piece I had to snap it in half horizontally as I tried to explain earlier. Then I re-assembled it inside the tank, siliconed it to itself so it was one piece again and then siliconed it to the walls and base of the tank to keep it in place. That part was a little tricky, I have to say, and if you look closely, my handywork is not perfect BUT the company sends you matching sand which is the same tones as your background so you can sprinkle the sand into the still wet silicon to help hide it. That really made all the difference and now it looks pretty nice. 

You can see my work here... 







Like I said, not the best work on close inspection but from a few inches away you can't see it at all. In the picture the sand looks the wrong color but I think that's just because it reacts differently to the flash on my camera. In the aquarium light it matches much better.


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## Blackmoons (Oct 27, 2010)

I should also note that there is about 3 inches behind the background... I don't know if I made that clear before. All of my filter equipment will be behind the background so the wall is not glued to the back wall of the tank, just the sides and bottom.


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## Blackmoons (Oct 27, 2010)

Well everyone, I just got the filter up and running last night... oh man... the Eheim directions are SO BAD! I sat on the floor with all the pieces and the directions and nearly cried when I thought I was missing stuff and the directions weren't clear...

THANK GOODNESS FOR THE INTERNET! Having never set up a canister filter before I was oh so much more than lost. Fortunately, I found a forum where someone posted basically the exact question I had and someone responded with step by step instructions on what to do. If I hadn't found that, I'd have chucked the whole thing out the window. 

I got a few more decorations and the tank looks nice. The fish from my other tank will be moving in this weekend and I'll move over the old filter and let both run for a couple weeks to get the cycling going faster. Anyway... its fishless at the moment but I wanted you to see how it turned out.

Here it is:


















I can't wait to get my fish in it. My pleco is not going to know what to do with all that room after being cramped in my old tank for so long. 

Best part is that the tree stump ornament on the right I got at petsmart for $15! It was the only one left in the store and didn't have a tag so the girl rang it up as the next closest thing, another large tree stump ornament that just happened to be on sale! I totally lucked out. Even she said that she knew it was worth more than she was charging me but that "hey, its your lucky day." Brilliant!


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## Blackmoons (Oct 27, 2010)

Well, I added some fish yesterday!

I wanted to get a couple dwarf gourami but they just didn't look good AT ALL in the store so I'll have to wait until they get in a new shipment. Instead I got 3 Buenos Aires Tetras which I chose because of their size and activity level. I never really liked the look of Tetras but these guys just had something special. They are really silver in color with just a touch of red and black on the tail fin and they just seemed like the right choice. My tank has basically looked empty since the beginning since my pleco and corycat hide all day so having these three fish darting around has made a big difference already. Unfortunately their silver coloring is less attractive in my tank (must be different lighting) but if they swim where sunlight hits my tank, they really shine! I also chose them because of the semi-aggressive nature which should go nicely, I hope, with the dwarf gourami I still plan to add. 

So, in a week I'll add maybe 2, maybe 3 at the most, dwarfs and eventually move a corycat from my beta tank and then I think I'll leave it at that. I don't want to overstock especially with my pleco being the dirty giant that he is. 

AqAdvisor tells me that with 2 corycats, 2 dwarf gourami, and 3 buenos aires tetra my tank is at 43% capacity. With 657% filtration (glad I got a bigger filter, that makes me happy). If I add the pleco into the AqAdvisor it gets all huffy and mad at me saying that the fish could outgrow the tank... which I get... but that doesn't help me with the capacity as it is NOW with a pleco who is not 2ft long. Oh well. I figure if I keep all other fish under 50-60% capacity, I should be fine. Especially since I have great filtration and I vacuum often due to the pleco.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

That background is awesome. Real streams and rivers look like that on the side.


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## Blackmoons (Oct 27, 2010)

Yeah the company uses real rock walls to make the molds for their backgrounds so that rock wall actually exists somewhere which is pretty cool.


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## Blackmoons (Oct 27, 2010)

Well! I haven't written in SO LONG but I wanted to check in and report that now, about a year later, the tank is going very well. 

It's stocked a little strangely, please don't yell at me!! I have 3 buenos aires tetra, 3 rosy barbs, 1 cory cat, and 2 mollys. Plus my crazy pleco. I know that ideally there should be 5 tetra, 5 rosy barbs and several each of cory cats and mollys but with the pleco I have to be very careful. I'm essentially waiting for my cory cat and my mollys (and even my pleco really tho I do love him) to.... you know... live out their lives so to speak so I can stock the tank a little differently in the future. 

I have to vacuum and change water frequently due to the pleco which has the potential to make my tank overstocked due to his large size but it's been part of the adventure. 

the next adventure will be MOVING THIS TANK! 

Not too excited about that but come January, I will be moving to an apartment and will need to move this monster tank somehow. That will be.... a giant pain in the butt I'm sure. Anyone have experience moving large tanks? Feel free to share your stories here as I'm sure you have some tips and tricks I haven't thought of yet.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

I LOVE how you've done this. Its great! where did you get that background??? I'd love to have one for my 20 which is going to be a jungle after christmasDDD


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## Blackmoons (Oct 27, 2010)

Thank you! Yeah I really love the rock wall and am so happy with that investment. I talked about it in earlier posts above but it came from a company called Designs by Nature. They were absolutely brilliant to work with.

For your 20 gallon, they have different options. Mine is a 3D background that sits about 3 inches away from the back wall so that I can hide all my equipment (filter, heater, airlines, etc) behind it. They also have slimline backgrounds which mount right on the back wall and are much thinner (i.e. take up less space in your tank... mine is about 3 inches thick so that's space I lose in the tank and decreases the number of gallons of water). 

They have some pre-cut backgrounds made specifically for typical tanks (mine had to be custom done because of its unusual dimensions). They have a few really nice ones for 20 gallon tanks that are under 1.5 inches thick. You can find those here:

http://www.designsbynature.net/products-page/pre-cut-10-75-gal/


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Blackmoons said:


> Thank you! Yeah I really love the rock wall and am so happy with that investment. I talked about it in earlier posts above but it came from a company called Designs by Nature. They were absolutely brilliant to work with.
> 
> For your 20 gallon, they have different options. Mine is a 3D background that sits about 3 inches away from the back wall so that I can hide all my equipment (filter, heater, airlines, etc) behind it. They also have slimline backgrounds which mount right on the back wall and are much thinner (i.e. take up less space in your tank... mine is about 3 inches thick so that's space I lose in the tank and decreases the number of gallons of water).
> 
> ...


Thanks soooo much for the link. I may get myself one of those. Very nice and i love the look! Now they have custom ones made for 20 gal longs...but my 20 gall is just a regular gal tall. 24x17x13 ont have any to fit it Guess Ill have to custom do mine too  Good luck with your tank!


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Hmm that tank size looks familiar...I love the 56g. I would rather have a deep tank than a long narrow tank any day. Great job on the scape


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## Discordia (Nov 16, 2011)

I love your background! Looks very nice.. I wouldn't mind something similiar for the 30 I am going to set up.


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## Blackmoons (Oct 27, 2010)

It's been a while since I've written, and I could use some help. 

My tank has gone through some issues. I had a fish die and I think maybe I didn't find it very quickly and suddenly it seemed like my nitrates were through the roof. Well more fish started dying despite my frequent water changes and regular filter maintenance. I gave up my pleco to a new home (a 200 gallon tank) as I thought the enormous waste he puts out probably wasn't helping things. I also scaled back feeding to once every other day or every two days because I feared I was simply feeding too much. 

Still, I couldn't seem to get the nitrates on track and algae started going crazy. I am down to five fish: 2 buenos aires tetra (from my original three that were the first in this tank), two rosy barb and one rubber lip pleco that is only about an inch and a half long. 

I am doing weekly water changes of about 15 gallons. I'm completely confused. I have read about high phosphates being an issue (I don't currently have a test kit for that - I use those silly test strips for convenience purposes) but I don't know if that is the case here. I know the nitrates are high for sure. I also know my tap water tests safe as far as nitrates but not zero. And I wonder if perhaps there are high phosphate levels in the tap water.

Any suggestions!? What can I do to get things back on track?


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