125 gallon journal...planted

[mes1234]

Okay its 10pm and I have had a terribly long night but it was totally worth it. Since this is a journal ill start from the beginning. I was looking through the craigslist adds to find a add saying, "moving sale", and on the list was, "VERY large aquarium". So I emailed the lady what size, and how much. She gets back to me saying it is a 125 gallon and for $200. So I figured it was just $200 for the tank itself. Long story short, the owner of the tank just past away of old age and his son and niece wanted to get rid of the monster tank because it just took up a lot of space. Let alone, they had to sell everything in his house. So the email came back, $200 for everything: Stand, Tank, lights, filters, heaters, gravel, and please come get the fish and plants. So I said holy cow, I am on my way with $200 do not sell to anyone. I got there and the tank had been sitting for 4 months without even a finger to touch it. The poor mollies have not been fed in months, and I called my buddy, Captain bob http://www.captainbobsfishtales.com/, to come to my place to rescue them. There was about 15 giant mollies and about 40 babies in there. Also to my surprise, there was about 30 different plant species in there. There were HUGE amazon swords, and huge anubias. Tons of other plants that I still need to ID. So right now, after about 6 hours of breaking this tank down at the owners house, moving it into my house, sending the mollies away to be given TLC, I am exhausted. But my discus and angels have a new home. Let the journal begin with the pictures of how crappy a expensive tank can look without 4 months of any human contact. The tank itself is probably worth $400-500. Its glass is super thick and the braces are ridiculous. This tank had to have been custom made. The braces are beautiful so that is why I am thinking custom made.
List of items I picked up for $200:
-125 gallon long aquarium, steel stand
-2 30 watt light fixtures that will need to be replaced with stronger wattage.
-150 pounds of natural stone gravel
-50 ft python
-Whisper filter ( I have other filters to add to this until I get a canister for this tank)
-2 300watt heaters
-30 gallon aquarium with filter (he just threw this in for free)
-neglected mollies, 1 HUGE bristlenose, 1 loach
-TONS of live plants
*Be patient with updates, It will take me at least 4-5 days to clean the aquarium and the gravel because it is Easter weekend and busy school schedule.* I will give new updates when I complete a task.

[mes1234]

The setup will be in my bedroom which is pretty big, but for now I have everything setup in the unfinished part of the basement for easy access to sinks and tools. This algae buildup will be a problem to clean. I cannot wait to see this thing when I am done cleaning it.

[H2Ogal]

What a spectacular find ... I'll be eager to read/see more!

[Rbishop]

Congrats! Bet it turns out great!

[geekpryde]

Nice find! I want to see pictures every step of the way.

[laurenrocksth]

Wow. I'm ridiculously jealous :)

[mes1234]

Hey everyone. I think I may start cleaning it tonight. I just got off work so give me a few hours and ill post some pics of me cleaning this bad boy. It may take me a good 2-3 days of scrubbing and razor blading to get it brand new.

[mes1234]

Here are some photos of cleaning day 1. Day 1 consists of cleaning algae off the glass. Also, I am getting any spots or calcium deposits off. These pictures are only like 30 mins of cleaning and it looks like new already. And yes, I used dawn soap, shoot me. I use dawn soap on all 5 of my aquariums and as long as you rinse like crazy, it all comes off. Cleaning the tank for 5 days, the soap will all be removed. The cats decided to help with the cleaning process only to crash next to my bucket of plants. Here is my lovely girlfriend, very enthused about helping.....she loved the smell the tank was giving off.

[petluvr]

WOW what an improvement. I too use soap on tanks when they are disgustingly filthy like that.

[mes1234]

Okay it is 8:30pm and I am finished for the night. Tomorrow is Easter and I have some traveling to Chicago to do tomorrow. So Here is 1 picture of how I rinse. I have a hose spraying clean water, and my new python sucking it out. The other 3 pictures are day 1 complete. I cleaned the glass and thats about it. I will razor blade the glass 1 more time, and next is to work on the frame work. I need it to be looking new again, not calcium deposited all over and dirty. So everyone have a lovely Easter and see you again on monday night when I am finished with classes.

[PAL]

Wow, can't wait to see it go through... if you need any plants, you know where to call. LOL

[mes1234]

I have a bucket full of swords and anubias. I am going to need a ton more plants, but I am not sure what I want yet. The budget needs to stay in reason so I will have to think right now before I purchase. I will most likely buy all my plants from Captain bob. He knows how to hook me up with what I want. http://www.captainbobsfishtales.com/

[mes1234]

bump

[J double R]

what a transition! not only did the tank get clean, but you turned into a beautiful woman! thumbs up on all accounts!

:D

[slapnutz]

I'm gonna have to get in touch with captain bob. I live maybe 15-20 minutes from twin lakes.

[mes1234]

I met captain bob on this forum. I went to his house and now we are great friends. Definitely give him a call.

[Rbishop]

Great work on the clean up!

[FISHSHROD]

Looks like a winner . It's an AGA ( All Glass Aquarium) Not custom built. Same one I have . Waiting for more updates / pics .

[bazil323]

Nice! Thanks for the link to Captain Bob's page too. I remember seeing his foods and wanting to try them, but I didn't save the link. Bookmarked now. :)

[mes1234]

Ya ill have some more pics and updates later. I am out of town until tonight for family dinner. I just ordered some more flourite and a Marineland c-360 canister filter. I am going to have a Marineland C-360 canister and a aquatech HOB filter. That should be good for filtration. I have about 150 pounds of natural gravel, and I am going to mix in a few bags of Flourite.

[mes1234]

Here is a photo of the tank completely cleaned. I finished the tank and stand, and now I am ready to tackle the annoying part, gravel. The gravel I got was terribly dirty and it might take me until tues to finish it. I also took a pic of a 10 gallon that is holding the plants I got when I purchased the tank. Had no other area to place them so I hope they survive.

[mes1234]

My father got home so he helped me move some stuff around including my old tank that is housing my discus and angels. I drained it about 50%, my dad and I were able to move it slowly to another part of the room. I have the new 125 in place where it will call home. My plan is to slowly add everything back into this tank, get water into it and let it heat up enough to add the fish. Once the tank is about 82 degrees, I will allow myself to add the fish. I will be using about 30 gallons of old tank water that the fish are in, and adding it to the new water. I still haven't touched the gravel yet. I am dreading how long it will take to clean 150 pounds of disgusting 2 year old gravel. sigh, wish me luck.

[mes1234]

Here is 4 photos of my room. I have a 20 gallon planted, a 45 gallon housing 2 discus, 2 angels that will be going into the 125. The 45 gallon will probably sit or be sold.

[mes1234]

I know some people will look at this like I am crazy. I have a system with this gravel. It consists of 4 stages.
1. Bucket with a bleach mixture. (kills anything attached to the gravel.)
2. Strainer with extremely hot water. (removes any unwanted dirt, debris)
3. Bucket of clear cold water. (lets me see if the gravel is actually clean)
4. Dry bucket for gravel to dry. (dry the gravel before I add it to tank)

[platytudes]

Dawn soap is the soap to use. It is the soap that is recommended for the standard "spritz of soap and water" remedy which is the first defense for mites and other plant pests. Other soaps leave residue and aren't as reliable, Dawn soap kicks butt :)

What an incredible cleaning job, not to mention an amazing find! I hope I die of old age with a tank full of beautiful plants like that...

Seriously I'm sure I'll keep fish until I'm 100 ;)

[JAY973]

My tank didn't look that good when I brought it home new incredible job!!!! Can't wait to see it come together.

[mes1234]

Here are a few photos of what the gravel looks like clean. Remember, this gravel is years old and was completely black and basically mud. I had it go through a 4 step process to get it to look like this. This is just 1 layer. I have 150 pounds of this stuff to clean.

[mes1234]

Remember, I am mixing flourite in with the gravel. It should be here tomorrow.

[geekpryde]

Awesome. I am going to love watching this tank evolve. I am in the middle of my own used tank conversion project, so I will be looking here for ideas.

[mes1234]

Haha ya Ive been watching your 75 gallon evolve as well geek. Your budget is a little higher than mine, and your tank is looking fantastic. Im about half way done with the gravel, I should be done by tonight. I just ripped a 1 inch slice into my finger some how. A sharp piece of gravel I assume. A little blood just makes me work faster.

[fishycat]

I'm jealous of both your tank score, and your room square footage! Looking forward to more updates! :)

[chonhzilla]

looks cool

[mes1234]

I am sure there are people out there like me who save ever dollar possible. Cleaning 10 year old gravel that is like mud is a hassle and quite frankly, I do not know if I would do it again. It was about 150 pounds of it so I wanted to save $80. That's 2 weeks of gas money. My fingers hurt but the gravel is finally done. My next step is to clean these nasty glass tops. Once the glass tops are finished, I can start assembling my tank and add water. My Marineland C-360 and flourite should be here tomorrow. Sigh, more gravel...thankfully I am only adding 1 bag of it. Just going to mix it in with regular gravel.

[fishycat]

You've done a great cleanup job - those glass tops don't stand a chance!

[mes1234]

The glass tops are surprisenly easy to clean. The black crap just comes right off with a razor blade. Here is a example of a before and after.

[mes1234]

I ordered a large piece of driftwood from amazon.com today. I can't wait to get that sucker in here.

[geekpryde]

I am sure there are people out there like me who save ever dollar possible. Cleaning 10 year old gravel that is like mud is a hassle and quite frankly, I do not know if I would do it again. It was about 150 pounds of it so I wanted to save $80. That's 2 weeks of gas money. My fingers hurt but the gravel is finally done...flourite should be here tomorrow. Sigh, more gravel...thankfully I am only adding 1 bag of it. Just going to mix it in with regular gravel.

Looks great, and I think it was def worth it now that it is over. Make sure to post pics with it mixed, I may need to do this for next tank.

[mes1234]

Okay it is 8pm here tonight and i got a lot accomplished. I got my C-360 put together and running, and also got my background on. I have a black background on, but the tank is cloudy because of the flourite and me just stirring up everything. The tank is super noisy because the draining is splashing on the surface because I am missing about 25 gallons of water. I am going to use about 25-30 gallons of the old tank water tomorrow and try to acclimate the fish into their new home. I need to make sure the water temp is over 82 because I am adding the discus. I will put new pictures up tomorrow when the tank is clear. Besides the tank being cloudy, you really can't tell I mixed in flourite. Still looks natural as if I didn't add a man made clay.

[ghengis]

Wow, man, what a score! You've done an awesome job cleaning that up and it looks real nice in your room. Nice chicky too...gotta be happy with that!! :D

[mes1234]

I had to take the heater out of the 10 gallon that was housing the plants and put it in the 125. So the 10 gallon was under 70 degrees so I decided to just throw the plants into the 125 to keep them warm. Once my driftwood piece comes in I can rearrange everything and buy bigger, taller plants. Remember, these are just the plants I rescued out of the 125 that was neglected along with the fish. I kept most of them. There is like 20 anubias plants and ferns in there. Also, about 6 swords plants, 1 of which is huge. I have a good eye for aquascaping and right now everything is thrown in there to keep them alive. I need some tall plants for the back and more swords. The plants are kinda laying over because they have been through a brutal weekend and week. They will come back.

[WeedCali]

the tank looks great! what are you going to do with the free tank?

[mes1234]

I have it on craigslist for $40. It comes with a top and a almost brand new light.

[mes1234]

I take back the above, I am going to trade that 30 gallon and my 45 gallon for 2 discus at my LPS. Sounds like a good deal considering I only paid $15 for the 45 gallon and got the 30 gallon for free. The discus are $60 a piece.

[mes1234]

Okay it is finally time to acclimate my previous discus and angels for the new tank. I have a drip method in use right now. I am going to drip them for 1 hour, then plop them in their new home. I am hoping the drip method works and the fish will not look "stunned" when I add them to the tank. I feel so bad when fish enter their new home and look as if they had a stroke. So lets hope this works. By the way, I have a heater and a air stone in that container. So the fish are well taken care of in that 1 hour drip span.

[fishycat]

Siamese kitty!!!!!! :D Sorry, first thing I noticed.

Looking forward to seeing your discus in their new home! 1 hour acclimation should really lessen the stress!

[mes1234]

Okay here are pictures of the fish in my old tank into their new home. Excuse the angels, they are quite the divas and have to be in every picture. The acclimation actually worked. I put the fish in, no shock, just fish checking out their new home. Right now there are: 6 pigmy cories, 1 very large bristlenose male, 1 female long fined pleco, 2 large angels, 2 checkerboard discus, 6 bolivian rams, 1 red blood parrot. My camera sucks at close ups. My girlfriend will bring her nice camera home so I can use it for close ups. I am still waiting for my huge piece of driftwood to come in. I am also waiting to get paid again for some larger taller plants to go in the back. The tank is kinda stirred up because I added a ton of the old tank water into this tank so it would help with the acclimation. By tomorrow, it should be clear. I have like 500 gph filtering in this tank, it should be clear in a few hours.

[bradlgt21]

Very cool

[moi-eater]

:grinno:Those Fresh Step buckets come in handy don't they? (I know)

[geekpryde]

Okay it is finally time to acclimate my previous discus and angels for the new tank. I have a drip method in use right now. I am going to drip them for 1 hour, then plop them in their new home. I am hoping the drip method works and the fish will not look "stunned" when I add them to the tank. I feel so bad when fish enter their new home and look as if they had a stroke. So lets hope this works. By the way, I have a heater and a air stone in that container. So the fish are well taken care of in that 1 hour drip span.


Very cool, I am going to drip my fancy fish when they show up, good to see photos to I get the general idea.

[geekpryde]

Okay here are pictures of the fish in my old tank into their new home. Excuse the angels, they are quite the divas and have to be in every picture. The acclimation actually worked. I put the fish in, no shock, just fish checking out their new home. Right now there are: 6 pigmy cories, 1 very large bristlenose male, 1 female long fined pleco, 2 large angels, 2 checkerboard discus, 6 bolivian rams, 1 red blood parrot.

I dont care for angels, but I like your rams! Very nice looking fish. :thumbsup:

[mes1234]

I got a new discus today and also a tiger shovelnose. My girlfriend took better pictures of my fish. I traded that free 30 gallon to a LPS for the discus and the shovelnose. I cleaned it up like my 125 so I would get more for it.

[PAL]

My LFS would have only given me the angelfish for a 30 gallon, THEY ARE CHEAP! I gave them 50 discus fry and they paid me $5, never doing business with them again! Anyways congrats, the tank is looking awesome!

[PAL]

Personally, I've never been a fan of bloods though...

[moi-eater]

My LFS would have only given me the angelfish for a 30 gallon, THEY ARE CHEAP! I gave them 50 discus fry and they paid me $5, never doing business with them again! Anyways congrats, the tank is looking awesome!

Ouch! :irked: I got $2 each for Ps. acei and L. caeruleus fry, and $5 each for F1 Cynotilapia sp. "hara" Gallireya Reef fry from my LFS.

[moi-eater]

I got a new discus today and also a tiger shovelnose. My girlfriend took better pictures of my fish. I traded that free 30 gallon to a LPS for the discus and the shovelnose. I cleaned it up like my 125 so I would get more for it.

Nice! That tiger shovelnose will make quick work of anything that can fit in its mouth, and its mouth is large! and will get much larger! :uhoh:

[fishycat]

:iagree: I've seen horror stories & tales of woe on YouTube.

Nice pics!! The rams are so pretty.

[mes1234]

here is a picture of my tank current. I took clippings of some of my plants from my planted tank and put them in here. Also, my driftwood came in.

[mustangmiller]

This is really nice. I love the size. I wish I could find a deal on a tank this size.

[wetwillyjoe69]

Looks great! I'm hoping to pick up a new 120 with some discus from someone moving out of town.

[slapnutz]

what fish store did you get the discus and TSN from? also, what part of kenosha are you in?

[odinthejd]

great looking now then from when you got it

[mes1234]

I got 2 of the discus at a swap meet in chicago, and 1 discus from best pets in antioch. Also got the tsn from best pets antioch. I am located in trevor wisconsin

[dflagg]

Nice tank!

[ROYWS3]

Did you upgrade your lighting yet? what are your plans with that?

Roy

[mes1234]

Well, I am currently switching jobs so I have very little to no money. So upgrading on this tank will have to wait. I want to get like 400 watts on this baby, but it will have to wait.