55g craigslist tank resurrection

Only been in this hobby for about 8 months now, first got a 10g from petco did the freshwater thing for about a month til I got my current 55g from a random on craigslist.

tank stand and canopy looked like this when i got it(tank had sat outside for 6 months in the grass.










well that just wouldn't do so I sanded and restained the pine stand and oak canopy, the pine was a pain in the butt. also used some chemical glass cleaner called "glass scrub" that has had no ill effect on my fish. Wiped it down with rubbing alch before i put water in which brings me to what it looked like after filling







the glass was still a little dirty so i claned that off, the crappy c-360 leaked so i only use the in tank sumps now. also those koralia 3's were too much for just FO so i stepped down to the 1's which are working beautifully

finished product






have 2 blue damsels and a coral beauty angel. waiting a bit before i get some more fish, tank just finished cycling 2 weeks ago after 2 months of adding amonia. added the 2 damsels towards the end of the cycle during the nitrite peak and they have done fine, they are very vicious too.

I am moving within a year which is why i went FO. once i setup permanent residence i am planning on switching to reef. and yes, i do hate the fake decorations the tank came with.

hope you enjoyed this, i definately enjoyed repairing the tank and redoing the stain on the wood.

-ATC

 

nice restore atc. full marks on your hard work. a touch of K for it. lol

 

Wow, job well done.

 

Greatjob!!

 

wow impressive resto job. i could never do something like that. gj

 

nice looking tank ATC , massive improvement on how it started

Steve

 

Great job on the restore. Thats a 55g? Looks bigger! That is the weirdest 55g tank I have ever seen. Does it have dual side over-flows? I think thats an over kill if it does. Never the less, you did a great job. Luna

 

yea it has dual trickle filters, little old on the style but they work very well. i've got 2 gallons of bio balls in each side with foam on top so my balls dont get dirty, also a dispersion plate so the water hits all the balls.

got a mj1200 in each side for return water. i was a little stricken when i first saw the tank, but figured why not.