My 55

[mnlymandan]

i cant really start at the beginning because i didn't think to take pictures from the start.  that being said i took the first pic right after i joined the forum and i am starting this thread to track and share my tanks progress.  First a bit of history:  my father had a 55 gallon aquarium that was given to him say 15 years ago (give or take a couple)  he was pretty much a candy store stocker and it worked way better then it ever should have.  He passed away in may 2013 and my brother "took care of the tank" from then until the following February.  when i got it in February, it wasn't in the best of health.  it had 1 blood parrot, two silver dollar fish, and a common pleco. I cleaned the tank, and donated the blood parrot, and the silver dollars to petco's fish adoption program as i do not care for either particularly. then i put in a red tailed shark (one of the things that dad had when i was younger that seemed to get along well with other fish although i shortly realized he had gotten very luck back then), 2 gourami (one 3 spot and one opaline), and a school of 6 rosy barbs. then the pleco got too big for the tank and i donated him to a friends 129 gallon tank.  that's when this pic was taken:

 

[RRaquariums]

Nice tank and cool story it's not very often you see a tank get that much use

 

[TallTree01]

Wow, can't believe its made it all those years. Take good care of the old gal.

 

[mnlymandan]

Nice tank and cool story it's not very often you see a tank get that much use

 
 

Wow, can't believe its made it all those years. Take good care of the old gal.

Thanks, but i didn't know tanks had a shelf life.  how long do they usually last?  i always figured that glass and silicone would last forever.
After that i decided to redecorate.  over the course of three weeks i changed a third of the substrait with my weekly water changes. (what a pain i never want to do that again!).  i decided to go with black substrait made for planted tanks.  I added a couple of plants and some driftwood.  The Red tailed black shark became very aggressive towards the other fish and i had to take him out.  i took him to petco and they put him in there adoption program.  That's about when this picture was taken (excuse the terrible quality it is the only pic i have from this time frame)

 

[RRaquariums]

Well on most tanks the silicone dries out over time and the tank starts to leek then it has to be re sealed which isn't hard but the tank has to be completely dry which can be a pain if it's all set up other then that I know some types of older glass discolor over time but I've never had a tank that did.

 

[mnlymandan]

Most recently i added some more driftwood,  a couple more plants, 6 coreys and 5 Bolivian rams.  I did have to take out one of the gourami who was getting aggressive with the rams but the other gourami seems fine with them.  this is where i am with the tank currently and i did manage to get a pretty good pic of it.  i'm really happy with how it turned out


and here is one more:

 

[sawickib]

Ww amazing change!!! Bravo

 

[TallTree01]

My tanks last at most about 6 years then they crack or something.

Looking great now though