new aquisition: 40!

I have been wanting to get a bigger tank to plan for keeping angelfish someday, have been wanting to replace the substrate to support plant growth, wanting to rescape the tank overall, and I will soon need to move it to the house anyways. Well, turns out this is all happening at once. Because I got this!!

I've been looking constantly on craigslist for a good deal on a used tank- the pet shops near me don't have any in the dimensions I want- a 65 seems too big, the 55's they have are all long, not tall ones, and the 29 or 38 seem just a tad too small. But I found the perfect 40 gallon tall with a stand at a great price and snapped it up. I don't really care for the stand, I'd rather it had doors across the entire front and space inside to store my five-gallon fish buckets, but the color matches other furniture pieces in the front room so C is pleased with how it looks. After getting home with it, first off I started prepping the STS- dumped into clean bucket, mixed a near-equal amount of dechlorinated water with ferts to dissolve, then poured the water in and stirred. Still not sure how much ferts to "charge" with, so I looked up what the standard EI dose is for a 40, and gave double that amount.

The tank. Set it up. Scrubbed stuff and cleaned the glass (hot water, algae scrapers and vinegar where needed. Windex only on the outside of the glass -no fish in there to suffer from fumes yet). Previous owner had scooped out the white sand I didn't want but there was residue so I sprayed down inside the tank w/hose (it's right outside the door and reaches into the front room) about six inches deep, left it alone a while to settle, then siphoned out the sand and most of the water. Filled up the tank to run the filter, check for leaks and leveling.

Emptied it again- I thought it was level but once filled it's off by 1/8" back to front. Not a lot, but I'm not taking chances. Put shims under the stand. First I used thin strips of scrap wood found in the garage, cut to size, but it was too soft- although I got it to within 3mm level, by next day it had settled and was off by 1/8" again. Emptied the tank again- drained most so waterline was a few inches above the lower trim, easy to eyeball and measure. Levelled the stand all over again with better cedar shims this time. I spent over an hour adjusting a little here, a little there until finally I got it almost perfect- only off by 1 or 2mm- can't even see it eyeballing. Filled up again, checked halfway- it was still level. Filled all the way, let it sit a while, still level. Left it overnight in case settles again. (It is perpendicular over floor joists- I checked from the basement- and on an outside wall- but still the wood floor gives a bit).

Next day I was pleased- still level. Emptied the tank once more. Left it to sit dry awhile. Meanwhile I've been slowly adding baking soda to my bucket of soaking STS, to buffer the pH. It really stripped the water of carbonates- so low my test kit couldn't even register- below 6.0 that's way softer than I want. I've been adding in 1/2 tsp baking soda at a time, letting the sediment settle (don't want to rinse it yet) and checking again. After 4 tsp baking soda it was barely 6. After 5 TB it was at 7.0. I hope by the end of the week I'll have to 7.4 or 7.6- if it holds that steady after the rinsings (not stripping new water poured into the bucket) I'll consider it stable enough to add to the tank and not harm the eventual inhabitants with bouncing pH every time I do a water change.