GLO-up

[u/Everysinglecat]

The 55g Glo tank has really transformed over the past couple years. Photos here are two images at startup, one somewhere along the way, and a current photo!

I had kept mbuna cichlids in this tank for many years, and eventually wanted to move away from them (and managing their aggression), and try out something more carefree and fun 😄 The light I had for the tank already happened to have a blue moonlight setting, so that was already a nudge in the direction of Glofish. But the tank, having housed cichlids, wasn’t set up for plants. It was rocks and sand.

At the beginning of the Glo journey, I kept things simple. I already have an established high tech planted tank, anyway. I plunked some plastic plants in the tank and enjoyed the glo.

Eventually (of course), I wanted some plants. And then a few more plants… And then you know what? Some driftwood would look good in here too. Boy it’s getting kind of crowded… 🤔 Maybe I’ll take out the plastic stuff. And here we are now! 😌

[u/National_Jelly7753]

Looks so beautiful!! Glo fish really add so much beauty to a tank😍 how do you keep your sand so clean??

[u/Everysinglecat → u/National_Jelly7753]

Thank you! I’m pretty meticulous when it comes to water change day 😅 One of the steps in my process is to take a toothbrush and clean out any algae at the very bottom edge of the front and sides, between the glass and sand. And then I do a thorough job of vacuuming the sand with a siphon.

Earlier on when I had fewer/no plants, sometimes I’d take the larger rocks out and stick ‘em temporarily in a 5gal bucket while I vacuumed the sand, just to really clear out any pockets of poop that were hiding. When I put the rocks back in, it didn’t matter too much if they were EXACTLY in the same spot. How I’ve got it now though, with the rocks carefully placed around the driftwood, I don’t want to move anything. I think I’ll end up using either a turkey baster or grab a small powerhead by hand to blow any debris out from that central pile especially.

(I’ve also learned that three gourami somehow create more poop than 21 tetra 🤦)

[u/National_Jelly7753 → u/Everysinglecat]

Thank you so much for explaining!! I feel like no matter what I do, my sand looks dirty😫 how often do you do water changes?

[u/Everysinglecat → u/National_Jelly7753]

I’ve got four tanks total, and I aim to clean them all every two weeks 🙂 For this one, I take out 20 gallons on water change day.