Are you in Iowa? I'm looking for a tank that size.
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It is a 75 gallon. What sucks is I bought it less than two years ago and had tons of work done to it. Just two years ago the fish were "cool", LOL.
We live just inside Iowa, right on I-35, about an hour and a half from Arrowhead.
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So, I decided that since I couldn't sell my 30g tank, I would start something cool in it. Not sure where it's going exactly -- maybe a Cichlid tank, but most likely another planted tank. Both of those will require much better lighting.

Enter the ahsupply.com 55w CFL retrofit kit. $45. Sweet. That takes me from a 20w fluorescent tube to a high-power, 10,000K 55-watt CFL. Great for fish lighting, but also great for plant lighting.

Tools required:
Screwdriver
Wire cutter/wire crimper
Drill with 3/8" and 1/8" bits

First step was to take the old ballast (which is what runs the lights, for you newbies) out. That was easy. Take out the bulb, remove four screws, and the whole thing popped out.



I decided to keep the original switch, which you can see near the bottom of the pic there. Next step was to drill a hole for the new power wire (that's the three colored wires there), and some mounting holes for the new ballast on the back. I threaded the new power wire through and secured it with the snap connector.



The new ballast was so big, it couldn't fit inside, so it had to be mounted on the back. It's beefy enough to run two 55w bulbs if I want to, hence the two red wires. Also, my wife's purse is really red.



Old power cord vs. new power cord. Big difference.



New ballast mounted, and the wires run through back into the housing.



Next step was to merge the two red wires down into one, since I'm going to be using only one bulb for now. I can split them back up later if I want to add another.



Wires laid in, ready for the reflector.



Reflector laid in, and the wires for the new socket.



Almost done. Just have to lay in the bulb.



In!



And shiiiiiiiiiiiny!



So, these kits are great for anyone looking to cheaply upgrade their lighting. Will work great for either fresh or saltwater.
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That's one hell of a deal for a retrofit kit! Nice work! :-)

I thought about getting a few of those to put in my old fixtures, but the plastic housing is so damn flimsy on those things. Speaking of which, I recently sold one of my Coralife fixtures, and transferred the majority of my plants into my 10 gal. I ended up placing an Actinic bulb in the remaining fixture and it really makes the tank look awesome. I do miss having it heavily planted, but I also got tired of them being uprooted by the Pleco.

Props to IA Chiefs Fan, too! That is a beautiful tank! It's a shame your kids lost interest. :-) My 3 y/o is infatuated w/ "Nemo", so naturally, he has his nose pressed against the glass a lot. :-) Hopefully he'll stay interested in fish, but I doubt he will after we get our puppy this summer.
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Starting to get the 30g on the right track.

Put the dirt in a couple of days ago. Used:

Miracle Gro Organic Choice for the dirt
Got some dry red clay powder from KC Clay
Also got some dolomite from there
And some potash from Suburban Lawn and Garden
Capping it off with some black blasting sand I got from Tractor Supply Co.
Total for all this was MAYBE $60, and I have enough to last a lifetime.

Put the potash and dolomite in the bottom, covered it with the dirt. It's ready for the cap and water now, but I'm waiting on some driftwood to come in so I can put that in there and plant without having to go back in and disturb the soil.

Also picked up some clown loaches to take care of my snail problem in the 10g. Will transfer them to the 30g when it's ready. The girl at Petco screwed up and gave me 5 clown loaches for $8. Score.
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5 clown loaches are gonna need more than 30G. :-)
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This is true, but he has some time before they outgrow the tank. I now have 3 in my 55 gal, (I was bad and got 2 more a few months back). My oldest has been in the tank for almost 2 years and he's only 4-5 inches long. He was hiding a lot up until I added the other 2. It's great to see him swimming around again!

A few nights ago, I dumped about 50 pond snails in the tank and they enjoyed the feast! It sounds morbid, I know, but it's beneficial to the CL's health for them to consume a variety of foods.

Speaking of which, if anyone needs any free pond snails, shoot me a PM.
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Be careful with the snails. Many loaches will get lazy over time and you'll end up with an overpopulation problem.

There for a while I was removing 200-300 PER DAY from my daughter's 14G.
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:-) Damn.

My CL's devour 50 or so within an hour or 2 and luckily very few strays are found afterwards. I'm breeding the snails purposely for food, (in my 5 gallon along w/ a growing colony of RCS). The snails are reproducing pretty well, but not to the point of having a few hundred per day. Again... :-)

Did you get an Assassin Snail to take care of the problem? I heard those guys are ruthless on the little buggers!
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I can't do anything to deliberately kill the pond snails (medication, Assasins, botias, etc.) because she also has Melanoides (Malaysian trumpet) snails and they're not only not a pest, they're beneficial to plants and their roots.

How do you like the RCS? My daughter and I are going to get some tomorrow. If we want them to breed and keep down the algae in the 14G, how many do we need?
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Good idea by going w/ manual removal of the snails. Trumpet snails are pretty cool and, from what I hear, not very cheap.

I love the RCS!! They are entertaining as hell to watch, especially when the females are caring eggs. IIRC, I started out w/ 3 males and 1 female. That's all it took to get the colony started. I would guess that my colony is in the hundreds now and I just got them about 9 months ago.

Honestly, if you're wanting to expedite the breeding process, 2 males and 2 females would be a good mix. I would be careful housing them w/ certain types of fish though. The babies will hide until they get big enough to venture out on their own. However, if they're small enough to fit in a mouth, they could get gobbled up. I just added a Crowntail Betta to that tank and he hasn't eaten any, (that I know of anyway). He does tend to chase them, but the RCS quickly dash away.
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Another thing to consider too is the filter intake. If the holes/slits are large, the RCS will get sucked up in no time. I just cut pantyhose to size and tied it up around the intake. It looks like crap, but if you just place a plant in front of it... problem solved! :-)
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The tank they will go in has 2 Kuhli loaches, 1 Yo Yo loach, 2 corydoras catfish, 3 white clouds, 5 glo-fish danios, and 3 killifish. Other than the Yo Yo, they're all tiny (1 inch or less).

I'd really only be worried about the Yo Yo but since he no longer eats snails, I can't imagine he'd eat RCS. The killifish might eat them if they're out in the open but they're not going to go hunting for them.
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Yeah, I had read about them getting caught in the filter intake.

I'm using a Zoo Med 511 Nano canister filter on that tank and the intake holes are already pretty small. I have some sponges I could use but I like your method better! :-)

Thanks for the info.
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You can try your luck. The guy that I got my RCS from had them in a 120 gallon Discuss tank, so anything is possible. I'm just being overly cautious w/ mine because that's just how I am w/ my critters. That and I have them in a small tank, (not too many hiding spots). A 14 gallon should give them plenty of space to hide.

Good luck w/ your RCS! Your daughter is going to love them!
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