Back in May of 2021 I decided that I wanted to upgrade from my existing 35 gallon aquarium to something a little bigger. I was thinking of something in the 90 gallon range. I was really happy with the way the 35 gallon had turned out but really wanted to be able to have bigger schools of fish, and a few more types of fish.

I started looking on Kijiji and this 140 gallon tank popped up for $250.00, complete with an FX5 filter, which is around $500 on it’s own. It also came with all the other basics including heater, light, and many other parts. After some quick measurements, we determined it could fit along the wall where the current aquarium was, but we would need to move the TV to be mounted above the aquarium. I contacted the person selling it within 20 minutes of the ad going up and said I would take it. It turned out to be from a business that had sent all their employees home to work because of the pandemic, and there was no one around in the office anymore to enjoy the fish or look after the tank. They were kind enough to help us move it from their office and into our garage.

The interesting thing about the tank is that a lot of the volume comes from its height, it’s taller than usual for a tank with that length and width, which I thought was interesting. It does mean that I can barely reach the bottom when I need to do any work such as putting in plants or other decorations.

We also had to find something for it to sit on. That ended up being a solid wood entertainment unit, which was another Kijiji find and cost almost as much as the tank, $200.00. The measurements worked out with only about a centimeter around each edge to spare. It is very heavy as well. This time we didn’t have the use of a truck to do the move and ended up jamming it into our KIA Soul. Poor Michelle was jammed up to the dashboard and ended up with a nasty scrape on her hand when the fellow helping load it gave it a big push before she was clear.

We managed to get it home safely and unloaded it into the garage as well.

Next up was to move the old aquarium and stand to make room for the new one.

Next up was to move the new stand and aquarium inside. Because of the way our front door and steps are laid out, and the weight of the stand and the aquarium, we paid someone to move it in for us. It was well worth the $40.00 to not have to do it ourselves and risk a back injury of some sort. We also paid to have the TV mounted on the wall. I could have done it myself but I really didn’t want to take a chance of it falling into the tank so I went with the safer option.

We also picked up a corner cabinet that the FX5 Canister Filter could fit in. Put a couple of holes in the back to run the hoses and the electrical cord out of.

Ordered four more bags of Caribsea Eco_Complete substrate. The plan was to transfer the substrate from the original tank as well to get a good jump on cycling the new tank.

I added an AquaClear 100 filter, just for additional water circulation.

Upgraded the light to a Fluval Plant LED

The first set of fish in the tank.