A neighbor is remodeling and gave me this tank for free (55 gallons) plus all the heaters, filters, bubblers, and an large (10") algae eater. The algae eater (we call him Al) is sitting in a 35 gallon plastic trash can in the garage with a bubbler. I've given the tank its first cleaning and polishing, gotta do it one or two more time, it was really groddy. Went to Petsmart to talk to them and left and went to a real tropical fish store, much better info. I hope to put it together by this weekend, condition the water and put Al in a day or two after. The fish store guru says let him hang for about four weeks and then we can talk about fish and live plants.
The fish guy made several great points,
1) I told him I had a great bookcase to put the tank on, he said put the tank on the bookcase outside and fill it with 55 gallons of water (about 400 lbs) and see if it's still standing in the morning! Duh!! In looking at the bookcase, I've got to shear wall the back so it won't rack. Only vertical and horizontal loading, no side loading, easy fix with 1/4" plywood on the back of it.
2) Don't use a GFCI cause they can trip during a power outage when your on vacation and you'll have fish soup. I had put in a new outlet with a GFCI just for that purpose where I want to put the tank.
3) Earthquake proof the tank and stand, that I already knew.
4) The most important! A bubbler in a power outage WILL become a siphon and drain the content of the tank onto my new ($25,000) hardwood floors, so buy a $5 anti-siphon one-way valve.