skinz180189
Member
Hi everybody. This is my credit crunch budget tropical tank thread.
After one of my colleagues got a fishtank, I decided I wanted to have one again. We already had all the stuff I needed, except for half of it had gone missing, and half of the stuff had stopped working!
So I went out with my girlfriend last week, and bought a whole Hagen Elite 60L tank & stand setup for £115. (Tank, Stand, Hood, Light, Filter/Pump, Heater, Thermometer, Decorative Rock/Plant Thing, Fish Food, Water Treatment & Water Cycle Chemicals)
The Gravel/Rocks & Air Pump were salvaged from the old tank setup, with a couple of rocks found in a wood near Loughborough. I connected the air pump to a 6" air stone I bought for water oxygenation, and also bought 3 fake plants. The plant pot is a makeshift "cave" for the plec, a steal at 50p! I also got a digital thermometer for £3.50 off ebay, as I didn't trust the strip thermometer. The heater is actually 4 degrees warmer than it should be (set at 23C, tank is 27C).
Yesterday, I decided the tank is safe for fish now, so I bought 5 Dalmation Mollies (2 Males, 3 Females), and one Ancestrius Plec (Sex Unknown).
A couple of pics (aquarium photography is hard!)
I live in a hardwater area, so I've gone for hard water tolerant fish. I'd like a few rainbows too, but fear they will get too big. Any suggestions for a few more fish which will fit in with my current community?
In the future I may redo the tank and plant it with live plants, but for the time being this suffices.
Now for a couple of points made by "garuf" on plantedtank.net. I can't be bothered with a huge flame thread about these points on here. (Please don't read this bit as being sarcastic/confrontational/argumentative etc)
*I've read up about the air stone, I don't see it as being detrimental. If it does nothing then that's fine, I like the effect it makes
*The pump/filter won't be getting replaced for something more powerful for a long time, it's rated to 100L and makes a reasonable flow. Yes it's only a cheap pump, but this is a cheap tank.
*The ancestrius plec IMO won't grow too large for the tank, we had one in our old 60L and it grew no larger than 5" and lived very happily. Currently, it's only 2.5" in size.
And this morning, I found the mollies nipping at a molly fry that appeared overnight, they keep hiding, but there's definitely 2 that I can see in there!
EDIT:
A couple more pictures;
How it stand's in my bedroom
And utilising my DVDs as an air pump stand (the wiring isn't long enough to put it elsewhere really!)
After one of my colleagues got a fishtank, I decided I wanted to have one again. We already had all the stuff I needed, except for half of it had gone missing, and half of the stuff had stopped working!
So I went out with my girlfriend last week, and bought a whole Hagen Elite 60L tank & stand setup for £115. (Tank, Stand, Hood, Light, Filter/Pump, Heater, Thermometer, Decorative Rock/Plant Thing, Fish Food, Water Treatment & Water Cycle Chemicals)
The Gravel/Rocks & Air Pump were salvaged from the old tank setup, with a couple of rocks found in a wood near Loughborough. I connected the air pump to a 6" air stone I bought for water oxygenation, and also bought 3 fake plants. The plant pot is a makeshift "cave" for the plec, a steal at 50p! I also got a digital thermometer for £3.50 off ebay, as I didn't trust the strip thermometer. The heater is actually 4 degrees warmer than it should be (set at 23C, tank is 27C).
Yesterday, I decided the tank is safe for fish now, so I bought 5 Dalmation Mollies (2 Males, 3 Females), and one Ancestrius Plec (Sex Unknown).
A couple of pics (aquarium photography is hard!)
I live in a hardwater area, so I've gone for hard water tolerant fish. I'd like a few rainbows too, but fear they will get too big. Any suggestions for a few more fish which will fit in with my current community?
In the future I may redo the tank and plant it with live plants, but for the time being this suffices.
Now for a couple of points made by "garuf" on plantedtank.net. I can't be bothered with a huge flame thread about these points on here. (Please don't read this bit as being sarcastic/confrontational/argumentative etc)
*I've read up about the air stone, I don't see it as being detrimental. If it does nothing then that's fine, I like the effect it makes
*The pump/filter won't be getting replaced for something more powerful for a long time, it's rated to 100L and makes a reasonable flow. Yes it's only a cheap pump, but this is a cheap tank.
*The ancestrius plec IMO won't grow too large for the tank, we had one in our old 60L and it grew no larger than 5" and lived very happily. Currently, it's only 2.5" in size.
And this morning, I found the mollies nipping at a molly fry that appeared overnight, they keep hiding, but there's definitely 2 that I can see in there!
EDIT:
A couple more pictures;
How it stand's in my bedroom
And utilising my DVDs as an air pump stand (the wiring isn't long enough to put it elsewhere really!)