I had a birthday about a week ago and my mom was visiting from Montana. My mom is a collector of hobbies. She races go-karts, rides motorcycles, does metalwork, stained glass, and her newest hobby is making glass beads. Because she has so many hobbies, she supports the idea that everyone should have a big hobby or two. After going out to lunch, she asked what I wanted for my birthday. I didn't have a specific ideas so she offered to take me to a fish store and go on a buying spree. I liked the idea so we went to the best fish store on this side of Portland, World of Wet Pets.
I had just spent some Christmas present money on fish and both tanks were pretty well maxed out. But I went to look at the fish while she talked to the guy that was working there. She likes to talk to new people, so I didn't think much about it. But she was actually getting a quote on the 75 gallon set up that I had drooled on coming into the store. It was about $500 for a basic set up. She handed me the quote and asked if I wanted the setup for my birthday or if I wanted the $500 to pick out my own setup. My mom is so cool!
I regularly check the local craigslist and told my mom that I could spend $500 much more wisely buying a used tank and having extra money to upgrade equipment. A couple days later when she was leaving to go home, I had a $500 check in my wallet and my internet browser was set on craigslist with regular refreshes. It took me about a week, but I found a 125 with stand and some equipment for $200. In the mean time I had found a co2 tank and regulator for $75. And I had done a lot of research and found the Catalina Aquarium Solar T5 systems to be the best lights on a budget. I have not actually ordered the lights yet.
So the 125 came with a stand that someone had built for it, but it isn't really finished. So the first part of my new project is to make the stand into something that would look kind of nice in a house.
Here is the tank.
This is the stand as it arrived. It is basically a pair of 2x10 with 8 4x4 pillars with two sheets of MDF on top. and a pair of cabinets in between the 4x4s.
I started by adding a nicer edge to the lip of the stand with a router. and sealing everything with a primer.
I had help from my 1 1/2 year old son Levi.
Plan for Stand:
So the plan so far is to paint the stand black, and skin the ends and center open area with bamboo. I am hoping to find some bamboo flooring remnants cheap. I built a canopy for my 30 gallon with bamboo plywood and I really like the look. I think it would contrast nicely with the black stand.
Plan for Tank:
I am going to pain the background black.
Planned lights:
48" 4x54 watt CA Solar T5 fixture suspended from the ceiling. I know this will leave a foot of tank at each end without a light overhead, but I think I will do some thing with branches and open gravel on the ends. There might be enough light for some low light plants.
Planned Substrate:
I bought a 50lbs bag of Turface, I might do a layer of soil beneath that.
Planned fish:
7-10 Angel fish
~50 cardinal tetras
7-10 Sterbai Corys
trio of German Blue Rams
12 otos
1 gold nugget pleco
2 bristle nose pleco
nerites
maybe some shrimp if they can avoid the angels.
Planned Plants:
not really sure yet. It will probably be what ever I pick up at the local plant swap meets. But I will have enough light for some mid to high light plants in the center of the tank with low light plants on the end.
Equipment:
5lbs co2 cylinder with a pieced together system.
Aquaclear 500 HOB filter. I got this and a sponge filter with the tank, I think I will give them a try.
regular heaters
I will probably throw in a couple of powerheads to help with the flow.
As you can see I am still a novice with all of this. I am sure I will have some questions for all of you. And I am really excited. I think it will turn out well.