Just picked up this fish tank from the side of the road! The lids a little fucked. The light is definitely fucked. Its bout 30cm tall x 50cm long x 20-21cm wide, so 30L (or 7-8G).
This would be my first ever fish tank so im a llittle overwhelmed with possibilities.
Any suggestions for a beginner? I originally wanted Kulis but my reasearch says the tanks way too small. At the very least im thinking plants + shrimp + cory's.
I'll likey not stock it for a while considering my housing is a bit uncertain rn but I like planning in advance 📝
Posted by consumetherotten
1 Comment
They replaced the light in it and it has natural looking gravel, that’s generally a good sign.
This is how I would tackle this tank:
1. Scoop out all of the gravel
2. Disinfect the entire inside of the tank, I use home brew steriliser powder, some use baby bottle steriliser powder, some use diluted bleach.
3. Thoroughly rinse the tank out a couple of times to remove the disinfectant.
And then the following is how i’d use the tank;
4. Rip off the lid, measure the tank length and jump on Amazon to buy a cheapo adjustable RGB light that fits the length.
5. Purchase a HOB (hang on back) filter with good reviews and plenty of people saying its near silent. Silence is king. Rip out most of the inside crap and replace it with aquarium sponge. This will need a ‘pre filter inlet sponge’. OR a silent air pump and a sponge filter.
6. Find some aquarium wood, preferably bog wood, I like one larger piece and a handful of small pieces that I can fit together to make something interesting with. We want thin pieces of wood as it is a small tank volume already.
7. Scape with natural gravels and the purchased wood. Try to fit them around the chosen filtration and a heater, trying to hide them a bit whilst still making them accessible.
8. Begin the nitrogen cycle process.
9. When nearing the end of the cycling process, I would add some chosen plants. Some easy epiphytes to go on the wood (anubias and bucephalandra) and some easy stem plants to grow near the back for help with nitrates.
When the tank is ready and mature, then I would look at adding a small number of shrimp (if water conditions allow) or go for a single show fish like a betta etc.