20 Gal. Craigslist find

[HeatherB]

So here is what I picked up: a 20 gal. with hood, light, stand for FREEE!

It was a bit dirty, needed some TLC. Came with 2 HOB filters (an Aquaclear and another) and an undergravel filter. (wont be using that!) Also a brand new thermometer....and some other stuff.


Got it up and placed in my room on November 30th. Dec 1st got it filled and have a little over 15 lbs of gravel in it. Also got all my plants in.

Dec. 3rd added my gauramis and lone glofish.

Here's a full tank shot!

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/100_3757.jpg

Here's the tank and the stand too!

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/100_3758.jpg

I added a tank background as well, although I was mad as He** because I wanted to Vaseline it to the back, but forgot until it was totally filled with water! Oh well. It's just taped for now!

[bushwhacker]

sweet deal heather, since it looks like your fish cycleing you are keeping an eye on your params and ready for water changes right?

[Red]

looks great, agreed with bush.

[HeatherB]

Well, thankfully I haven't had any problem, mind you only a couple days out, but I used a lot of my gravel from my previous tank, and am running 2 HOB filters ( one is the aquaclear I got, but I slapped some of my media from my other aquaclear in it) and the filter they had on the old 10. Hopefully it's got enough bacteria to not kick off a cycle!

I added 4 mollies today (because they had just come in at the LFS and they looked AWESOME! Better than what they usually get in...)

Checked and everything is doing well. Hopefully it stays that way!

[Rue]

Excellent find! Tank looks great - congrats!

[Northernguy]

Great job!
Thats a good looking tank!thumbs2:

[rich311k]

Very nice tank!

[Deleted User]

Wow!!! What a great find and you have got it looking beautiful!!! :19: :19: :19:

[HeatherB]

Thanks all! Hopefully I can get the pics of the mollies up tonight...(have graduation from nursing school tonight so we will see how that goes...)

All the mollies lived thru the night! Yea!

Hoping the plants will fill in a bit more....was thinking of swapping up the lighting, bu that may have to wait until AFTER Christmas!

[dragoonwoman]

Every time I try to pick up something on Craigslist, I get no reply. Glad your luck is better than mine!!

CONGRATS on the graduation, too!! thumbs2:

[HeatherB]

CONGRATS on the graduation, too!! thumbs2:

THANKS!!! Graduation went great, now all I have to do is study, study, study to pass my state board exams!

[Lab_Rat]

Looks nice! You may want to make sure you didn't totally bury the rhizome of the java fern.

[HeatherB]

Will it grow better? It was one of those little bulb things that grew, I was pretty sure that it was a java fern but wasn't totally sure! Any other plant tips?

[HeatherB]

Here's some pictures of my mollies! I got 4, 2 dalmation and 1 orange and 1 yellow/orange one.
Here's is three of the four
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/100_3762.jpg

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/100_3766.jpg
Orange/White Dalmation Molly
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/100_3771.jpg
Can you tell his funny looking mouth?
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/100_3769.jpg

[Deleted User]

The fish are very pretty!!! Congratulations :19: :19: :19:

[HeatherB]

So---haha kinda forgot about my journal- here it goes.

The plants are filling in nicely. The waterlily is looking really nice, much better than it was doing in the 10gal. It's got like, 6 stems that shoot up to the top of the water and grow tiny white flowers. The java fern is like, got little branchy things coming off of it. I'll try to get a pic- Is this new plants? If so how long should I wait to cut them off (or cultivate them?) and let them grow new plants?

I have the Blue Gaurami, 7 mollies, 1 Glofish(which would be rehomed except I can't catch him!) 4 Peppered Corys and 1 snail. The Cory's are my newest addition and I really like them! They are some cute little buggers. They are really active too. I have never really had fish that stay exclusivly at the bottom of the tank, but it is nice to see them down thier playing and hanging out!

I picked up a new light bulb from Walmart. I looked at the like, cheaper ones and then I found an actual aquarium bulb from the fish section. It was a buck or two more, but it had a higher Kelvin rating, so I got it. The tank does seem brighter.

I haven't been using any ferts for the plants. My one filter is using carbon so it just takes it out. When I go to Petsmart today, I may pick up some shrimp and see about what I can put in that filter besides carbon.

Alright- sorry so long- here's the pics!
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/HPIM0050.jpg
Cute little peppered Cory!
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/HPIM0045.jpg
I dropped in an algae wafer this AM. All the fish went nuts! And they had already all been fed! This was just supposed to be a snack for the cories! I guess those darn mollies need more green food?!
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/HPIM0042.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/HPIM0049.jpg

[HeatherB]

Here's the waterlily! It has really done better in this tank!
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/HPIM0051.jpg
And the flowers:
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/HPIM0055.jpg
This is the java fern. The other one I have in the tank has larger ones, the roots (the brown things hanging down) are much longer as well. Would I snip off the tip of the leaf it is attached to and plant it?
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/HPIM0053.jpg

[Earthdawn]

Looks GREAT ...

I got a great deal of craigs list as well...


thumbs2: thumbs2: thumbs2:

[EmmanuelJB]

Really nice tank and fish!

[HeatherB]

Well got home from work today and my female that was being chased all over the tank was dead. I assume stress from being chased. There was no obvious problems. She was hidden in the plants. I am not sure how long she was dead- but she was not too decayed or anything. Checked my water- but so far no spikes. I will check again in the morning.

I guess I will take my last female and take her back to the store. Maybe I will get two more glofish- then I will have 4 danios and 3 glofish- at least a decent school size.

Last night I added about 6 or 7 Ghost shrimp. They were mostly really tiny so I hope noone eats them. I saw like, 2 today- but I haven't had much time to just sit and watch.

Petsmart has all their aquatic plants on sale- so I think Friday I will be making a trip up there (baring there is not walls of snow here) and pick up a bunch of plants.

[HeatherB]

Well, after 24 hrs. of no electricity and cable, I finally have it back! We now have about 20 inches of snow. Actually more if you count what was already on the ground!

Thankfully, the tank temps never got below 68 degrees. I was able to plug the filters and heaters in for a couple hours to the the generator. I think that saved the fish!

I lost one little danio. I tested the water this AM after the electricity came on and I was running Nitrates 20 and Nitrites .5 to 1. So I did a water change about 2 hours later ( had to wait for the water to warm up). A big one too, I almost sucked all the water out!!. The danio was floating about 10 minutes later. At least he was my only loss.

I can't tell if that driftwood is leeching tannins or not. Water is still clear from the water change this AM. I tried to use a bucket, in the bathtub buy Mom threw a fit. So I guess it's staying in the tank!

Never got my plants from Petsmart. The idiot told me they went off sale on Saturday, so when I went on Friday, they were not on sale. And another employee told me they had went of sale on Wednesday. Geez. Guess I'll order online!

Really hope I didn't kick off a cycle!!!

[HeatherB]

Yesterday- picked up 20lbs of Estes Black sand. I really like it- it was clean- I don't even know why I rinsed it...but it tends to float. And it has an awful lot of air trapped on it. Hmmm. Also added a black background. Anyways: Here is the tank now:
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/HPIM0167.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/HPIM0164.jpg
I took the anubia's off the wood- it was starting to turn yellowish- so I pruned it and am going to put in in another tank.

I got Mom a new Betta yesterday-basically mine but it stays in her office. FINE. I picked up a little 2.5 gal. tank w/ glass canopy to put him in. It needs to run a bit longer to stabilize and then I can take some pics. For now- here is her new Betta, Clyde. (Sorry for the pics- he is in a critter keeper thingy right now- it was bigger than his cup anyway!
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/HPIM0161.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x261/beachgurl_1988/HPIM0170.jpg

[troy]

Great looking tank and bettas!thumbs2: