Hey everyone,
First, I would like to start off with introducing myself. Some of you may have seen me around the forums a few times and may have even answered a few of my questions. I am a college student who has always loved fish and aquariums. I could spend hours at the aquarium in our local zoo (and believe me I did). This led me to my purchase of a 10 gallon aquarium when I was about 12 years old. I didn't have a clue what I was doing at the time; I only knew that I wanted to keep all of the "cool" fish in my tank. I had everything from tetras to Koi fish in the 10 gallon aquarium. Like I said, I didn't know what I was doing or what the fish were. These fish were recommended to me by the Petsmart employees! The tank always smelled and the fish never lived long, so after about a year and a hundred fish later, the tank was packed up. I just couldn't take it anymore and neither could my parents. Now, six years later, I finally convinced my parents to give me another shot at it. I know that bigger tanks are easier to maintain and you should always buy the biggest tank you can afford. After staring at the huge 90g+ tanks and dreaming of owning one, I bought my self a little 20 gallon starter kit (I know it isn't much, but it is the biggest I can afford. I am a college student remember?). Everything I do with this tank is going to be at the lowest cost possible. My plan for this tank is a low tech/natural planted with some neon tetra and a gourami. I have been doing hours of research on this type of tank so I will know exactly what I am doing (I will still have questions later on though). To get myself started, I painted the back of the tank black. This is the best looking and cheapest background IMO. I also bought two bags of play sand for the substrate. This weekend, I took on the challenge of building my own stand. The pre-made stands were just to expensive. The stand came out nicely to my suprise and I will be finishing it up tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I cannot wait to get to know everyone and share my little adventure with you. I will be posting pictures and keeping everyone updated on my tank in this thread.
First, I would like to start off with introducing myself. Some of you may have seen me around the forums a few times and may have even answered a few of my questions. I am a college student who has always loved fish and aquariums. I could spend hours at the aquarium in our local zoo (and believe me I did). This led me to my purchase of a 10 gallon aquarium when I was about 12 years old. I didn't have a clue what I was doing at the time; I only knew that I wanted to keep all of the "cool" fish in my tank. I had everything from tetras to Koi fish in the 10 gallon aquarium. Like I said, I didn't know what I was doing or what the fish were. These fish were recommended to me by the Petsmart employees! The tank always smelled and the fish never lived long, so after about a year and a hundred fish later, the tank was packed up. I just couldn't take it anymore and neither could my parents. Now, six years later, I finally convinced my parents to give me another shot at it. I know that bigger tanks are easier to maintain and you should always buy the biggest tank you can afford. After staring at the huge 90g+ tanks and dreaming of owning one, I bought my self a little 20 gallon starter kit (I know it isn't much, but it is the biggest I can afford. I am a college student remember?). Everything I do with this tank is going to be at the lowest cost possible. My plan for this tank is a low tech/natural planted with some neon tetra and a gourami. I have been doing hours of research on this type of tank so I will know exactly what I am doing (I will still have questions later on though). To get myself started, I painted the back of the tank black. This is the best looking and cheapest background IMO. I also bought two bags of play sand for the substrate. This weekend, I took on the challenge of building my own stand. The pre-made stands were just to expensive. The stand came out nicely to my suprise and I will be finishing it up tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I cannot wait to get to know everyone and share my little adventure with you. I will be posting pictures and keeping everyone updated on my tank in this thread.