New Non-Mer Related Project!

[Mermaid Clara]

So I'm super excited about my new project. I'm buying a 30 gallon from Craig's List from a guy in my area. It already comes with two blue gouramis. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep them or not yet. But for $45 I'm getting all the supplies, the gouramis and the tank. I called and asked him questions about the tank and told him I would call him back if I was able to buy it. So hopefully when I call him today it will still be available.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01/05/8486a6169b7b6203f3966b34389c3eb7.jpg
I'm going to build my own stand with 2x4s and paint it black. It's going in my craft/guest room. I plan on putting live plants and try my luck with ghost or cherry shrimp.
I'm going to update this thread as I go along until the tank is finished. I'm most likely will be picking it up tonight when my mom gets home from work because it won't fit in my dad's car but her trunk is bigger.
I will also show pictures of my 3 betta tanks because I'm updating them as well with live plants.


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[Mermaid Kassandra]

This sounds so amazing and exciting!
Keep us updated!!!

[Mermaid Clara]

Started cleaning the 30 gallon tank. Boy is it covered in algae! Taking a short break because it's cold out in the garage. But so far I've taken out all the plastic plants and under gravel filter trays and all the gravel and threw it away because it's so covered in algae it's past saving. I've also started scrubbing the back of and the top edge of the tank. Here are the before pictures. Pretty gross right!
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01/06/1f735bbbeeb3ff534068f9a21869bf82.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01/06/213b83b56e10efcfb05c0a68f447c7ea.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01/06/f3a604c0e2d932cf4dd78d8fddc2a45b.jpg


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[Adalira]

What a great idea! Good luck with the project! :-)

[Mermaid Clara]

Ok so I managed to get the 30 gallon clean. So the day before yesterday I filled it up with water and a vinegar and let it soak over night to disinfect it. Yesterday I drained all the water from the tank and tomorrow I'll put it on its side and rinse it out and dry it off. No after picture because it's too dark outside but I'll take one tomorrow to show the difference between the extremely dirty and clean.


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[Sabrina the Selkie]

Excited to see where this goes!

[Mermaid Clara]

So little update: I'm not going to build a stand anymore, my dad said he will buy me one, so I've found one I really like but it's $116! But it's super nice. I took the blue gouramis to my local aquarium store because I felt that someone else would find them more enjoyable than I would have. They were super nice about it and got them set up being acclimated right as soon as I told them who I was and that I called yesterday. When I came home I started draining the 10 gallon so I could remove the super bad hard water stains and the calcium build up around the top of the ten gallon tank. I really went at it but it's so hard to remove I've got a lot removed on the back of the tank, but it there is still a lot to be removed. I did this for maybe an hour or two. I also brought in the 30 gallon into the garage so I could wipe it dry and get the remaining gravel out. Then I measured and cut a piece of adhesive clear matte vinyl shelf liner on, I'm still trying to get all the bubbles smoothed out. Anyway I'll post pictures tomorrow!


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[Calizaire]

Wonderful! Aquariums are so calming and beautiful.

[Sabrina the Selkie]

So glad you got someone to take the fish!

[Mermaid Clara]

Got the stand built last night and attached to the wall this morning! Now just to wait for my filters and new heater, air pump and plants.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160113/31ec57930f343d527d4f380d8e8d4e02.jpg
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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160113/2750abf735204cef7e657002214e3abf.jpg


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[Mermaid Marius]

This excites me. I had an aquarium a few years back with a grab bag of neon tetras, black moors, and fiddler crabs. It was dolphinitely one of my favorite experiences.

[Sabrina the Selkie]

Very nice!

[Adalira]

Wow, i love the colorful stones!

[Mermaid Clara]

It's all most ready! Just waiting on the live plants to get here next Monday. I might get some red cherry shrimp tomorrow to start out the tank. I already put in water conditioner and bacteria to start the cycle.
But here is my tank so far!
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160116/cb1e69e065deaf34f98fae9f1d4fd370.jpg


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[Mermaid Marius]

I love how it looks like a mini pride rock.

[Adalira]

Woohoo, it looks great so far!

[Sabrina the Selkie]

Fantastic!

[Mermaid Clara]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160120/6695da5c10abe03dff2e422d755d68f0.jpg
Pride Rock[emoji4]


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[Sabrina the Selkie]

Nice!!!

[Rett]

Wow! Very nice! I love fish (naturally since im a mer ;)) and have a tank of Cichlids myself. Only one of my last group is still living (Cichlids are very territorial so you have to buy them in groups all at once and introduce them to the tank together or they will fight and kill the new fish for the territory already deemed theirs) but he has been around almost five years now (so quite a while). He's a fighter for sure (and was the sole survivor of the ick infestation that killed the last two) and I even have a tail design in his honor that I hope to get made one day. I would love to see more pictures of your tank! Be careful with live plants though if you aren't used to caring for them. If the PH or temp or anything goes slightly wrong it can (and most likely will) wipe out all the plants in the entire tank. I have had some bad past experiences with life plants :sweat drop: I would love to see more of your tank setup though!

[Mermaid Marius]

I agree, post more pictures! I'd love to see how many sea babies you've got in there.

[Mermaid Clara]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160128/c32a926849bfcb9314698cf22d4aaaa0.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160128/45d1cc37c4e4be8cfde66336ea6b6c5a.jpg


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[Sabrina the Selkie]

Beautiful, Kelly! Seriously good work!

[LouLouBelle]

Looking good! I miss having my tropical fish. The tank I had was 4 feet by 2 (height) by 1.5. I had lots of live plants, Angel fish, different types of tetra, zebra danios... I had gouramies at some stage... Wish I had taken photos of it!


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