TamarackTTC
New Member
Hi Community, I know this isn't much, but it is where I am today. I last had a Cichlid tank around 3 years ago and I had to sell it because it was too much to manage as our first child arrived and my wife and I were overwhelmed. We now have 2 children and for some reason I think I can start up another tank, and now a live planted one..... I'm probably in over my head, but I'm going to do it anyway :0)
It was around September of 2017 (roughly 4 months ago) when I made the decision I was going to do this. Since then I've been researching, reading, watching youtube, discussing on the this forum, going to a couple different LFS's, and gathering supplies. My strategy is to spend as little money as possible, but also have a beautiful tank! To do this I have "traded up" a lot in my spare time (this means I will get something for free or very cheap and clean it up and sell it in order to get something that is much better). In the attached image is what I have today, which is a 55 gallon long with a stand, t5ho light bar, fluval 305 canister, heater, an assortment of hard rock, 4 pieces of beautiful mopani wood, and many other extras. I painted the stand black to match the trim of the tank with extra latex paint I had and did some cleaning. The total I've spent thus far is +20 dollars. That's right, I've actually made money and I'm left over with all these goodies :0)
So, the next step for me is to create a hardscape with rocks and mopani. Then decide what plants I want. Then decide what fishies I want. Then get the soil and plants and give it a go. This wouldn't take long for the normal folk, but being a stay at home dad and not having much extra time, I don't anticipate the next couple of steps happening very soon. This process is definitely teaching me patience......
I will keep ya'll updated as I go along and I appreciate you tuning in! Ya'll have made a world of difference in my journey to having a live planted tank :0)
It was around September of 2017 (roughly 4 months ago) when I made the decision I was going to do this. Since then I've been researching, reading, watching youtube, discussing on the this forum, going to a couple different LFS's, and gathering supplies. My strategy is to spend as little money as possible, but also have a beautiful tank! To do this I have "traded up" a lot in my spare time (this means I will get something for free or very cheap and clean it up and sell it in order to get something that is much better). In the attached image is what I have today, which is a 55 gallon long with a stand, t5ho light bar, fluval 305 canister, heater, an assortment of hard rock, 4 pieces of beautiful mopani wood, and many other extras. I painted the stand black to match the trim of the tank with extra latex paint I had and did some cleaning. The total I've spent thus far is +20 dollars. That's right, I've actually made money and I'm left over with all these goodies :0)
So, the next step for me is to create a hardscape with rocks and mopani. Then decide what plants I want. Then decide what fishies I want. Then get the soil and plants and give it a go. This wouldn't take long for the normal folk, but being a stay at home dad and not having much extra time, I don't anticipate the next couple of steps happening very soon. This process is definitely teaching me patience......
I will keep ya'll updated as I go along and I appreciate you tuning in! Ya'll have made a world of difference in my journey to having a live planted tank :0)
