What's new
Troll Kingdom

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

The 40 gallon dream tank

Cassie

Cassie

Touching the monolith
Staff member
My bff recently bought a 40 gallon tank for me (about 150 liters). At first I was ANNOYED, even though this is the size aquarium I have been dreaming about. It is just the perfect shape, and I have wanted one forever, but my house is becoming one giant fish tank. Anyway, I successfully rearranged my living room so that I have the perfect spot.

Shopping for supplies has begun! There are things arriving this week, and some already here.

Already purchased
8lbs of Fluval Stratum - I've always wanted to use fancy aquasoil but it is expensive. It was on sale for half price. I AM EXCITED. I will mix it with some other stuff I already have.
hygger lights - I like hygger, you can get good stuff that is less expensive. I can't remember the lumens and kelvin of these lights but they are more powerful than my other lights
driftwood - ordered from Amazon, don't know what it looks like but I've ordered driftwood several times and it is usually nice.
root tabs - it's fertilizer, I already have some, but I ordered more because you always need it and I have other tanks
Seachem Matrix - it's rocks for biofiltratoin. FANCY ROCKS.
Media bags - bags to put fancy rocks in
Air pump and filters - I already have an extra air pump (several really) and I already have a few hob filters laying around. I would love to have a canister filter, but they is pricey.

Things I still need to buy, and decide on
Super glue - I forgot about super glue, but I need some gel super glue. I have the other kind
plants - so many plants. I can take cuttings from my other tanks for some things, but not everything
moss - IT'S A PLANT why did I make a new category?
rocks - I have a massive cool rock, but I don't know if I can put it in a soft water tank. I need to test it for carbonates, but I don't want to break a piece off.
Sand - I need some pool filter sand, and possibly some decorative sand. I have a little bit of colorful sand, but I don't know if I have enough

The fish (purchasing livestock is still at least two months in the future, but I can dream)

So far I am considering these fish - lemon tetras, candy cane tetras, khuli loaches, corys or hoplisomas (haven't decided which species maybe peppered), otocinclus, bushy nose pleco or some other kind of small pleco. If I don't go with the tetras, I would really love some forktail furcata, they look like they have tiny wings! All my fish plans will be decided by what I can actually find. The tetras are usually very easy to find, the fancier fish are much more difficult. Like I would love to have a pair of pearl gouramis, but I don't know where to get one male and one female. I need irl fish friends. :rwmad:

I will definitely put cherry shrimp in, I have them in all my tanks and the pond now. I will also get some horned nerite snails eventually. I have plenty of ramshorn and bladder snails, I can steal those from other tanks.

Once everything gets here, I'm going to use the dark start method. Which means setting up the tank, and the filter, and running it for a couple weeks with no lights. This is supposed to start the tank without kick starting algae growth. After two weeks you're supposed to drain the water, plant the plants, fill it back up and turn the lights on.

These are plants I will def buy
Echinodorus - ozelot and amazon sword
Crypts - wendtii green and bronze, petchii
 
Bill Nye Nod GIF
 
I love hearing about other people's nerdy hobbies that I know nothing about. You know all the stuff needed to make an aquarium cool. I would screw so much stuff up if someone gave me a 40 gallon aquarium. "I need lights? I need soil?"
 
Volpone said:
I love hearing about other people's nerdy hobbies that I know nothing about. You know all the stuff needed to make an aquarium cool. I would screw so much stuff up if someone gave me a 40 gallon aquarium. "I need lights? I need soil?"
Click to expand...
You could become a fish nerd so easily. At first I didn't want fish, but my bro was having his house torn down, so he needed a fishkeeper, I kept his one lonesome fish for a few months. When he got his new house he didn't want it back. Now I had a 20 gallon tank and one fish. It had gravel, plastic plants, and a hang on the back filter (there are many varieties of filters). I started googling fish stuff. I started watching fish videos. Youtube showed me the fish nerds, with their underwater gardens. I BECAME THE NERD. Now I have many underwater gardens.
 
Oh, I know. One of my rental houses had an "above" ground pool at some point. It was actually around 14" below ground, so I had a 25' diameter circle in the backyard that was a duck pond most of the time because the water table was fairly high there. When I was remodeling it I filled in most of it but because there was a deck and landscaping in a semicircle on one edge that matched the missing pool, I decided to leave a kidney-shaped bit to turn into a fish pond. Dig some indigenous plants out of nearby ponds and creeks to plant and add 25 cents worth of "feeder" goldfish and I was in business. Sort of.

There are multiple problems with it. Without a liner, the water can go away in the summer so fish won't survive (obviously), but if you put in a liner, when it rains water comes up from beneath the liner, pushing it up so it needs gravel etc to hold it in place. Since it's a rental I don't deal with it very much but if I lived there I could easily go down a rabbit-hole of turning it into a nice little koi pond.
 
Volpone said:
I love hearing about other people's nerdy hobbies that I know nothing about. You know all the stuff needed to make an aquarium cool. I would screw so much stuff up if someone gave me a 40 gallon aquarium. "I need lights? I need soil?"
Click to expand...
Same. I would do Google research for HOURS, and then still buy the wrong things on Amazon lol.
 
If you ever want to set up a cute little shrimp tank, I would tell you what to buy. lol

SHRIMP ARE ADORABLE. Also, they are the easiest little things to keep. Someday I will figure out how to record my tiny tanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top