I GOT IT! (Pics, last post)

[Vanilla eXee]

Sooo I've been looking on CL for a stand and hood for my 20g long, hoping to find a deal. I haven't found either for my size tank, but I've now been talking with a lady in my town who will sell me a 40-45g tank (she doesn't know which and I can't tell from the pic.) that has a hood, stand, and some filters/miscellaneous equipment for $50! That's about what I was hoping to spend on just a used hood/stand, so this is awesome. If no one else buys it by this weekend when I can go pick it up, then it's mind. I already talked it over with the BF and he doesn't mind me upgrading because 1. it'll get the 20g off the counter and that's really been bugging him because it takes up so much space 2. even he can see what an awesome deal it is and of course 3. because I'm paying for it. I'm hoping I'll be able to sell the 20g for $25 and make back some of the money I'm spending on the new tank.

This is so awesome! Now not only can I get new fish for my pond, but I'll have plenty of room for some new fish in my tank.

I've have been losing my fish one by one because of the quality of the water here. It's just too hard for acid loving south american fish. The remedy to that will be a couple of nice pieces of driftwood and peat moss in my filter. Hopefully once I get all of that set up, my keyhole cichlid will look better. His colors have been off ever since we moved. The death count is: My rummynose tetras (died from shock right after the move), my female pleco, my blue ram, and my hatchet. It really sucks to have lost some of my favorite fish, but I'm glad I still have my male pleco and my keyhole. Thank goodness I'll have money now to start fixing the things that are wrong with my water.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

That's AWESOME! CL is dangerous sometimes. I'm scared I'm gona see a tank that's a great deal and want to upgrade lol. I'm still trying to get rid of my spare 15G though. id1e`a7ll555555555555555555555555i[ygyygyy lol, sorry, rats are out. um, IDEALLY...omg, she's helping herself to the treats cause im too slow...,right, I was saying. IDEALLY, it would be great to DOWNGRADE the 15G to maybe a 5 or so. To have as a spare. Maybe SOMEDAY when I can afford and LMAO! Aida thinks she's so smart hiding the almonds I give her and coming to beg for more. But what she doesn't know is I've been handing her the SAME almond like a dozen times already. rofl What was I saying? Oh right, in the future, if I can afford an extra heater and filter, I may use the spare tank to try to keep some of the babies.

ANYWHO! It's cool we are going on a new tank adventure together xd  

[Vanilla eXee]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

That's AWESOME! CL is dangerous sometimes. I'm scared I'm gona see a tank that's a great deal and want to upgrade lol. I'm still trying to get rid of my spare 15G though. id1e`a7ll555555555555555555555555i[ygyygyy lol, sorry, rats are out. um, IDEALLY...omg, she's helping herself to the treats cause im too slow...,right, I was saying. IDEALLY, it would be great to DOWNGRADE the 15G to maybe a 5 or so. To have as a spare. Maybe SOMEDAY when I can afford and LMAO! Aida thinks she's so smart hiding the almonds I give her and coming to beg for more. But what she doesn't know is I've been handing her the SAME almond like a dozen times already. rofl What was I saying? Oh right, in the future, if I can afford an extra heater and filter, I may use the spare tank to try to keep some of the babies.

ANYWHO! It's cool we are going on a new tank adventure together xd

rofl rofl rofl rofl Best post ever Gabby. Yes, this will be fun. And if you want to add more sand to your tank in the future (it's inevitable, some of it will get sucked up during water changes, I usually top up my sand once a year or so) I'm going to be making a video when I wash my sand for the new tank.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

Vanilla eXee

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

That's AWESOME! CL is dangerous sometimes. I'm scared I'm gona see a tank that's a great deal and want to upgrade lol. I'm still trying to get rid of my spare 15G though. id1e`a7ll555555555555555555555555i[ygyygyy lol, sorry, rats are out. um, IDEALLY...omg, she's helping herself to the treats cause im too slow...,right, I was saying. IDEALLY, it would be great to DOWNGRADE the 15G to maybe a 5 or so. To have as a spare. Maybe SOMEDAY when I can afford and LMAO! Aida thinks she's so smart hiding the almonds I give her and coming to beg for more. But what she doesn't know is I've been handing her the SAME almond like a dozen times already. rofl What was I saying? Oh right, in the future, if I can afford an extra heater and filter, I may use the spare tank to try to keep some of the babies.

ANYWHO! It's cool we are going on a new tank adventure together xd

rofl rofl rofl rofl Best post ever Gabby. Yes, this will be fun. And if you want to add more sand to your tank in the future (it's inevitable, some of it will get sucked up during water changes, I usually top up my sand once a year or so) I'm going to be making a video when I wash my sand for the new tank.

That would be AWESOME! ugh, it was looking so much better, I could actually see in the tank a bit. But the sand was all uneven, so I put my hand in to even it out and of course that kicked up a bunch of dust. Frig, I don't understand how I screwed up so badly I really washed that sand out a lot crying  

[Vanilla eXee]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

Vanilla eXee

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

That's AWESOME! CL is dangerous sometimes. I'm scared I'm gona see a tank that's a great deal and want to upgrade lol. I'm still trying to get rid of my spare 15G though. id1e`a7ll555555555555555555555555i[ygyygyy lol, sorry, rats are out. um, IDEALLY...omg, she's helping herself to the treats cause im too slow...,right, I was saying. IDEALLY, it would be great to DOWNGRADE the 15G to maybe a 5 or so. To have as a spare. Maybe SOMEDAY when I can afford and LMAO! Aida thinks she's so smart hiding the almonds I give her and coming to beg for more. But what she doesn't know is I've been handing her the SAME almond like a dozen times already. rofl What was I saying? Oh right, in the future, if I can afford an extra heater and filter, I may use the spare tank to try to keep some of the babies.

ANYWHO! It's cool we are going on a new tank adventure together xd

rofl rofl rofl rofl Best post ever Gabby. Yes, this will be fun. And if you want to add more sand to your tank in the future (it's inevitable, some of it will get sucked up during water changes, I usually top up my sand once a year or so) I'm going to be making a video when I wash my sand for the new tank.

That would be AWESOME! ugh, it was looking so much better, I could actually see in the tank a bit. But the sand was all uneven, so I put my hand in to even it out and of course that kicked up a bunch of dust. Frig, I don't understand how I screwed up so badly I really washed that sand out a lot crying

Nono Gabby, that's a good thing. You want to stir up the dust so the filter can take it out of the tank.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

Vanilla eXee

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

Vanilla eXee

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

That's AWESOME! CL is dangerous sometimes. I'm scared I'm gona see a tank that's a great deal and want to upgrade lol. I'm still trying to get rid of my spare 15G though. id1e`a7ll555555555555555555555555i[ygyygyy lol, sorry, rats are out. um, IDEALLY...omg, she's helping herself to the treats cause im too slow...,right, I was saying. IDEALLY, it would be great to DOWNGRADE the 15G to maybe a 5 or so. To have as a spare. Maybe SOMEDAY when I can afford and LMAO! Aida thinks she's so smart hiding the almonds I give her and coming to beg for more. But what she doesn't know is I've been handing her the SAME almond like a dozen times already. rofl What was I saying? Oh right, in the future, if I can afford an extra heater and filter, I may use the spare tank to try to keep some of the babies.

ANYWHO! It's cool we are going on a new tank adventure together xd

rofl rofl rofl rofl Best post ever Gabby. Yes, this will be fun. And if you want to add more sand to your tank in the future (it's inevitable, some of it will get sucked up during water changes, I usually top up my sand once a year or so) I'm going to be making a video when I wash my sand for the new tank.

That would be AWESOME! ugh, it was looking so much better, I could actually see in the tank a bit. But the sand was all uneven, so I put my hand in to even it out and of course that kicked up a bunch of dust. Frig, I don't understand how I screwed up so badly I really washed that sand out a lot crying

Nono Gabby, that's a good thing. You want to stir up the dust so the filter can take it out of the tank.

Yaa, but I mean I dont understand how there's so much left. Maybe I should siphon and refil a few times.  

[Vanilla eXee]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

Vanilla eXee

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

Vanilla eXee

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

That's AWESOME! CL is dangerous sometimes. I'm scared I'm gona see a tank that's a great deal and want to upgrade lol. I'm still trying to get rid of my spare 15G though. id1e`a7ll555555555555555555555555i[ygyygyy lol, sorry, rats are out. um, IDEALLY...omg, she's helping herself to the treats cause im too slow...,right, I was saying. IDEALLY, it would be great to DOWNGRADE the 15G to maybe a 5 or so. To have as a spare. Maybe SOMEDAY when I can afford and LMAO! Aida thinks she's so smart hiding the almonds I give her and coming to beg for more. But what she doesn't know is I've been handing her the SAME almond like a dozen times already. rofl What was I saying? Oh right, in the future, if I can afford an extra heater and filter, I may use the spare tank to try to keep some of the babies.

ANYWHO! It's cool we are going on a new tank adventure together xd

rofl rofl rofl rofl Best post ever Gabby. Yes, this will be fun. And if you want to add more sand to your tank in the future (it's inevitable, some of it will get sucked up during water changes, I usually top up my sand once a year or so) I'm going to be making a video when I wash my sand for the new tank.

That would be AWESOME! ugh, it was looking so much better, I could actually see in the tank a bit. But the sand was all uneven, so I put my hand in to even it out and of course that kicked up a bunch of dust. Frig, I don't understand how I screwed up so badly I really washed that sand out a lot crying

Nono Gabby, that's a good thing. You want to stir up the dust so the filter can take it out of the tank.

Yaa, but I mean I dont understand how there's so much left. Maybe I should siphon and refil a few times.

Yeah, that will help. Siphon from the water column, don't worry about the bottom since there's no fish in there yet.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

Vanilla eXee

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

Vanilla eXee

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

Vanilla eXee

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

That's AWESOME! CL is dangerous sometimes. I'm scared I'm gona see a tank that's a great deal and want to upgrade lol. I'm still trying to get rid of my spare 15G though. id1e`a7ll555555555555555555555555i[ygyygyy lol, sorry, rats are out. um, IDEALLY...omg, she's helping herself to the treats cause im too slow...,right, I was saying. IDEALLY, it would be great to DOWNGRADE the 15G to maybe a 5 or so. To have as a spare. Maybe SOMEDAY when I can afford and LMAO! Aida thinks she's so smart hiding the almonds I give her and coming to beg for more. But what she doesn't know is I've been handing her the SAME almond like a dozen times already. rofl What was I saying? Oh right, in the future, if I can afford an extra heater and filter, I may use the spare tank to try to keep some of the babies.

ANYWHO! It's cool we are going on a new tank adventure together xd

rofl rofl rofl rofl Best post ever Gabby. Yes, this will be fun. And if you want to add more sand to your tank in the future (it's inevitable, some of it will get sucked up during water changes, I usually top up my sand once a year or so) I'm going to be making a video when I wash my sand for the new tank.

That would be AWESOME! ugh, it was looking so much better, I could actually see in the tank a bit. But the sand was all uneven, so I put my hand in to even it out and of course that kicked up a bunch of dust. Frig, I don't understand how I screwed up so badly I really washed that sand out a lot crying

Nono Gabby, that's a good thing. You want to stir up the dust so the filter can take it out of the tank.

Yaa, but I mean I dont understand how there's so much left. Maybe I should siphon and refil a few times.

Yeah, that will help. Siphon from the water column, don't worry about the bottom since there's no fish in there yet.

water column? speak english please crying  

[Vanilla eXee]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

Vanilla eXee

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

Vanilla eXee

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

That would be AWESOME! ugh, it was looking so much better, I could actually see in the tank a bit. But the sand was all uneven, so I put my hand in to even it out and of course that kicked up a bunch of dust. Frig, I don't understand how I screwed up so badly I really washed that sand out a lot crying

Nono Gabby, that's a good thing. You want to stir up the dust so the filter can take it out of the tank.

Yaa, but I mean I dont understand how there's so much left. Maybe I should siphon and refil a few times.

Yeah, that will help. Siphon from the water column, don't worry about the bottom since there's no fish in there yet.

water column? speak english please crying

Oh I thought we went over that one biggrin Basically I mean from the water, not the walls or the bottom.  

[Vanilla eXee]

I got the 40g+equipment!!!!!! You have no idea how absolutely over the moon thrilled I am that my fish will now be not only in a spot where I can see them, but they'll have light and their tank won't be bare anymore. The hood it came with was gutted, but that's fine because I have an extra clamp lamp so I just set that on top of the glass. I'll get another strip light for it eventually, the lamp is fine for now. The filter it came with is the type that usually comes in the 55g packages at petsmart, but the motor isn't very good on it so I have that running as well as my 30g filter. Aaand I have a 50 watt heater on it as well as a 100watt heater, so hopefully that will keep it warm enough. Right now I'm just waiting for the water to heat up before I add my fish.

Now all that I have left to get for the tank is sand and a nice piece of driftwood. We went to the store yesterday for driftwood, I kid you not they had a 4" piece for $15.99!! I was like um....the last piece I bought was 12" for $8, and that was at an expensive fish store in Taxachusetts! I think my look said it all though, because the lady gave me directions to a store where I can get better driftwood. Too far to bike though so that'll have to wait til next week. Hopefully we can go get sand later today, if not then that also has to wait til next weekend.

I can't even convey how amazing it is to look over and see a tank there. I have been miserable because my fish were miserable and tucked away in the kitchen. My heart flies every time I look at the new tank <3 <3 <3  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

No fair, I want pictures. I SHOWED YOU MINE!

Lol, the big fish store I mostly frequent only seems to have one size of driftwood. EXTRA LARGE. It will take up most of my tank. So time to visit the other fish store lol. A lil bit out of my way but I can compare prices for test kits and see what fish THEY have.

Don't you have to cycle your new tank?  

[Vanilla eXee]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

No fair, I want pictures. I SHOWED YOU MINE!

Lol, the big fish store I mostly frequent only seems to have one size of driftwood. EXTRA LARGE. It will take up most of my tank. So time to visit the other fish store lol. A lil bit out of my way but I can compare prices for test kits and see what fish THEY have.

Don't you have to cycle your new tank?

I told you Gabby, you can have pics when I get sand lol. Okay maybe I'll put pics tomorrow.

You could always try cutting the wood if you have a saw or an axe, then you can put some away for later

I don't have to cycle it because I moved everything over from the 20g, filter with media included. Since I didn't have sand or gravel in the 20g, the only surface rough enough for the bacteria to grow on was my filter media. In transferring it there will be some loss of bacteria, but it's not a big deal. This is the awesome part, once you have one tank that is fully established and cycled, you can pretty much set up new tanks without cycling, by switching the filter media to the new tank. The only catch is, you need to have something else in the old tank with bacteria, whether it be the substrate or an extra filter or whatever.  

[Vanilla eXee]

Today I went to PetCo and picked up 4 decent sized Red Eyed Tetras, so now I have a nice little school of 7 going. I can tell which ones I already had because one is the biggest female, one has a busted lip and the other a scar on his head. Hopefully now that they have bigger numbers they'll stop fighting. Might pick up 3 more to make an even 10.  

[Kipluck]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

That's AWESOME! CL is dangerous sometimes. I'm scared I'm gona see a tank that's a great deal and want to upgrade lol. I'm still trying to get rid of my spare 15G though. id1e`a7ll555555555555555555555555i[ygyygyy lol, sorry, rats are out. um, IDEALLY...omg, she's helping herself to the treats cause im too slow...,right, I was saying. IDEALLY, it would be great to DOWNGRADE the 15G to maybe a 5 or so. To have as a spare. Maybe SOMEDAY when I can afford and LMAO! Aida thinks she's so smart hiding the almonds I give her and coming to beg for more. But what she doesn't know is I've been handing her the SAME almond like a dozen times already. rofl What was I saying? Oh right, in the future, if I can afford an extra heater and filter, I may use the spare tank to try to keep some of the babies.

ANYWHO! It's cool we are going on a new tank adventure together xd

Okay, that giving her the same almond over and over thing? LITERALLY made me LOL.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

SERIOUSLY WOMAN! WHERE ARE THE PICTURES!!! evil

@Kip, typing with rats climbing all over you is difficult. Especially when they DEMAND your attention so often you can never even finish a sentence.