Seems like I have taken on a BEHEMOTH of a duty of setting up a 20 gallon long. You read that correctly! There's no other numbers before that 2 and 0. Alot of what I am doing in DIY that I have never done before, and some of it is because this was a used tank when I got it, but you can't completely complain about a free tank.

So, here's the story of this 20 gallon long:

I got this tank from someone on freecycle.org*. The lady gave it to me because the previous owner of the tank had used it for turtles. There was alot of minerla deposits and gink on the tank. She wasn't going to be able to clean the tank because she has nerve damage in her hands. We met up at a LPS (she also needed my help with fish knowledge), and she gave me the tank along with what it came with: a basking buoy, screen top, gravel vac, UGF, a heater, and a few other things. Some items were so dirty that they had to be thrown away. Some were salvageable. So, here's where things get interesting:

The tank immediately went into the bath tub. I filled it with water and let it sit overnight. While the tank was in the bath, I checked out all the other bits and bobs that came with it. Like I have already said, some bits went into the bin, and some were salvagable. The next morning, I checked on the tank, and NO LEAKS! I was EXCITED because I had been wanting a 20 gallon long for 5 months. SO, the hunt was on for a stand. I am on a tight budget, so I was looking for one that looked good and CHEAP. Someone in my local fish group sold me a 30 inch stand and a 20 in stand for all of $15! So, I brought them home and made a list for the hardware store. I was going to need black paint and a wire brush. Before I had made my way to the store, I had found a DIY project for a sliding glass lid. So, I put those things on my list as well. I go to the hardware store, purchase all of the items that I needed, brought them home, and then realized that I should have bought GLASS instead of PLEXIGLASS. Why not the latter? Too thin for what I needed it for. It sags in the middle, which means that if I were to put a light on the tank, it would fall into the tank, and we all know what happens after that. So, I am making my way to the hardware store again. Thankfully, I found a light (finally) so I don't have to DIY a light! LOL

Yesterday, I wire-brushed the tank stand, painted the stand, painted the back of the tank, painted the trim on the tank (I hate wood trim on tanks), put in a bag of Eco-Complete, put an AquaClear 30 filter with a DIY water deflector over the return, and put in a few snails to keep the nitrifying bacteria alove.

This morning, I put in some silk plants and plastic plants, a terra cotta pot, another hidey, and my 8 female bettas. I am still trying to find alot of low light plants for cheap, and I keep missing some great deals.

So, the only thing that I still need to do for this set up is to make a glass top, get the plants, rehome the rest of the snails and a few more female bettas (new home pending), and I think I am set. I may need to get a new bulb, though. I have no idea how old the one in the fixture is.


And a few things that I have learned so far: Never run your thumb over jaggedly cut plexiglass because it will cut your thumb open. Wear gloves when using a wire brush because it will leave little cuts on your fingers.


*For those of you who do not know what freecycle is, it's a yahoo group that you can gift things, receive things, ask for things, and all you have to do is to be the first one to respond to the posted item, and go and pick it up (or you can have the person gifting the item meet you somewhere). So, instead of throwing things in the rubbish bin, you can give it to someone who will use it. This group was started by people who wanted to keep things out of landfills.

Sounds like you have been busy I pernonaly would'nt use anything but glass as covers, as you have found out glass wont bend or discolour. But what i want to know is where are the pics

I'm very pleased with the way the tank and stand have come out. I still need to clean up a few stray paint marks on the tank because even though I masked it, I still got paint on the glass. The stand looks brand new, so I am VERY pleased with it. I am trying to get back to the hardware store. I was supposed to have gone yesterday, but that didn't happen.

Pics are coming! I am still having problems with my camera. I apparently have a humidity problem in my apartment, because my camera keeps telling me "Condensation, operation paused. Please wait." Once I can get it to stop telling me that, I can get a few pics, load them into my laptop, then I can transfer them to my PC, and then load them into photobucket, and THEN I can post them. I need a new camera.

Alrighty, here's some pics of what I got for free:

Nice pick up Nothing beats "for free"