2g nano initial set up (not planted)

So I rinsed out the Fluval Shrimp Stratum substrate and set up the Slim S10 filter, and put in the first dose of Cycle last night and then let it run overnight - and this is how she looks this afternoon!



Looking promising! :)

I will start planting it today - I just wanted to get an idea of how it would look and pan out once I got the substrate in!

Filters, filters .... (for the 2g nano)

Well, I guess I wound up with three choices ... the UGF and these two that looked promising that were immediately available ...



I will likely wind up getting a Tom's mini filter too but for now, it's between the three.

But turns out that the height of my older tank (I think I got this in the late 90's or possibly the early 00's ... it's been a while so not exactly sure. lol)might be playing against me as I think it's shorter than the tanks today - and the rim is very old school, so it has a width issue that the filters today for smaller do not seem to take into account.

I'm not willing to de-rim this tank, I don't think that look would work well for this one, and I like the retro look for it to be honest. I can just buy a modern de-rimmed tank later on for that style fix, after all! LOL!

So due to the height and rim issue, it ruled out the i25 for this tank (no worries though, I'm sure that I will wind up using it in some other tank someday in the future knowing me LOL) and I guess that I will try the Slim S10 and see how that fares.

Got 'er all cleaned up!!

Well got the nano cleaned up some ... she looks much prettier now!



Now to choose the substrate ... part of me wants to do it the old way that I've always done it, but I have never had tanks as gorgeous as the ones that are doing it in ways I've never tried before. So I am thinking of taking the plunge!

But where to start? I'm thinking a commercially packaged substrate to dip my toes into this new way of doing things might be best for me. Decisions, decisions! :)

2 gallon nano planted shrimp tank

So thought I'd dig out my 2 gallon setup from the garage and see about setting that up for my first stab at getting back into the hobby and my first try at aquascaping!

Here she is ... definitely needing a little attention, LOL!



And then with it all together ...

Ooo tanks tanks tanks, I know I have a tank I can use...

OKay so I collect tanks. Yes. I COLLECT them. Not even remotely kidding.

I think I've had like 12-15 different tanks with me since I was like 17. I've love having them because well, I'm the kind of chick that will bring home critters or have critters just show up. lol.

I've had just about every critter you can shake a stick at, I've gone through the evolutionary chain. Started with bacteria - yes bacteria, lol, then to molds, then to bugs, then to fish, then to amphibians, then birds and reptiles and mammals. I went through a large aggressive bird/reptile/fish/amphibian/bug stage and then swung off to explore the other end of the size scale - little ones! Then we went through a venomous stage, then an exotic stage, then a native stage, and then a rare phase.

As a result, I've kept and bred obnoxious amounts of animals and bugs since I was about 2 - I've just always had tanks and critters. I can remember my first fish tank (guppies and platys!) that my mom set up in a roo I shared with my brother - they put a bookshelf in the middle of the room to kind of make it into two rooms and put the fish on a shelf so we could both enjoy and I've been in love with tanks ever since.

So I've sadly put my tanks away for almost 6 years and now it's times for them to come BACK!

So I started digging through half of my tank collection (the other half is still in storage) and took some pics, lol of my cluttered garage.

A couple of 20s ...


My 100 gallon and a 30 and a 20 gallon...



The 30 gallon and 20 gallon



Aha! The 2 gallon tank I was looking for is in my 100 gallon! w00t! And underneath it is the 7 gallon bowfront! Sweeet! I think I might be all set!

Tank Blog Launches

Well, I guess I finally figured out what i wanted to blog about with this account ... my tanks! :)

Just recently got re-bitten by the tank bug and thought it might be fun to blog about it as I re-enter a hobby that has been a life-long passion for me.