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CaysE · 03-16-2008, 09:28 PM

Once upon a time, my girlfriend's parents' had a 10 gallon fish tank overstocked beyond belief with an angelfish, an albino frog and a parrotfish. Rather than act like an ass and flat out tell them they're doing things wrong, I dropped hints as often as I could, showed them pics of my tanks, and even gave them a "Aquariums for Dummys" book. Eventually I would offer to redo the tank for them, and finally one day, they submitted, offering to pay for the equipment, plants and fish.

I got rid of the horrible lighting by swapping hoods with my spare 10 gallon and using two screw-in 15W compact fluorescents. I added a nice power strip with built-in timer, and a new small HOB filter, a heater, and a Nutrafin CO2 system. Layed down some Ecocomplete, a little driftwood, some plants, some Neons and a Peac0ck Gudgeon. The tank's been going pretty well ever since, though it could use some more powerful lighting, which might happen down the road. For now, it's at least FAR better than it was when I started!

Here's a nice pic of the gudgeon...

And a full tank pic:

03-16-2008, 09:28 PM	#1
CaysE Stowaway Winner Join Date: May 2006 Location: Bloomfield, NJ Age: 29 Posts: 316	Girlfriend's parents' 10 gallon Once upon a time, my girlfriend's parents' had a 10 gallon fish tank overstocked beyond belief with an angelfish, an albino frog and a parrotfish. Rather than act like an ass and flat out tell them they're doing things wrong, I dropped hints as often as I could, showed them pics of my tanks, and even gave them a "Aquariums for Dummys" book. Eventually I would offer to redo the tank for them, and finally one day, they submitted, offering to pay for the equipment, plants and fish. I got rid of the horrible lighting by swapping hoods with my spare 10 gallon and using two screw-in 15W compact fluorescents. I added a nice power strip with built-in timer, and a new small HOB filter, a heater, and a Nutrafin CO2 system. Layed down some Ecocomplete, a little driftwood, some plants, some Neons and a Peac0ck Gudgeon. The tank's been going pretty well ever since, though it could use some more powerful lighting, which might happen down the road. For now, it's at least FAR better than it was when I started! Here's a nice pic of the gudgeon... And a full tank pic: __________________ 20gal tall! The display tank. Flourite substrate, Nutrafin CO2 system, Aquaclear 50, 55W 6.5k bulb @ 10hrs, 65W 10k bulb @ 2hrs, 100W Visi-Therm 4 furcata rainbows (and 8 fry!), 1 albino longfin bristlenose pleco, 6 crystal red shrimp, ramshorn & physa snails 5gal hex! Mini planted tank Eclipse Hex5 with Eco-Complete substrate, 25W heater, 1 male crowntail betta, some ramshorn and physa snails. Last edited by CaysE; 04-06-2008 at 06:03 PM.