My 4 Foot Cheap Tank (and It's Many Transformations)

I picked this up for nothing from a website called "Freecycle". It hadn't been used for some time and I wasn't crazy about the trim and cabinet colour.

My first layout changed quite a bit before adding my first fish. I ended up with a large arrangement of rocks in the middle of the tank with lots of hide aways for the fish (which were predominantly Cichlids). And long stemmed and leafed plants at each end for my Angels.

After they both died   I went for a nice easy community tank. Now I am slowly changing that over to a Discus tank. I have found homes for my breeding pair of Kribs and their many, many offspring. The Keyholes, Angels and Bristlenosed Plec. All I have now are some Tetras, Threadfins, Guppies and a Horsefaced Loach.

More pics to follow soon.

Stuart.

This is the latest setup. I did paint the background Blue but I thought Black would be better, I'm glad I did.

The filter pipes no longer stand out although the wood in the right, back corner hides most of the down pipe and surface skimmer. The water is heated by an external inline heater. My next step is to buy one of them thermometers which just dangle a wire into the water.

The surface plants are a real success. They filled a Chinese takeaway tub a few weeks ago, now they cover half my tank and my son says it makes the wood on the right hand side look like trees. The plant on the left (in the miniature goldfish bowl) will go before I get my discus.