So basically I want to show that it’s possible to run a tank and put very little money into it.
A couple of things gave me the opportunity to do this tank. First, I got this little IM 10 gallon tank a bunch of extras for a killer deal from a local that gave up the hobby. The deal came with the following items:
Tank setup = $100
Nuvo IM 10 gallon tank
IM Return pump
Cobalt heater
Ghost Desktop Skimmer (Sold for $50)
IM Desktop Media Reactor (Sold for $30)
Green Element (Blue + White 10k) LED
Magnet Cleaner
Koralia Nano 240 Powerhead (Sold for $5)
Digital Thermometer
Misc. Items
Now if you do the math I ended up only spending $15 for the stuff remaining after selling thinks I thought were unnecessary.
But, I also came across another steal when a local aquarium maintenance business was basically giving away free equipment that was going to the dumpster anyways. I ended up with a bunch of return pumps and misc. items. One of them being a Rio 400 pump which I used to replace the stock IM pump. I also ended up selling 2 other Rio pumps for a total of $20 and another return pump for $5. So now I just made $25 for basically free and I have some other stuff to sell. So if you’re keeping up with the math I am now in the green and have $10 in my pocket that I didn’t have before.
Well, I took that 10 bucks and bought a used Malm nightstand. So now we’re even and I have enough to get started with the build.
So I took some gorilla wood glue and a scrap of plywood to help reinforce the stand and joints. Then I took some polycrylic I had laying around and put 3 layers of it on the stand to protect it from water damage.
Now I wasn’t very happy with the screen lid I got with the tank so I replaced the screen part with some I had leftover from DIY screen lid kit I got a few months ago.
So now I’m ready to fill this baby up.
A couple of things gave me the opportunity to do this tank. First, I got this little IM 10 gallon tank a bunch of extras for a killer deal from a local that gave up the hobby. The deal came with the following items:
Tank setup = $100
Nuvo IM 10 gallon tank
IM Return pump
Cobalt heater
Ghost Desktop Skimmer (Sold for $50)
IM Desktop Media Reactor (Sold for $30)
Green Element (Blue + White 10k) LED
Magnet Cleaner
Koralia Nano 240 Powerhead (Sold for $5)
Digital Thermometer
Misc. Items
Now if you do the math I ended up only spending $15 for the stuff remaining after selling thinks I thought were unnecessary.
But, I also came across another steal when a local aquarium maintenance business was basically giving away free equipment that was going to the dumpster anyways. I ended up with a bunch of return pumps and misc. items. One of them being a Rio 400 pump which I used to replace the stock IM pump. I also ended up selling 2 other Rio pumps for a total of $20 and another return pump for $5. So now I just made $25 for basically free and I have some other stuff to sell. So if you’re keeping up with the math I am now in the green and have $10 in my pocket that I didn’t have before.
Well, I took that 10 bucks and bought a used Malm nightstand. So now we’re even and I have enough to get started with the build.
So I took some gorilla wood glue and a scrap of plywood to help reinforce the stand and joints. Then I took some polycrylic I had laying around and put 3 layers of it on the stand to protect it from water damage.
Now I wasn’t very happy with the screen lid I got with the tank so I replaced the screen part with some I had leftover from DIY screen lid kit I got a few months ago.
So now I’m ready to fill this baby up.
