Wednesday, November 23, 2011

About "New" mini tanks and the simple way...

I am a pretty progressive guy...but I just am not thrilled about the recent explosion of plastic, underfiltered, overly-hyped mini, nano, pico tanks out there.  When my kids were growing up, we did not keep a betta in anything less than a 2 1/2.

These new tanks are $50, 60, 70 and up.  They are marketed based on every concept possible, including the Asian concept of chi, an all-in-one, everything-you-need built into the top (same concept as a laptop computer??) and a variety of colorful, trademarked cartoon characters floating inside the tank itself, probably scaring hell out of the fish you want to keep.

Let's do it the old way...

-1-2.5 gallon all-glass aquarium  (can't find a metal framed one these days...)
-a glass top (purchased or cut one yourself)
-a small-watt heater (depending on your climate--we live in upstate NY--either heat the room or heat each tank in the winter...
-an internal box filter-yeah, those old-green tinted plastic ones (try http://www.jehmco.com/).  More on media later.  Better than sponge filters..but more on that later.
-air pump and tubing---if you are ging to run several, get a good-sized one...

As I design the racks and "nano"-fish room (nano refers to the room and the tanks), I will keep you posted on costs, etc.

As I used to say in my former life as a government public information officer, more to come....

No comments:

Post a Comment