Tiger Barb Tank - Old Tank Revived

[Vspeck23]

Today I got my tank underway ! I had my tank sitting in the garden for a few years and decided to get it up and running. being very rushed to get it up and running resulted in having 3 quarters pre mixed water from one of my fathers larger tanks down stairs.
 
I bought an oxygenating weed i think the type is cabomba, and i bought 6 tiger barbs to get me started. the heater and pump was circulating in the tank while i was at the garden centre looking through the fish with my father and also looking at the tomato plants with my father as he has some what green fingers.
 
 
 
 few photos first one is taken with the big boy camera and the rest are from the potato camera on my galaxy s2  
 

 
 
as most of you know fish are very hard to photograph... any tips on that also will be appreciated
 
 
So a few piccys of the barbs in the bags while the water was acclimatizing..
 

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The man at the shop was very 'tight' with their water i must admit, also the size of the bag for 6 was a bit small aswell but hey ho
 

 
This was the biggest one at the top witch i fell in love with at the shop.
 

 
i need to get a bed of gravel or sand im not sure what i want to get yet any ideas would be nice, i know there will be a moss patch and moss balls at a later date so im having to bare that in mind. i suppose for now its funny watching them race there little reflections around.

 

[Ninjouzata]

I personally prefer sand for substrate. It looks more natural (IMO) and if you get it in black it makes fish and plant colors pop
 
I am a bit confused here..did you cycle the tank before adding the fish or I think from your other thread you have multiple tanks so perhaps you used a large amount of mature media?

 

[Vspeck23]

I personally prefer sand for substrate. It looks more natural (IMO) and if you get it in black it makes fish and plant colors pop

 
I am a bit confused here..did you cycle the tank before adding the fish or I think from your other thread you have multiple tanks so perhaps you used a large amount of mature media?

I used mature media i couldnt wait to get them in haha im a bit inpatient when it comes to cycling the tank, also i just threw the gravel in there ( not literally ) because the fish kept chasing there reflections on the bottom and bumping in to the walls etc. and also where my tank is situated i saw the reflection of the light when i was sat on my bed, I do plan to get sand in this tank because i think it looks really neat and as you said makes the fish and plants colour come out more, also it focuses your attention on the life in there instead of the floor ! 
Update to tank,
 
I had some gravel in an older tank out in the shed so scooped out some put it in to a bucket and rinsed through it with batches of water to get rid of the waste and rubbish from in between the rocks...  I then put boiling water on the gravel with a bit of salt and washed around with that then washed again a couple times with fresh water. 
 
I then put the gravel in to the bottom of my tank and added a few drops of tank safe
 

 

[Vspeck23]

Bought some more things for my tank, its been a long time since my last post but ive baisically let them get on with it for a while, fed every other day on general multi flakes,
 
So today i decided to go to Shirley Aquatics in Solihull in Birmingham as my girlfriend doesn't live to far from there, And i mean this place is amazing they have koi in there first as you walk around from little fry all the way up to £600 - £2000 valued koi :O !!!! so eventually got to where i needed to get my supplies etc..
 
 I bought a small net breeding trap and some fish treats ( Brine Shrimps and blood worms ) i know brine shrimps are good for breading to witch is what i will be doing next when i get a heater for my other tank witch is a 20 Litres aswell same as my mane tank ( only small i know )
 
ALSO i bought a log ... it wasnt a real one though because i really didnt want to go throught the wood conditioning your supposed to do ? so anyway its a resin cast of a log..
 
Heres some photos...
 
oh also i got an air supply ( o2 ) a small £8 all in one kit seems okay for the size of tank i have..
 
 
I used a longer shutter speed so you could see the scenery on this photo... Im working on a better tank light promise ...

 
 
 
 This is the breading trap , is was supposed to be 4 inches cubed but it really does look bigger ...

 
Fish food treats stuff ..
 

 
Never have enough of this guy ...
 

 
took a faster shutter speed photo so you could see the fishies !! 
 
not the best i know but hopefully when i have the new light rig installed it should be a breeze
 

 

[Lillefishy]

Tank looks nice but is it only 20 litres? That's way too small for tiger barbs, they need a much bigger tank 30 gallons at least imo as they can get to around 3" body length & that doesn't include the tail!

 

[Vspeck23]

Tank looks nice but is it only 20 litres? That's way too small for tiger barbs, they need a much bigger tank 30 gallons at least imo as they can get to around 3" body length & that doesn't include the tail!

haha yeah ive just been informed this from another member on one of my other threads ! 

 
They are only small at the moment i mean the biggest one i have currently is 4cm including the tale, 
 
I will be using this tank and the other one i have thats the same but a box version as breeding tanks and i will make a tank from toughened window pains from double glazing with a size of roughly 45 to 50 inches in width 

 

[SnailPocalypse]

I wonder if it ever happened.....