I’m on vacation again this week and, yes, I suppose I could be reviewing more record albums or telling you how I finished my book manuscript today. Instead, I’m going to write ANOTHER post about my new 36-gallon tank that I will be setting up after the holidays.

I’ve been busy collecting supplies. Yes, I even asked for substrate for Christmas – that’s adulting! Here’s what’s patiently waiting in the guest room until the Christmas tree comes down:

The tank and stand, of course, which I picked up Black Friday weekend after purchasing it online from my local PetSmart.

It was regularly $250, and I got it for $125. I was actually searching for a 20 gallon with a unique shape to it, but not having any luck. I even searched on Facebook, but then I found this instead which has a bow front.

It was bigger than I expected, but I loved the shape and the stand was a plus at that price!

That same day, I picked up two cool pieces of spider wood from one of my favorite local fish stores.

I haven’t soaked them yet but will do that while taking down the Christmas decorations in another week. This picture is of one of the pieces already waiting in the tank.

(The gravel at the bottom and the backdrop are just inserts that came with the tank.)

I also bought a box of dragon stone from a seller on Amazon. It was a ten pound box, and the pieces are smaller than I expected but I think I can make them work. I haven’t soaked them yet either.

I asked for substrate as a Christmas gift. I knew it would be the most expensive investment after the tank. I got 5 eight pound bags!

It won’t go to waste! I still have an empty 5 gallon in the basement I’d like to set up at some point, so if I have extra substrate I’ll use it in that.

I love the Fluval Stratum brand. I bought a smaller bag of it to try when I was setting up the 5 gallon. It’s not very decorative, but it’s good for the live plants and shrimp and that’s more important to me. I’m also amazed at how clean the water as stayed.

While we were at Petco picking up the substrate, I also got a pump and airstone for the bio sponge. I love the bio sponges I added to my ten gallons so I bought a larger one for this tank.

Thanks to YouTube, I figured out how to upgrade the bio sponge with an airstone so I picked up a larger stone for this one.

And that’s it for now! What’s left, you might ask? Well, I’ve already got all of the fish! This tank will be home to the three dozen white cloud minnows I saved from the pond, and the new fish I posted about yesterday. They are currently in the two ten gallons.I’ll also be adding the snails and all of the corys to this tank. The endlers and shrimp will stay in the 5 gallon.

That will leave my two ten gallons empty, but probably not for long. I have no plans to shut them down. I will be buying new plants for the 36-gallon though and leaving all of my current plants in the ten gallons.

That’s it for now! More to come…