Mine is presently an ugly bucket sitting next to the back door where the light comes in.
It was recently called a nasty swamp bucket. So I looked at it in the eyes of NOT a fish tank loving individual and got a big frown on my face. It did not look very attractive.
During the summer there will be a few buckets of misc plants, moss and Elodea, duck weed, etc. But when the cold comes I condense the combo and end up with a bucket of stuff to bring inside.
This last year I consolidated and reduced and rehomed some things, but I still had the plants, stones, DW extra filter pads, etc. Which all ended up in the bucket at the end of summer.
Previously tiny plantlets found floating around would go into a planted bowl, and then more recently I had a container -Aqua Farm that I used for the snails and misc. It would trap water in the outer cover and was not wood table friendly so ditched it as an option this spring.
Now I decided to try and make it look better in a tank with a light.
Here it is
It was a gift from my DD who found it at the Goodwill last spring, priced $9.99, but it was on sale for 40 or 50% off and included every thing, light bar and internal pump and filter sponge structure. Plus some extra filter media and API tap water treatment and Accu-clear. So around $5-6! What a great gift!!! I was in the middle of consolidating tanks and stock at the time she gave it to me, so I put it in the fish supply storage room.
It got little use from whomever used to have it and is in excellent, like new condition, and the light works, pretty excited.
Right now it has Garnet sand from a previous tank and a white trash bag on back so I can see the plants and decor as I start to set it up. I plan on a different backing btw.
Here is pic of the filter / barely used.
