Steps to start an aquarium

I was working on my aquarium for sometime now ... it was a long journey.
I am a thrifty person when it comes to hobbies such as this. And one my primary concern was the spend. I do not think I have done a good job in bargaining the final price - but I am sure that I did a good job in researching pros & cons.

Steps to 'create' a good aquarium with minimum mullah -
1. Decision making: buy glass tank or DIY the tank? ... after some research over the net and price comparisons of different tanks, glasses, silicon and cost of failure in DIY, I went for the first option of buying the tank. (DIY = Do It Yourself)
The tank I bought was 8mm saint-gobbin glass with dimenstion (LxHxB)=(36x18x15). And a fiber moulded cover with light fittings. Cost was Rs 2000/-

2. Buying the filter is Next step. It depends upon the size of the tank, whether it is a planted tank or just with gravel or a bare-bottom. Also depends which kind of fishes you want to grow. Finally I decided upoun a column filter with mainly sponge as a filter media and a power head which 80 liters/hour capacity. Cost was 150/-

3. Then I filled the tank and started the filter and kept it running just like that for a couple of days.

4. Next step is to add the gravel. There are multiple options here. Most LFS provides white color gravel which I despise. I like more natural looking colors. And for that I chose the 'balu' sand. I got it from a near by constructions site. Had to wash it some 25-30 time to get rid of the dust. But the final product was very clear sand which hardly created any clouds when I poured it into the tank.


5. Next step is to chose the aquarium plants and plant it. I did not have many choices available as I could find only Amazone sword and some hydrilla with the LFS. But I wiould love to have some carpet plants as well in a due course of time.

6. Finally after having setup all these, I ventured to get some fishes. The target was to get some hardy fishes which would survive the new-tank-syndrome. I chose the serpe tetra. 6 of them.