Love the idea to use the rubbermaid drawers for filter media. That's something I'll definitely use!
you wil ever gat a good match with pre-made plugs....buy a cheapie plug cutter, and make your own with your scraps...Yeah I looked at those... I couldn't find any at HD. I'm still on the fence with the plugs. I'm tempted to take back the oak plugs and get birch ones. The grain of this wood is so curly and striated that anything will be hard to hide. It might look nicer if they appear to intentionally stand out rather than being badly hidden.
I have a RTC with my oscars and they have a great personallity together.Cichlids are exactly what I was thinking. I started out thinking of Oscars... I've had them before, but they're tough to find tank mates for, and finding a pretty oscar isn't always easy. After oscars, my next choice would be a big pleco, and a big snail, with a bunch of brightly colored 4-6" cichlids. I want fish with some personality, who will greet me when I come into the room, and do intersting things like dig, and interact with each other.
Thanks for the suggestion! Unfortunately I'm lazy... and I have over 300 screw holes to fill, so I just bought cheap home depot plugs. I don't mind if you can see them there: I measured out the holes very carefully so they form an eye-pleasing pattern.you wil ever gat a good match with pre-made plugs....buy a cheapie plug cutter, and make your own with your scraps...