Fire's 75gal Tank Journal

[windrunner9189]

IT'S HERE!!! I GOT THE TANK!! lol

marineland ensamble
tank + light + stand + hood
18"L, 48"W, 21"H

· 2 marineland penguin 350 HOBs (or a 350 and a 150)
stuff with fluvial ceramic rings/biomax,
fluval foam sponges, poly-fil

· 2 200watt aqueon pro heaters
set at 79F

· black diamond blasting sand

· easy to care for, inexpensive, low tech plants
big anubias, java fern, swords, vals

· peaceful community tank
angelfish, pearl gouramis, rummynose tetras, boesemanI rainbows, guppies, harlequin rasboras, sterbaI cories

· dragonstone centerpiece

· black background

shopping list right now:
-sand
-dragonstone
-filters
-python water changer




i'm super excited to get this puppy going! i'm not sure how I will get water into this thing yet.. maybe through the hose, but it doesn't have a water heater. could someone tell me if my faucet works for the python? that would make things easier. my dad is adamant that the python won't work on our faucets, but I just want to make sure. does the faucet have to have a hose-like connector on the spout, or not?
since I will be moving all of my guppies into the 75 from my 20, I don't need as much aeration in the 20. the guppies frequently gasp if I don't give them a whole lot of surface tension. so I could possibly use my marineland 150 for the new tank, and run my old aqueon filter and a sponge filter in the 20.
would a single angelfish work in this tank? I don't plan on getting anymore if they get aggressive in numbers, or so i've heard. is it okay to keep them alone?
harlequins or rummies? I can't choose lol. should I do both, or would it look weird to have two schools?
I need extreme help with plant care. i'm not doing very well at it, hahaha.. is it right that thrive (can't remember the brand) is a good fertilizer? what root tabs should I use? or should I splurge on that substrate for plants? any suggestions as far as plants go? the light says "468 lumens of light" and "8.5 watts of energy used" if that tells y'all anything. I dunno whether that's good or bad!

anyways, that sums up my ramble. I'll try to update this when I can.

 

[grac3]

that's so cool! can't wait to see it set up

 

[windrunner9189]

that's so cool! can't wait to see it set up

thanks! I'll get around to it more this summer, so there may not be updates for a while.

 

[windrunner9189]

alrighty, slight change of plan! instead of the HOBS, I went ahead and ordered the cascade 1000! it'll fit under the cabinet and not take up as much room.

here are a few aquascape ideas i've had.. messy I know.

 

[windrunner9189]

whoop!! I decided to do a spray bar, I want the oxygen all throughout the top, no dead spots (I also think it's really fun lol)

 

[windrunner9189]

washed pool filter sand for about an hour, set up the lid + light, and turned everything on.

right now I call it "the cloud."




p.s. hawaiian pizza is my favorite, will always be, don't question me.
I felt the need to add that in here.

 

[windrunner9189]

no more cloudiness!


just dumped in a bottle of TSS+ along with 3 ppm ammonia. hoping this cycle goes smoothly

 

[Bama]

May the fast cycle be with you!

 

[windrunner9189]

woohoo!! if my test results aren't fooling me, ammonia and nitrite already went down! I still have to scape this tank, I plan to do that this weekend.

I have thought a lot more about stocking, and I think I might do this along with some inverts to help clean up:
4x angelfish
3x pearl gourami
20x cherry barbs
i'm very happy with this stocking plan!! SO EXCITED

 

[windrunner9189]

 

[Beneful1]

I have the same tank and stand and very happy with it. I've added a Fluval full spectrum light though which I got a deal on 2nd hand barely used. It really makes a difference. Substrate is just regular aquarium gravel. Using a Fluval 404 canister I've had for many years and a Fluval 300 watt heater. M. I've got close to 60 small fishes in it and it doesn't look crowded at all. Here's the rundown give or take, even I get mixed up as to what's in there.
1 Angel
15 Neons
10 Dalmation mollys various sizes
8 Mickey Mouse tetras
4 zebra danios
3 yoyo loaches
6 various cory cats different sizes
6 red minor tetras
6 candy cane tetras
6 otto cats

Everyone gets along great

Initially I had a Dwarf blue gourami and it died, then I got another and it died. I think the tank was too busy for them.

I fertilize with Flourish Excel mainly, occasional regular Flourish, and some Seachem tabs under the bigger plants.. They've all really taken off.

 

[windrunner9189]

I have the same tank and stand and very happy with it. I've added a Fluval full spectrum light though which I got a deal on 2nd hand barely used. It really makes a difference. Substrate is just regular aquarium gravel. Using a Fluval 404 canister I've had for many years and a Fluval 300 watt heater. M. I've got close to 60 small fishes in it and it doesn't look crowded at all. Here's the rundown give or take, even I get mixed up as to what's in there.
1 Angel
15 Neons
10 Dalmation mollys various sizes
8 Mickey Mouse tetras
4 zebra danios
3 yoyo loaches
6 various cory cats different sizes
6 red minor tetras
6 candy cane tetras
6 otto cats

Everyone gets along great

Initially I had a Dwarf blue gourami and it died, then I got another and it died. I think the tank was too busy for them.

I fertilize with Flourish Excel mainly, occasional regular Flourish, and some Seachem tabs under the bigger plants.. They've all really taken off.

View attachment 558236

awesome tank, I love the scape! honestly I'll never be good at aquascaping, ill kinda have to accept my minimalistic design. if I try any harder it starts looking even worse.
here's my 20 gallon right nowin the future I plan to add more plants to it.

thanks for the tips on ferts, I need to go out and get some.

here's the cleared up 75

 

[Beneful1]

I've no expertise at aquascaping.. I just plop the things in and hope for the best lol. Start with the Flourish Excel, it really helped my plants to take off initially. See what happens and then you may or may not have to add anything additional.

 

[windrunner9189]

hI fishlore, I haven't been here in a while! i've been busy with other things recently.
finished up my cycle and got three of these cuties yesterday!! they thrashed and jumped in that bag, poor things

(umm, the 2nd picture lol.. that doesn't look quite right)

 

[windrunner9189]

unfortunately, ultimate terror ensued, and two pearl gouramis passed away. the male was medicated though, and doing great now.

once my quarantine tank is free, I will get some cherry barbs

 

[Nick72]

Oh dear, what went wrong?

Some kind of disease? Fighting? Ammonia spike?

Was it a male and two females?

 

[windrunner9189]

Oh dear, what went wrong?

Some kind of disease? Fighting? Ammonia spike?

Was it a male and two females?

one had cotton mouth and a cloudy eye, the other one had a swim bladder issue. they all had internal parasites.

I noticed ammonia on one side of the tank being .5 ppm, and that's when I took the remaining one out into quarantine. yesterday I put him back in, but I noticed amiss parameters today. I just did a wc, and I will be putting established media from another tank into the filter.