# 75 gallon journal...



## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

Well...this is my first journal I've done for my second tank. I just got this tank earlier this week and after a whole lot of shopping and manual labor, I finally have it set up (bare min). I am still new to this so I am going to take this slow as it progresses. I am not going to put any plants/fish/etc (unless I should) until the tank settles down.

Basic info:
-75 gallon
-eheim 2217 (debating on 2nd filter)
-Will have CO2 with rex reactor (need to move it from 20 gallon and somehow attach a 1/2'' hose to a 5/8'' hose barb)
-Tek HO T5 48" (have 2 giesmann midday and waiting for 2 aquamedic planta bubls)
-DIY light stand 
-SMS with peat moss and laterite underneath

Bare tank with stand


















SMS (2 bags for 40 bucks and 150 mile drive), Shultlz peat moss and API laterite









DIY light stand (conduit plastic pipes spray painted black (crappy job too) and bolted to stand (price: under 15 bucks) Also have sunrise sunlifts light hanging system that works beautifully (25 bucks)









Washing SMS: It looked like river water for 2 hours...as a result, I washed it for a long time and flooded my neighbor's yard in the process (hehe)


















Added peat moss 









Added almost 2/3 bag of (55oz) laterite









Added wet and heavy SMS to tank (talk about labor intensive) I'm not sure if I have the right depths since I measure about 2 1/2 in in the front (from the middle of the bracket to the top) and close to 4in in the back. If I have to add more SMS, please let me know. I also did a crappy job evening out the substrate but I'll fix that later... 



























Adding water...









1 1/2 hours later...









Complete and filter working...BTW, those eheims are so easy to work..I thought I was going to have trouble but surprisingly, I didn't.










Had trouble setting up the intake and outtake...does this look ok or should I some how move it. The intake unfortunately, is too long and will hit the substrate if I don't angle it like that.









I didn't fill all the way since I was too lazy and I didn't think I needed too. Obviously, its very cloudy, even after washing the SMS, but hopefully over a couple of weeks, it will be clearer. Those tek lights are super bright already with just 2 bulbs. The plants in the other tank were already moving towards the new lights.

Anyways, sorry for the long post but thanks for reading and hopefully I can turn this tank to something to be proud of...


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## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

if it was my tank i would move the intake hose to the other end so everything got circulated.

what is SMS????? i really like it and how much did the lights cost you in the end?

do you have any drawings of the new hardscape you plan to do or maybe even the stuff you want to use pictures of?

maybe even a fish list or plants? 

just wondering im curious to see how this works out... why didnt you use all the laterite and the peat was used for what? sorry im just really curious


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## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

If I decide against using a 2nd filter, the I will probably move it to the other side (need a longer hose).

SMS charcoal is soilmaster select. Its pretty much discontinued but turface is the same thing. Also, aquariumplants soil, 3M colorquartz crystal are similar too. Its really a preference at this point. You can look up www.lesco.com and see if there's a dealer near you for this stuff. The Tek light system was expensive, but worth it. I found it at a LFS for cheaper than most online dealers.

As far as plants...its really a crap shoot. I'm so broke right now that I can't afford a plant package so I am simply going to slowly move cuttings from my 20g (blyxa, ammanis, rotala green) over and hopefully buy from members here. I am still looking for some driftwood but that can wait.

Since I've never had a large tank, I don't know what fish to get but I'm looking to keeping a small, community based tank. It may change down the road so who knows. Thanks for commenting on the tank!


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

I think the soil looks pretty natural.
What are you going to do for a hardscape.
It will get moved around as you add rocks and wood if that is where you are going with this.

Also, your tank will be pretty clear tomorrow, with a filter it usually clears up overnight. At least IME

What is this with SMS getting discontinued?

Is lesco then selling Turface.

I was aware that there were parts of the country where you could only get SMS and other parts where you could only get Turface, but I never heard that one was gone.

Oh, you will need to MOD that filter intake, don't leave it like that , UGLY.
I have never owned an Eheim yet, but I would guess you can pop off the end and cut the line shorter then put the end cap back on.


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## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

thanks for the link...i found one only 20 minutes away...the plants im sorry if i had some plants on hand i would get them to you but im currently waiting for them to grow in. for some reason i can picture rosey barbs in the tank...just saying


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## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

I talked to some lesco reps here in texas and they told me they were bought out by john deere. Deere are not going to carry SMS at all and instead moved to another product called turface (or at least the way I understood). Hopefully that's not the case but that's why I bought another bag since I wasn't sure.

As far as hardscape, I would like to try driftwood again. My 20 gallon has some rocks that are working out pretty well. But I'm open to ideas...


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## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

bratyboy2: I forgot to mention that I didn't use all the peat because most people say to sprinkle over the bare tank. I didn't use all the laterite because i didn't think I needed so much. I could be wrong and can always add it later since all the layers are going to mix up eventually.


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## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

i know everyone is doing the branchy thing but its getting old real quick and chunky rocks with the foreground plants all around them too...so please stay way from that!!!! lol i love the chunky wood and pebbles...with the crypt balansae in there....crypts and anubias...some rotala


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## slowhand35 (Apr 13, 2007)

Nice photos


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## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

Thanks!...

UPDATE: I went ahead and took the hit now and bought another 2217. I am goign to try to set it up to where one filter will be mainly a chemical filter and the other mainly a mechanical filter. Any thoughts about this? I also need to add a CO2 reactor to one of the filters and possibly a inline heater (but probably down the road)


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## insomniaclush (Jan 14, 2008)

Carlos1583 said:


> Had trouble setting up the intake and outtake...does this look ok or should I some how move it. The intake unfortunately, is too long and will hit the substrate if I don't angle it like that.
> .


Take a hacksaw to it. I had a Eheim intake that was too long. I took the cap off and cut
a few inchs off then put the cap on over the new cut. looked just fine and worked out great.


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## dirrtybirdy (May 22, 2007)

do you plan on having it in the middle of the room?

looks like youre off to a good start


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

What chemicals do you plan on using in the 2nd filter.

Two bio filters would be better, but leaves the option to run some water polishing chemicals if needed like Purigen, but not all the time.


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## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

Thanks for the compliment. 

Goalcreas: That's what I'm debating about. My water is still pretty cloudy (or at least that's why my GF told me last time she checked) and I want to make sure I get rid of the particles/dirt/etc as a result of adding SMS and from the crappy water that my city has. Since I have all the media, I can go ahead and set up another bio filter on the other side or I can turn it to a mechanical filter. If I do keep it as a mechanical filter, what media should I have in it? So far, I bought extra fine filter pads that I was going to stack up above the blue filter pad and the ehfimech. What would you guys add?

If not mechanical, then at least I would have 2 filters and Im sure over time, the water will clear up.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

go mechanical and bio, not chemical and you can load your mechanical up with filter floss or extra fine foam pads


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## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

UPDATE: Its almost been 3 weeks and so far so good. I am having a little nitrite spike after adding 3 fish and stirring up the SMS due to adding the new driftwood, but I did a WC and will check the params sometime tomorrow. I'm still waiting a little bit before I move the fish in the 20g to the 75g. Most of the plants there will be kept but I'm still in the lookout for more stems and some middle and foreground plants. I'm going to remove the heater that is in the tank for a hydor inline and I am waiting to add CO2 once I get the package from Rex (currently using Excel right now). I'm not sure about keeping the baby tears since its already growing some algae but we'll see. Hope the pics are ok and any comments/improvements are appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks to fishandturtle for the wood...it looks great and still have plenty left over...not sure what to do with it


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## Genin (Jan 28, 2007)

that driftwood is looking sharp. it should look nice when all the plants grow in.


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## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

Thanks! It took me about an hour to figure out how to arrange the wood to get the look I want and then ziptie it together to hold it in place (its why you see blue at the base of the wood)


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## starsunmoon (Apr 1, 2008)

wow, looking great !! i AM setting up a new 90 gallon next week, I dont have the canister filter yet , I hope I can afford it .. but im going to try... im thinking about sand in the middle and down one side, and some of my fine black gravel mixed with some of my eco-complete on the other side, I will start my journal next week, but dont wanna get everyones hopes up while its going to take me a min to get up the $$$ for the filter, and rocks, and OR driftwood, I want some driftwiid that is dark and sinks well with NO tannis, cant remeber what its calles..?? any help with that one >?? and if any one has any, please let meknow , I will go look in the for sale or trade, I do have some things I could trade!! hEY NICE plants I think I see some parrat feather in there?? of so , be careful, mine died out the tops would look great but the bottome slowly rot out.. just saying , not sure if that is what you have there...


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## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

UPDATE: Its been a long time since I've updated so I thought I would post some new pics. Summer was rough on the tank but its slowly coming back. Here are some pics now...any comments/tips are appreciated...thanks!


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Looks like everything's coming up roses!


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Your tank is filling in nicely. What trouble did you have with it this summer?


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## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

Thanks for the comments. I had to deal with green water (twice), inconsistent CO2 and ferts (was gone for most of the summer), dead plants, etc. After being back for almost a month, it has definitely improved...


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## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

Its been a couple of weeks now and plants continue to grow fairly well. I do have some staghorn and am trying to deal with it but its not terrible. (probably need to up the ferts). Here are some more pics...


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