Starting new after 5 years...

dacooley

Member
Ok, 5+ years ago, I had 2 55gallon tanks set up and running.
Both had the Marineland 350 magnum cannister filters and one Penguin HOB on each as well.
One tank was meat eaters, the other was "cute fish" for the wife (Though I did put my clown knife in there and he ate all her Neon Tetra's LOL)
Both tanks ran perfect, were always clear and clean, and I did weekly testing and kept it in a spreadshreet to track and see any possible trends before they got out of hand.
I sold those when I moved, and am ready to get back into the fish world... I was going to do a reef tank, but just simply cannot afford it, so I am going freshwater.
Picked up an All Glass Aquariums 75 Gallon tank and a stand for 75 bucks...
Aquarium was a reef tank with a BUNCH of coralline algae on the back and sides... Picking up some muriatic acid on the way home tonight to get rid of it...
The stand is the All Glass Aquariums 48x18 black cabinet stand...
What concerns me is that the stand is open on the top, and the tank ONLY sits on it around the edges... Even though it has a tempered bottom and it is the stand made for this tank, I just don't feel safe with it like that...
I am going to add some 2x4 struts front to back and put 3/4" plywood across the top for full support.

now, several questions... I want the tank to be planted, so I need a good substrate, not just the gravel. What is recommended?
Also, is the Magnum 350 good enough for a 75G tank? should I also have any powerheads or an HOB?
and lastly, Lighting... Tank has no hood, so I need to buy or make something... What would you all recommend?
Thanks,
Dave
:sinking:
 

Val

Member
Welcome! I used flourite substrate/gravel 50/50 in my 55 freshwater planted. I just ordered a new light for it and it should be here on monday. It's an Aquaticlife
48" 2 bulb t5ho. I like this light because I can add another if I decide to and they link together. They have individual reflectors for each light that makes a difference I think.

I'm not familiar with your filter system so I have no opinion on it. Good luck and keep us posted I enjoy reading about others tanks.
 

WayneT

Member
To answer your question on the open stand; yes, you can put an all glass tank on an open stand but cannot do it with an acrylic tank. Acrylic tanks need a solid bottom. I prefer having the open bottom simply so I can see whats under the substrate. all kinds of funny things can go on under there. Adding the plywood will only add weight and problems if it gets wet.

Lighting is tricky and really how you want to do the planted tank. There are lots of articles on lighting just look up "Planted aquarium lighting".

Right now I only have a reef tank myself but I am in the process of adding a 75 gal planted tank in a different room. Your filter sounds OK but I would look into it a little more. Check F&S for substrates they have a number of good ones for planted aquariums.

By the way WELCOME
 

dacooley

Member
OK,
As things would go, My wife doesn't think freshwater fish are "pretty enough"... so I am starting out with a FO tank...
 

GrendelPrime

Well-Known Member
if u see my avatar thats 1 of my discus..imo prettiest fw fish and not that tough to keep healthy, but u can never go wrong with a fo
 

PEMfish

Well-Known Member
There is no advantage to adding the plywood. Glass tanks only touch the stand around the edges, look at the bottom of your tank, the bottom pane is raised up. If the bottom pane were to contact the stand it would shatter.

If your going to do a SW ditch the canister filter.
 

bbe22

Member
I'm a little late replying to this thread, but I'm with PEMfish on the stand, leave it as is. As far as filtration goes you can never have too much. Canister filters aren't bad, but nothing beats a wet/ dry (trickle) filter for planted tank. THey are pricey, but back in the day when I couldn't afford a nice one I made on myself. It worked really well and only cost me about 40 bucks to put together, not including the overflow, which I bought used. I have a planted discus tank (55 gallon) with a wet/dry that was designed to handle up to a 300 gallon saltwater tank sitting above a 40 gallon sump. In my sump I have an Ehiem canister filter that I use to inject co2. I also have a power head in there to agitate and ensure proper circulation (no dead pockets of water). I also keep my heaters down there. I use a magdrive 600 to pump it all back up. I'm a fan of flourite for substrate, it's chock full of iron, but it's pricey to fill larger tanks with it. I've had the same substrate for about 15 years in my planted tank, and this was when I was doing this on a tight budget, and I went to Lowe's and bought 50 pound bags of small gravel for something like $5 a bag, bought 3 of them and called it a day. I don't vacuum my gravel because detritus=nutrients, and most freshwater plants are root feeders. Some don't agree with me, and then they see my tank. Basically, it creates "dirt" that fills in the gaps between the rocks. I use Flourish brand products for fertilization, I used to use Serra, but it's becoming increasingly hard to get and Flourish works really well. I have about 15 varieties of plants in my tank and about once a week I have to take some of it out and go barter with my lfs for trades because the plants thrive. As far as lighting goes, I have two suggestions. I bought 48" t5 double bulb shop light from Lowe's that happens to be the exact width of my 55 so it acts as a hood, and it only cost something like $40. I run two different spectrum bulbs in it. It puts out 64 watts. It sits on top of a Solarmax brand H.O. compact fluorescent double bulb that puts out 108 watts, which was really affordable, I think I payed $110 for it including bulbs, but I did convince my lfs to switch out the actinic bulb that came with it for a sun-glo. This provides a total of about 3.5 watts per gallon, which is the perfect amount of light for a typical planted tank. I'm sure by now you've picked fish for this tank, but if you take Grendelprime's advice and go with discus (the king of freshwater fish) I recommend Gwynnbrook Farms Discus Hatchery based out of Baltimore. I bought my Discus there in person, and let me tell you, this guy is the American authority on discus keeping and breeding. One thing that you mentioned was using muriatic acid to clean your tank out, if you did so, I really hope you rinsed it really really well, glass is porous and will hold onto chemicals, and muriatic acid will definitely kill absolutely everything you put in there. Anyways, I'd love to see some pics of your tank assuming it's up and running now. Here's a pic of my discus tank :)
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bbe22

Member
I assume you meant dacooley went sw, that's cool, I do both.

Yes Flourish is a product made by Seachem, if you want to get technical. I was just trying to give a guy a bit of advice on how to make a planted tank work out well. Seachem was originally based in South Carolina but later moved to Georgia. I'm familiar with all of their products. And all of their products are top notch in my book.
 

PEMfish

Well-Known Member
I assume you meant dacooley went sw, that's cool, I do both.

Yes Flourish is a product made by Seachem, if you want to get technical. I was just trying to give a guy a bit of advice on how to make a planted tank work out well. Seachem was originally based in South Carolina but later moved to Georgia. I'm familiar with all of their products. And all of their products are top notch in my book.

Yeah, Im the kind of guy who loves to hate big companies but seachem hasn't given me reason yet, and all the products of theres I use I like too.
 

bbe22

Member
Yeah, Im the kind of guy who loves to hate big companies but seachem hasn't given me reason yet, and all the products of theres I use I like too.

Agreed 100%. If somebody asked you for a good de-chlorinator/de-chloramine product, what would you say? I'd say 110%, Prime. Too bad they don't make lights, and filters, and substrate, and... ;)
 

PEMfish

Well-Known Member
They do make substrate; Flourite, Onyx sand, Meridian...

The more specialized a company is the better they are at doing what they do.
 

bbe22

Member
They do make substrate; Flourite, Onyx sand, Meridian...

The more specialized a company is the better they are at doing what they do.

Oh, I somehow forgot or missed that they made Flourite :) But I agree with you, stick to a small field and do it well. I just really have an affinity for that company because they are local to me and I love their products. I guess I'd be a good spokesman for them. What's your pick for fw lights PEM?
 

PEMfish

Well-Known Member
they are local to me
Id be begging for a tour.


What's your pick for fw lights PEM?
My own. I build my lights, never buy them.
I use T5 HO, as many as possible. Over an 18" wide tank you can get 6 bulbs because the reflectors are 3" wide ( 3x6=18 ).

I use electronic ballasts, program start is preferred but I usually dont opt for that because of the money involved with a ballast that nice. Cheapest I'll go is a Fulham Workhorse.

I run UV lighting company bulbs. Simply the best Iv ever used. Keep in mind Iv never used Giesemann or any other 35 dollar bulb before though. The 10k by UV is real nice because it has a pink tint. That offsets the high K rating in FW making it look a little lower to the eye but still gives the pop of a 10k. Plus it brings out the reds in plants. I use it over my SW too.

Individual reflectors all the way. A good way to save money on these is to order the biggest ones and cut them down. The charge you $20 a reflector weather its 2 feet long or 6. So buy the 6. Say you have a 4' tank and you want 6 reflectors. Buy 4 6' reflectors trim them down to 4' and take the 8' of scrap and make your other 2 4' reflectors. You saved $40.

I cool the hell out of my lights. If you were to take a T5 HO and lay it out on a table running it would over heat even with no enclosure. These bulbs run hot! If let get too warm ( I think the threshold is 110*F ) They will die. Iv had this happen, its not fun. On my 3' FW I have two 5" muffin fans. Very powerful ones. When the hoods open you can feel them blowing from across the room.
 
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