# Setting up a 75g



## notoriouslyKEN (Jul 31, 2003)

I am finally going to get around to setting up the 75 I have sitting at my place. I have seen soo many good looking setups recently, that I am not sure where I will be heading with this project yet, but it will be interesting I promise you that. This will be either a DIY c02 or no c02, but more than likely the latter after seeing Dippy Eggs no C02 set-up.

First of all, I currently have a 65w Coralife Compact Flourescent on the 29g. It's half the size of the 75g, so I was contemplating ordering another. Not sure if it will be bright enough at less than 2wpg for the plants though. Any Ideas or Suggestions?

Substrate will be a layer of peat with Soilmaster Select on top of it. Not sure how deep I want to go, but I think I want some form of gradient in the tank. Front to Back or Side to Side is still in the air. Not sure on the thickness yet either. Everyone says 2-3".

Hardscaping is one of the areas that I am uncertain of where I am heading. I love the look of driftwood, but I have had problems with fungus and BBA before. I contemplated doing a rio sao francisco biotope with driftwood some vals & swords, but thats still in the air.What I am really feeling, at least right now, are dark rocks (black with a little white in them). I forget what they are called, but am definately looking into getting some of those. Plant some of those together in groups with a plant or something.

As far as actual planting goes. I want this to be a fairly planted tank, but I want room for my Brandtii to swim around in, so there will be shorter plants and a lot of open area. I bought 10 dwarf sag. about a month or 2 ago for my 29g, I am up to about 15-20 plants now. I will buy some more to help carpet the foreground. I think I want some Val. species for the background and maybe an echinodorus species or two. The mid-ground area will be a couple of anubias barteri & maybe a smaller echinodorus species. I might also put a couple barteri within the rocks. Although, I don't want to cover the rocks, merely accentuate them.

I have been reading up on plants quite steadily for the past month or two (since my first attempt to plant the 29g). Aquatic Plants Central & Plant Geek have been good to me.

I would also like to get some shrimps, cherry or amano preferred but probably ghosts, b/c I fear they will disappear when I introduce the piranha. Any suggestions for other fauna that might be able to survive hidden in the plants or something? I've thought about neons, since they are small and look cool, but the Brandtii is only 5-6" & they might be big enought to be a meal for him.


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## brutusbeefcake (Dec 8, 2004)

just make sure you dont take any shortcuts on fertilizing... im just gettin the hang of things- thanks to dippy on my lowlight 125g(1.55wpg) and am realizing the most important factor really is feeding the plants- go with the seachem line, theyre the best! drfostersmith sells the 2L jugs... and with a serra odds are any fish such as a neon is gonna be a snack sooner or later, just buy more when they come up missing. my vinny is still in the sit in the corner mode(after 2 months still) so the smaller tropical fish and plants help liven the tank up until he snaps out of it...

also i have 2 65w 6700k compact fluorescents and 2 55w 6700k that i dont need and are brand new- been trying to sell them in the classifieds but the right one hasnt come along yet- $50 for all 4 shipped!!!!!!!!


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## notoriouslyKEN (Jul 31, 2003)

yea I have my 29g set up now & am still getting the hang of fertilizing. I think I am gonna buy the dry ferts from greg watson for the 75 & supplement them with excel. One thing I will definately need to buy is a complete test kit. I'd figure any fish would come up missing, just seeing if others had success with certain species.

and I am interested in those lights. U gots PM


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## brutusbeefcake (Dec 8, 2004)

i bought a master test kit made by hagen on ebay for like 40$... kinda pricey but its a nice set with every test needed and a nice carrying case...


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

> First of all, I currently have a 65w Coralife Compact Flourescent on the 29g. It's half the size of the 75g, so I was contemplating ordering another. Not sure if it will be bright enough at less than 2wpg for the plants though. Any Ideas or Suggestions?


You should be ok with the lights, especially if you use the 2 65w PC's.. reflectors will help out a lot


> Substrate will be a layer of peat with Soilmaster Select on top of it. Not sure how deep I want to go, but I think I want some form of gradient in the tank. Front to Back or Side to Side is still in the air. Not sure on the thickness yet either. Everyone says 2-3".


If you get Soilmaster, defanately use the whole 50lb bag.







-also, make sure you top the peat with 1" or so soilmaster, and then very carefully pour about 2 quarts of poopy filter water over the 1' cap. that will very much speed up the bacteria colony that you want to create, which is a big point to using the peat in the first place


> Hardscaping is one of the areas that I am uncertain of where I am heading. I love the look of driftwood, but I have had problems with fungus and BBA before. I contemplated doing a rio sao francisco biotope with driftwood some vals & swords, but thats still in the air.What I am really feeling, at least right now, are dark rocks (black with a little white in them). I forget what they are called, but am definately looking into getting some of those. Plant some of those together in groups with a plant or something.


rocks can get bba like the wood does. Dosing enough ferts will greatly reduce bba. Adding Excell will greatly reduce it too. If you are using excell and you get bba, at water changes do 'spot dosing' of the excell, where you turn the filters off and use a syringe or one of those flourish 1ml dosers, and dose the excell directly on the algea. 
Do that on all the areas, and it should begin to kill it. Don't use any more than 2 or 3x the recommended dosing tho










> I would also like to get some shrimps, cherry or amano preferred but probably ghosts, b/c I fear they will disappear when I introduce the piranha. Any suggestions for other fauna that might be able to survive hidden in the plants or something? I've thought about neons, since they are small and look cool, but the Brandtii is only 5-6" & they might be big enought to be a meal for him.


I would say to get a few cherry shrimp, and wait until they reproduce before adding the P. They really help with algea, and they reproduce like crazy. They will be living in your filter even..lol
I also use nerite snails.. but my compressus beats on them pretty bad.. I have one with a cracked shell because of him, and he killed a couple so far


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## notoriouslyKEN (Jul 31, 2003)

great advice dippy. Question on the peat though. I have a emp400 running with peat in the media cartridges now (fully cycled tank). Using this peat will pretty much add all the bacteria as well right?

Hopefully, if all my parts come inby this weekend, I can get this thing set up. I was gonna throw all the plants in there and buy shrimps and neons, let it grow out for a month or two while the tank cycles before putting in the P, but I heard that shrimp are very sensitive and will die during the cycle. Any truth to that?


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## wlecount (Jan 22, 2006)

Here is a nice link on how to setup a tank with Soilermasster Select


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

notoriouslyKEN said:


> great advice dippy. Question on the peat though. I have a emp400 running with peat in the media cartridges now (fully cycled tank). Using this peat will pretty much add all the bacteria as well right?
> 
> Hopefully, if all my parts come inby this weekend, I can get this thing set up. I was gonna throw all the plants in there and buy shrimps and neons, let it grow out for a month or two while the tank cycles before putting in the P, but I heard that shrimp are very sensitive and will die during the cycle. Any truth to that?


Peat under the substrate, capped with 1" substrate, then mulm added,(poopy filter water) is where the good bacteria for the plants come in.. it is for the root systems to be able to take in nutrients better.
Peat in the filter just softens, and tints the water (thus reducing your light for your plants) ..I guess over time it would be like filter media, but from the filter it wouldn't help the roots take in nutrients any better at all. 
I would get a few guppies or some fish you dont care about to cycle the tank. Then you wouldn't have to worry about your shrimp


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