Hey guys,

I just picked up a used 75 gallon tank from a friend. The price was right....free lol. Anyway. I cleaned it out with bleach which I was told was ok cause it will eventually disapate. Before I start this thing I want to make sure I'm doing this right.

I do have some old supplies.

I have a filter for a 65 gal. Will this be sufficient if I stick with nice community fish?

I also have some of my old rocks and decorative stuff however some of it was in a 15 gal that I had going a few years ago that got over run with all this nasty algea. Is this stuff ok to use? How can I go about cleaning it or should I just start over with new stuff?

I am also thinking about plants as I was told that they can help in keeping the water clean. The more self sustaining the better I figure and this could help pick up the slack of having a 65gal filter in a 75gal tank. What would be some good, low maintaince plants?

I will be filling it with city water with all the chlorine and floride. What should I add if anything to get this out and how long should I let the tank sit before adding fish and plants?

Any other suggestions as to filtration, airation, combinations of fish and plants are greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

First Off congradlations on the tank. You are correct by cleanning the tank with, bleach.... A 25% bleach to water solution is good enough, you also need to clean the filter and anything you want to put in the tank. Even if it new from the store it still should have some type of cleanning done to it. Just remember to rinse everything real good and then soak it in dechornated water,everything. You seid yoy 15 gal tank was over ran with alge depending on the algea you may have the spores alive and will on it. You asked if the filter was good enough, IMO a resounding NO. You should try and get a fliter that is rated for the tank. You did not say weather it was a HOB or canister, because if it a canister you can by a HOB and that will take up the slack. Make sure you have heaters that are rated as will, I would get two, this is a safety feature, I don't know there area you live so if you have cold winters this is a must. If one breaks down you have the other one to heat the tank until you can get the broken one replaced. As for the old supplies you have I would look at the dates and make sure they are to not old and out dated. Mkae sure you water test kits is up date while your at it. You will need a dechorinated and depending in the fish you want to keep you may or maynot need to adjust the ph. This can also be effected by how close you are to treatment plant. No mention on the of lighting so I going to assume you have the standard lighting that comes with tanks. These lights a designed to show the fish not really for plant grown but you can grow low light level plants. repalce the bulbs with daylight buld at a K rating of 6700 to 8700. Also get gravel that is no bigger than 3mm, help the roots of the palnts stay put.


After you have everything you want light gravel plants and you are ready to set up the system. It will take about 6 weeks to cycle the tank, you can do this by adding 5 dispossible fish (not the most animal friendly way but is the most popular) or you can did it fishless ( the new methd being used world wide alittle slower but not fish die) by get pure ammoina and adding it to the tasnk alittle everyday, eye dropper. Cycleing a tank is the most important step in setting up a new tank. if done properly in the end you will have less problems later down the road. So take you time and research the fish you want to keep and set the tank up correctly from the start.

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Gold Coast Aquarium Society South Florida
www.goldcoastaquarium.org

Thank you for the helpfull reply djrichie

Well I just got back from PetsMart with everything I should need to get this tank going.

The filter I have is a Fluval 304 which I just found out is rated for a 70gal tank. So Im only short 5gal of capacity not 10. I bought a 40gal Top Fin Power filter to run along with it so I should be good as far as filtration goes. I was thinking about just buying a new, larger canister filter but they run upwards of $200 so maybe I will invest a bit more later and go that route but not now.

I bought some smaller gravel with the intentions of adding plants later on. And btw the light that I got with the tank is intended to duplicate sunlight so I guess that's a plus.

I got all my chemicals and airation stuff also so when I get home from work in the morning I'll get started.

Can't wait to get fish going in this thing. My 6yr old son is really excited about this and can't understand why we have to wait so long to put fish in but I keep telling him the wait will be worth it.

It's very educational for a 6 year old! He'll learn a lot about patience, husbandry, science, and countless other things that will stick with him for life.
I still remember things I was taught when I was 6 and had a 10 gallon tank!
Anyway, keep us posted and any questions, ask away!

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that is awesome that he is excited about the fish. it will teach him a lot of things. and the amazement and wonder in his eyes will all be worth it. it is also quality time to spend with him, just one on one.

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red sky at morning, sailor take warning. red sky at night, sailors delight.

when you get ready to add the plants, we can talk about watts per gallon and the light requirements for different plants.... but let us know how things are going and if you have any problems or questions. Just pop on and ask.

__________________
Gold Coast Aquarium Society South Florida
www.goldcoastaquarium.org

Well I set everything up a couple days ago and right off my canister filter crapped out on me and the air pump ain't got the umph to pump air through all that water. I ordered a new impeller for the filter off ebay so it will be a little bit before I get that going and Im bidding on a new pump, a tetra whisper 100 and that auction will be over in a couple days. In the mean time I just have my 40 gal pump going and the light on a timer. Yesterday the water got all cloudy though. I see what happens when I get my canister filter going again along with the 40. Hopefully it clears up then or I'll just have to drain and clean. No fish or plants yet. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the replies and Im sure I'll have plenty of questions.

OH one thing I did want to ask is about the filter media for my canister filter. I read in the manual (fluval 304) that activated charcoal sucks out the nutriants for plants. What should I put in there in place of the charcoal?

Will sorry that the canister broke down....... As far as the the water getting cloudy it will, but it should clear clear up in couple of days.. Some tanks do that when they are first set up. I'm glad to see you learning, the same way most of us have, by trail and error..LOL. I assume that with no fish yet your using the fishless water cycling. if not than you haven't started the process yet. Here a good article on it. The Nitrogen Cycle in New Aquariums: Keep Aquarium Water Free of Toxic Compounds As far as the charcoal, I would leave it in for now, you haven't added your diftwood yet and that can some times turn the water tea like in color by releasing tannis into the water which over time can lower your ph, also until you get plants in there at least and start a ferting the water. It's cheap enough and you going to want some on hand if you ever need to treat the tank with meds. or other water treatments. I would wait until you get the parts you need, before jump in head first.

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Gold Coast Aquarium Society South Florida
www.goldcoastaquarium.org