So long story short I have 5g hex and bought a 40g breeder tank and never bought or got around to building a stand. My uncle decided to get out of the game so I scored his 75g with a stand for only $100. Also had glass tops a cheap single bulb light 3 diffrent HOB filters (that I junked) 2 air pumps and about 3 or 4 fake decorations. I got the stuff today n set up tank where its going
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Got to love the minons.

Shop this is the break down. I went out n bought a bale of sphagnum peat moss for $5.
Bought a 40lb bag of safe-t-sorb all natural clay floor dry for $5
Safe T Sorb Oil Absorbent, 40 lb. - 0800989 | Tractor Supply Company

and also a $4 5g bucket to rinse the clay n use as my fish bucket all at TSC.

I then also ordered 3 bags of eco-complete for the top 1"layer from petco online since its on sale and got free shipping. For $54.46 including tax.

I also then went to petsmart to get a thermometer, a multi alge scrapper(dont really need but my 5g needs it) a set of plant bulbs that where $3 and had like 8 bulbs in it. Of diffrent plants. I belive it was water lily, onion plant and apondages.
Figured what the heck lets see what happens. And was all excited and bought a bottle of tetra safe start that has all the bacteria. But didnt realize it was $18.

I figure I will take that baxk once my eco comes in n trade it in for some anarchis, and one of there amazon swords and what ever other plants they have then. Cause I have 2 pieces of holy in the 5g that I will put in the 75g along with the filter pad n some gravel to seed the tank instead of using the tetra safe start.

So in all so far in this build I have spent
Tank/stand $100
Moss/floor dry $ 10
Eco-complete $ 55
Bucket $ 4
thermometer $ 3
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$172



No off to wipe it down with warm water n vinager. not sure if im gonna get around to rinsing the floor dry tonight or tomorrow but will keep yall posted & get pics

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

Loving the tank and stand! Great deal! Enjoy setting up and post pics of the build throughout for sure!

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

Ok Im done wiping down the tank and thinking about the moss & floor dry. Im debating on layering them or to kinda mix them together then lay it down? My thought is that since the floor dry is full of iron from the clay should I mix them together so the whole roots get it instead of mid section get the clay and bottom half of root get the moss? Or am I over thinking it?

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

Ok so my wife is still out n my son is sleep so on to rinsing the floor dry. Here is a pic of the bag of safe-t-sorb(aka floor dry)
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And here goes a pic of it out the bag n b4 I rinse it.
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Note to any one rinsing this. DONT POUR IT OUT IN THE HOUSE!!!!
I did this in my down stairs bathroom n the dust n silicat was thick. I had to hold my breath n get out. Thats y im writing this now so I can let it go out the window. Next bucket will be poured outside n brought in to the house. Funny thing is I was reading the warning abiut the silicates n dust as I was pouring it in :-\

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

Well I have been rinsing from 1208 am and now is 103am in nj. This is close up of dry
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& of it wet
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Kind liking the look. Thinking about just keeping this n moss n just returning the eco to petco when it gets here. I think I saw on the web site it says u can return items in store now problem. Things that make u say hhhhhmmmmmmmmmm

Ps im still rinsing it :-{

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

Tea any one
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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

This is the $5 bale of peat moss I got
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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

Got about an 1 1/2" ish to almost 2" of moss down. Figure the wet clay floor dry will pack it down more.
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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

Its 238am in jersey n im pretty beat. The clay has been rining now for 2hrs & 30 minutes. Im done wit it. Its still a lil teaish but its clay I figure its gonna settle. Specially since it will be sitting till the eco comes in. I figure I will put in a 1" of water to kinda let it soak in n let it settle some b4 eco n filling all the way

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

Luckly the amount I had in the bucket was enough. Its right up to the rim of the tank which is 2" so should have enough eco to lay the last layer once the 3 bags comes in.

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

So threw about 4ish gallons of water pouring over a paper plate. Everything started floating up. So think might add some more floor dry tomorrow. Also threw in the plant bulbs. Was a good score. Package says only suppossed to have 1 lilly,1 onion, & 2 apontage. But I had 8 bulbs total in there.

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And the pack of bulbs
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Hoping by morning most water will kinda soak in n let it settle.

But its now 356am here n I got a 2yr old that will have me up by 8

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

The safe-t-zorb is a pain to rinse, for sure. When I first heard about that stuff being used, people were using only it in their tanks. It grows plants really well.

Looking good so far. Haven't seen anything about filtration. What are you going to use? I have an Eheim 2075 and 2229 on my 75g.

Think about filterless till I get like half my fish. But looking @ eheim 2217. Did urs float alot too or do u think I need to ise more safe-t-zorb. The layer I have on it is kinda keeping it together. I can push down on sections. But if im gonna do another bucket I might just leave it with the 2 layers & return the eco

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

The finest bits of peat moss will float, no matter how long you give them in water. You might want to saturate the peat in a different container, then strain or pour all of the floating stuff off the top, before you add it to the tank.

I also bought one of those packages of bulbs. It had two onion bulbs in it, both of which rotted within days. One (of four) of the aponogetons has sprouted though, and it's only been 5 days.

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Just starting:

10 Gallon
1 Honey gourami
3 Peppered corys
3 Ghost shrimp

Wisteria
Aponogeton
Amazon swords
Anubias nana
Marimo moss ball
rotala indica

I had one of those boxes of bulbs as well, way back in the day. Grew a tiger lotus, giant hygro, and wisteria from it. Cheap, and not all the bulbs are viable, but great nonetheless

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Is it the safe-t-zorb floating or maybe some of the peat? I think I may have had some STZ that floated, but it couldn't have been very much. Just get a net and scoop it out.

No its the whole 2 layers. It floating like a raft. I guess I just didnt put down enough s-t-z down. I did kinda lay it down thin. But I like the look of it so I got a lil more then half the 5g bucket filled up and runsing that now. I called about canceling my order of eco n figure I can spend that $54 on plants n driftwood. I went into my petco n saw that they had 3 small 6" pieces of driftwood wit anubis on them for $10 a piece. Figured id get them and then some of there anarchis, a marimo ball n banna plant.

Off to another long night of rinsing.

Jr did u actually rinse till it was completly cleared?

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

Ok so after a few more hours of rinsing I got a good 3" between the moss & floor dry
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Even did the whole slope it down from theback to front. So I would guess the back half is about 3 1/2" -4" and front mostly 3" this pic is from right side of tank to show the slope.
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Lower side is front of tank and higher side is back of tank.

So pretty sure I like it with just moss & S-T-S so I will just take all 3 bags of eco back to the store and trade them in for the driftwood with anubis on it and some plants.

Its about to hit 230am so im going out for the night.

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

Ok was ro tired to write this last night. I dound it easier and faster to rinse the S-T-S if u use something to scoopit oit and pour into the bucket so you get lest dust. Also if u do smaller batches.

1 big problem I ran into was that I didnt relize that my old @$$ house only had a 2 prong plug and not a 3 prong. So luckly I didnt fill the tank up all the way last night so I can still move it and switch out the plug with a 3 prong gfi outlet. While im out I will exchange the teyra safe start @ petsmart and buy some anarchis anf probably an amozon sword that I saw there and start to plant some today after filling it up half way.

O and I was right about it floating like a raft. It just wasnt enough S-T-S to hold it down. Once I put the other layer on it all went down to the bottom.

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams

well I started filling tank up wit water. Using the bucket and plate method. I also went n got the new outlet so was able to plug up the 40w light I got wit it. Also while I was out I exchanged the bottle of tetra safe start that was $18 & I got 3 bunches of anarchis a tube that has 8" amozan sword & a marimo ball. Now I just have to wait for my son to go to sleep so I can actually plant them.

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Also will have to scoop out all the moss that is on the top. But figured I will wait till I plant 1st. Also will throw in the 2 pieces of holy rock and the filter pad from my 5g hex. I wont fill the tank up untill I get the eco in the mail so I can go n exchange that for the driftwood & few more plants.

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my 75g build---->http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/fin...ild-18272.html
75g beasolbob tank peat moss & safe-t-sorb 5congo tetras,2bristle nose plecs, 2 German blue Rams