The Start of a 75 Gallon Tank

[MateFrio]

Here is the kickoff of my new tank.  I am following Rex's Guide To Cycling your Planted Tank as close as I can.  I added fish yesterday.  10 Von Rio Tetra and 3 Otos.

Planned Fish

Von Rio Tetra 10
Leopard Danio 9
Marble Hatchet 9
Cherry Shrip 10
Angelicus Botia Loach 3
Blue Dwarf Gourami 2
Otocinclus Catfish 3
Red Tail Shark 1

[eklikewhoa]

Re: The Start of a 75 Gallon Tank

Nice start!

The gouramis and possibly some of the others would probably make a snack of your shrimp.

[Mzungu]

Re: The Start of a 75 Gallon Tank

I was thinking the same thing about your shrimp, but everything else looks great! I love the driftwood, and have always thought Von Rios were beautiful, nice choice!

Would you mind posting a few more details, like size of the tank and types of plants? Thanks!

[AK-71]

Re: The Start of a 75 Gallon Tank

Looks nice, really like you driftwood, looks almost unreal.
What is this plant on the surface? I
( think my gouramis would like some kind of surface plant)

[Mzungu]

Re: The Start of a 75 Gallon Tank

Hmm, never mind about the size of the tank...duh...it's in the title!  

The plants on the surface look like they're just remnants of those that were planted. I could be wrong, though...

[MateFrio]

Re: The Start of a 75 Gallon Tank

Thanks for the comments.

I plan to get more show like plants and organized as the tank is established, I get CO2, better CF bulbs and more fish.  Mostly I wanted to get some fish in there so my wife would not keep looking at an empty tank as this started with a 55 that I found too small.

Details

Standard 75 gallon tank.
Eheim 2217 filter -  Planned power heads for movement.
I have about 50lbs of Flourite with about 25lbs of pea sized gravel mixed in gives me about two in.
Odyessea 4x65w lights with 4 blue LEDs.
The drift wood was a petco find.  I thought it was ugly until I started playing with how it was positioned.  Upside down it looks like a sea monster and is too distracting.  There is fungus on it now but some snails I inherited are taking care of that.
Dupla Co2 diffuser that I am going to hook up to a DIY CO2 then save up for a pressurized system.

The floating plants are money wort?  I couldn't plant them without disturbing the rest of the plants so I let them float for now.  Most of the plants I got were just the cheapest fastest growing ones they had.  I planted them so they would get lots of light and had room to grow.  If I read the guide of planted tank cycling correctly this is a good thing.

[sproett]

Re: The Start of a 75 Gallon Tank

Your tank looks great.  I hope you keep us updated!

[eklikewhoa]

Re: The Start of a 75 Gallon Tank

You want to plant not too many stems in one planting but have them grouped close together so that it creates a nice bush instead of looking like a kelp forest.

Also from what I remember plant cycling requires heavy planting initially with fast growers/nitrate like wisteria.

[MateFrio]

Re: The Start of a 75 Gallon Tank

You want to plant not too many stems in one planting but have them grouped close together so that it creates a nice bush instead of looking like a kelp forest.

You hurt my feelings..    I know it looks bad now.  To start the tank I was planting a farm and not going for the good looks yet.  As soon as things kick in and become established I'll start organizing and rearranging and try to come close to some of your tanks.

On another note I lost a Tetra.  He was stressed on arrival and kept away from the rest of the pack.  The others seem fine.

I've added a redtail shark.  What a brute.  He kept trying to leap out of the bag on the way home.  He took up his place in the eye of the driftwood and got the tetras swimming in a tighter school.