Just Bought A 75 Gal Tank & Stand

[Boilerwxman]

Hello everyone, I am back and I'd like to pick all your brains on a few questions I have. Before the questions let me bring you up to speed on what is going on.

I just bought a 75 gallon tank with stand for $100 at a local garage sale. Stopped here to look at tents and ended up getting the tank. Here is what I need to get for this tank. A hood, light, gravel, decorations and filters.

So here are my questions... I already know about fishless cycling since I did that for my 15 gallon tank and I may use some of the gravel and medium to help cycle this tank.

Before I add water and do ANYTHING here are my questions...

I want to know are there any recommendations on the kind of hood and lighting I should look into and get. Also filtration. I really like the AquaClear HOB and I also know it is important to have more filtration than is needed. Like 150 gallons for my 75 gallon tank. Should I stay with the HOB or maybe look into the Canisters? If I go canisters what are the recommendations?

I heard that a good rule of thumb is 1 lb of gravel for every gallon in the tank is that true? Should I do gravel or sand?

Do you have any other suggestions. I want to do this right because with my 5 and 15 gallons I did and didn't do it right and now that I am educated I don't want to make anymore costly decisions. Thank you all so much

 

[George9]

Hello everyone, I am back and I'd like to pick all your brains on a few questions I have. Before the questions let me bring you up to speed on what is going on.

I just bought a 75 gallon tank with stand for $100 at a local garage sale. Stopped here to look at tents and ended up getting the tank. Here is what I need to get for this tank. A hood, light, gravel, decorations and filters.

So here are my questions... I already know about fishless cycling since I did that for my 15 gallon tank and I may use some of the gravel and medium to help cycle this tank.

Before I add water and do ANYTHING here are my questions...

I want to know are there any recommendations on the kind of hood and lighting I should look into and get. Also filtration. I really like the AquaClear HOB and I also know it is important to have more filtration than is needed. Like 150 gallons for my 75 gallon tank. Should I stay with the HOB or maybe look into the Canisters? If I go canisters what are the recommendations?

I heard that a good rule of thumb is 1 lb of gravel for every gallon in the tank is that true? Should I do gravel or sand?

Do you have any other suggestions. I want to do this right because with my 5 and 15 gallons I did and didn't do it right and now that I am educated I don't want to make anymore costly decisions. Thank you all so much

With that size tank I'd go canister but you can go JOB as well. Aquaclears are the best

Gravel or sand is up to you. It also depends on the fish you want because some like to burrow in the sand. Sand is more natural in my opinion though and I think it looks better

Yep one pound per gallon works fine

 

[Devon6209]

I'm not real sure about the 1lb per gallon. I know that if you do sand, dont make it more than 1.5" deep because bacteria can thrive in deep sand beds. And I recommend the fluval 05 and 06 series. Amazon is a great place to get them for less. And I personally would do sand. And if you chose to, get a black sand. I see to much poo on my natural sand.

 

[Boilerwxman]

This has all be great... I have a questions about the kind of hood and light I should get. Not sure if I am going to do live plants. Also for canister filters and even the HOB how much filtration should I get. I know with HOB it is recommended to get double is that the same for Canisters. And you mention Fluval 05 & 06 do I just need one, do I get one for the size of my tank or what? Thanks

 

[ashleynicole]

I would recommend pool filter sand. You can get a 50lb bag for about 5 bucks and it looks great. Two or three bags should do the trick. You can buy bags of sand that are made for aquarium substrate but it's expensive. All of my tanks are planted and all of them have pool filter sand from home depot. I also have a good colony of malaysian trumpet snails in all of my tanks. They burrow in the sand, keep it churned up, and prevent pockets of anaerobic bacteria from forming.

Definitely go with a canister filter if you can afford it. I just upgraded my 55 gallon to a canister filter and it rocks. I had two aquaclear 50 HOB filters previously and now I have a fluval 406.


I would suggest glass tops/canopies and depending on if you want live plants or not, LED's are the newest and most energy efficient. I have a combo of flourescent and LED's on my 55 gallon tank. I love the look of the LED's but was concerned about growing plants so I have a strip of flourescents too and my plants grow great.

 

[Devon6209]

Well about the 05 06s. The largest is rated for up to 100g? I think. So what I would do is run the 405/406 along with a good HOB. In my 60g I run a 306 and a 30-60 HOB

 

[Devon6209]

And hood wise, the glass canopies are good. It's what I use. I also got a 48" 3 bulb t5ho fixture from eBay for 80$

 

[Boilerwxman]

This is my new tank I see it is divided so should I get 48" canopy or two 22"

I like the sand idea and part of me is interested on live plants. So I will look into the LED and fluorescent. I am still confused on canister size and also the co workings of a canister & HOB. We are taking our time on this from a financial and even doing it right. I know I got a good deal the stand and 75gal tank for $100 at a garage sale. Thanks for all the input

 

[Boilerwxman]

After watching this video on how the Fluval 406 I am sold. It looks easy & simple maintenance. I like the filtration stages. (Is it recommended to use the carbon?)

Also I could take gravel bio from another tank to help with the cycling too and put that below the bio ceramics.

With the 75 gallon and I get the 406 what HOB Aqua Clear would you recommend?

 

[George9]

After watching this video on how the Fluval 406 I am sold. It looks easy & simple maintenance. I like the filtration stages. (Is it recommended to use the carbon?)

Also I could take gravel bio from another tank to help with the cycling too and put that below the bio ceramics.

With the 75 gallon and I get the 406 what HOB Aqua Clear would you recommend?

Nah don't use the carbon unless removing meds or something like that. I use the bio rings foam pads and fill the rest with filter floss

 

[Boilerwxman]

OK looks like I have settled on the Fluval, still deciding between gravel or sand. The other things I need with my tank is the canopy you can see above I have a brace in the middle should still do a 48" glass canopy and what should do for lights? Thanks everyone. You are making my wife very happy that I am asking questions and not going to have to do things over LOL

 

[Keao_m]

On my 75g I have two 22" glass hoods and one 48" long light. I dont know why but I like just turning on one light I guess. Haha. But I love sand but it all depends on you. I have black diamond sand blasting sand in it as well and my cichlids love playing in it. I also have a fluval 405 canister and have nothing but good things to say about it. It's quiet and I love the different chambers in it for different media. Hope this helps.

 

[Boilerwxman]

Ok any other suggestions on hoods for 75 gallon 48" (my divides are 22" space) and what light watts do you recommend. And what wattage of a heater do I need too. Would you recommend the fluval 406 and then how many or what kind of HOB to go along with it. Was also reading with sand I need to put a sponge or nylon around my intake? Thanks

 

[BlaseMrNiceguy]

Go with a versatop for the hoods. If your planning on growing plants your going to need decent lights, a rule of thumb for growing plants is 2-3 watts per gallon but like the 1 inch of fish per gallon rule not the best way to judge but is generally effective. Iused crushed coral for my substrate in my 55 gallon and I like the look of it and it keeps ph balanced you could mix sand and crushed coral to kinda get that bottom of the ocean feel, I like the crushed coral for the ph buffer but yes if you use sand you will need to go get some clean fresh sponge or a new pair of pantyhose and wrap it around your intake so you don't burn out your filter motor. Having 2 filters is always a plus because if one breaks you still have the back up also you only change or clean filter in one filter at a time.

 

[BlaseMrNiceguy]

300w heater should do it

 

[Luananeko]

A word of caution on the versa glass tops. Depending on your light and how you install the top they are very prone to cracking. I have the same tank as you and have gone through 3 versa tops now in the last month because they cracked either from pressure on how the plastic at the end was attached or from heat from my light.

If you go with the glass top, make sure you get the plastic edge installed uniformly down it's length (no gaps), and have your light at least 1" above the glass. Hopefully that will help you avoid wasting $40 every time the darn thing cracks like I have. Personally, I'm swapping to a screen top to keep good gas exchange, avoid trapping too much heat, and not have to mess with the fussy/fragile glass...

 

[ashleynicole]

A word of caution on the versa glass tops. Depending on your light and how you install the top they are very prone to cracking. I have the same tank as you and have gone through 3 versa tops now in the last month because they cracked either from pressure on how the plastic at the end was attached or from heat from my light.

If you go with the glass top, make sure you get the plastic edge installed uniformly down it's length (no gaps), and have your light at least 1" above the glass. Hopefully that will help you avoid wasting $40 every time the darn thing cracks like I have. Personally, I'm swapping to a screen top to keep good gas exchange, avoid trapping too much heat, and not have to mess with the fussy/fragile glass...

How do you run equipment with a screen top? I have one for my 55 but it was for when it had a snake in it.

 

[Boilerwxman]

It appears we have settled on a few things,
Freshwater (Salt sounds neat but too expensive)
2 filtration (406 Fluval Canister & 110 Aqua Clear HOB)
Sand (probably pool filter sand since it is inexpensive and we don't have Black Diamond out here in Idaho)
Found some Glass and a lighting system at a LFS. The only down side of this LFS is they PUSH and SWEAR by the UGF. So hard to go in there. Now we are looking at the glass and also lighting. At the LFS we saw an Odyssea light 48" 216W Thoughts on this.. Thanks

 

[Luananeko]

How do you run equipment with a screen top? I have one for my 55 but it was for when it had a snake in it.

Pretty much you have to build the top yourself, and shorten it by whatever distance you need in the back to have clearance for your equipment. I'm following the instructions on this guide: http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/clear-mesh-jump-stopper-121802.html

My netting should arrive this week, and I have the screen kit ready to go from home depot. To fill in the gaps between my equipment I plan on keeping the plastic strip that was on the end of my glass top and attaching it to the back of my screen top. Should be able to either sew it on, attach with silicone, or just leave it resting on the rims of the tank.

 

[ashleynicole]

Neat. I wonder if I could just cut parts out of the screen top I already have.