My first tank!!!

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FrolfAddict93

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 12, 2013
Messages
29
Location
Rockford, Illinois
I just scored a 75 gallon fish tank on craigslist for $200. It came with the tank, stand, light, Fluval 404 canister filter, and a dual biowheel HOB filter, and some other odds and ends.

I need some help on getting started. I just filled the tank and it has no leaks. So I started cleaning it. I have scraped the tank with a razor blade to get any nastys off. I plan on scrubbing the tank with an aquarium brush with a 70/ 30 vinegar water solution a few times to completely sanitize it . I then plan on rinsing it really really really well with water and letting it dry in the sun.
Is this all i should do to the tank to clean it? The tank wasn't really dirty just some calcium and hard water stains.
Next question is what should I do with the filters that i got with it. They both came with the filter media in them. The filters look pretty clean and are not gunked up with anything.
Should I buy new filters for the bio wheel and new media for the canister filter? I would like to keep them because i have heard it will speed up cycling the tank.

The tank didn't come with an air pump. Do i need one?

Here comes the dumb questions ( I know there is no such thing as a dumb question):
Should I put live plants in the tank?
Is it more work to have live plants in the tank?
How much gravel/rock do i need for this tank?
Is running both those filters overkill?
Should I get an undergravel filter setup with a powerhead?
How long will it take to cycle?
Should I start by adding a few feeders like goldfish/guppies to start cycling?
One of the bulbs that came with the tank is burnt out. Im thinking bout just buying 2 new bulbs do they need to be anything specific?
Should I just upgrade to a led light setup?


I know this is a lot to cover thats why I posted it in the newbie section. I'm not worried about stocking the tank yet because I've heard it can take up to a month to get a full cycle.
 
I just scored a 75 gallon fish tank on craigslist for $200. It came with the tank, stand, light, Fluval 404 canister filter, and a dual biowheel HOB filter, and some other odds and ends.

I need some help on getting started. I just filled the tank and it has no leaks. So I started cleaning it. I have scraped the tank with a razor blade to get any nastys off. I plan on scrubbing the tank with an aquarium brush with a 70/ 30 vinegar water solution a few times to completely sanitize it . I then plan on rinsing it really really really well with water and letting it dry in the sun.
Is this all i should do to the tank to clean it? The tank wasn't really dirty just some calcium and hard water stains.
Next question is what should I do with the filters that i got with it. They both came with the filter media in them. The filters look pretty clean and are not gunked up with anything.
Should I buy new filters for the bio wheel and new media for the canister filter? I would like to keep them because i have heard it will speed up cycling the tank.

The tank didn't come with an air pump. Do i need one?

Here comes the dumb questions ( I know there is no such thing as a dumb question):
Should I put live plants in the tank?
Is it more work to have live plants in the tank?
How much gravel/rock do i need for this tank?
Is running both those filters overkill?
Should I get an undergravel filter setup with a powerhead?
How long will it take to cycle?
Should I start by adding a few feeders like goldfish/guppies to start cycling?
One of the bulbs that came with the tank is burnt out. Im thinking bout just buying 2 new bulbs do they need to be anything specific?
Should I just upgrade to a led light setup?

I know this is a lot to cover thats why I posted it in the newbie section. I'm not worried about stocking the tank yet because I've heard it can take up to a month to get a full cycle.

No need for new media. If the sponges are falling apart you can get new ones. What kind do you have? Ceramic rings?
You can run both filters if you don't mind having the HOB hanging off the back of your tank, I myself don't like the look of HOBs, and depending on your bio load, the 404 should be plenty.
You can get an air pump to oxygenate the water, or you can have the output of the 404 close to the water surface to agitate it for gas exchange, or if you do run the HOB the falling water will also do the trick, so its up to you if you need/want an air pump.
As for plants, again that's up to you on what you like. You can do a low light setup where all you need is a somewhat decent light in the 5000-6500k range (color temp of sunlight) stick in some moss, java ferns, or any low light/ low maintenance plants. Stick some root tabs in your substrate and you're done.
YouTube aquascapes, there's some beautiful tanks out there.

For substrate depending on if you want a planted tank or not, you'll want something the plants can get a hold of. You can still do gravel but make sure the pieces are small. Then there's sand, lots of people just use pool filter sand, a 40-50lb bag is $8-$10. Or you can get sand used in sandblasting, there's no need to fork out $$ at the LFS for their sand. And then there's specialty substrates for planted tanks that have nutrients for the plants. Unless you're doing a high light/high tech setup there's really no need for it, but its an option. As far as depth of the substrate goes you want at least 2", but 3" is better.

Don't get an under gravel filter, those are outdated and you already have 2 filters.
Cycling should take about 4-6 weeks, there's a good read about it in the stickey section of getting started here.
You can speed up the cycle with fish, but that's the cruel way of doing it. If you got the time, do a fishless cycle with ammonia. For the bulbs if you do want to grow plants you want em to be in 5-6500kelvin range. Not sure what kind of a light is on it, are they T8, T5?
LED lights are quickly becoming popular in the aqua world, they run very cool so they don't add heat to your water, last a long time so no need for $$ for replacement bulbs. They do cost more, but you're actually saving $$ in the long run. I myself run LEDs, I have 1 48" truelumen pro strip and 3 lunar lights (2 white n 1 blue) that are gonna run on an LED controller that mimicks sunrise/sunset, cloud cover and the moon. My main light is from a pair of kessil a150w amazon LED lights. I needed good penetration because I want a dense carpet on the bottom of my 24" tall 90 gallon high tech planted tank.
So there's a lot of cool stuff you can do with LEDs that you just can't do with other lights, you just have to be willing to pay for it.
Oh and depending on what you're going to stock you'll probably need a heater. Don't get a cheap one, I've seen plenty of stories where the heater wouldn't shut off and cooked whatever was in the tank. Get something with an adjustable temp controller and a titanium heat exchanger.
I think that's all your questions, if you got anymore, just ask.
Just wrote this on my phone, my thumb got a good workout, lol.
 
All good advice from grave, couldn't have said it better myself. There are a few things I would like to add though.

Going with a planted tank is a load of fun, but it is also quite difficult to keep things growing properly while you are just learning to care for a tank. In your shoes I would start with fake plants until the aquarium has been running a little while and everything is settled in.

As far as substrates go, I am a big fan of using sand. I use Black diamond blasting sand in my planted 55 and a white silica sand for my planted 10g. The biggest downside with sand is that nutrients don't collect in the substrate as easily as they do in gravel so root tabs need to be used for a few types of plants. Where I spent $10 on the cheaper but just as nice sands from the hardware store; it would have cost me 60-70 for the same amount of sand at a pet store. I think the pet store sand is a little nicer but not THAT nice.

I also differ from Grave in my view on filtration. I think that unless the fish are violently getting thrown around due to the flow in the tank, any amount of filtration is fine. I would run both the HOB filter and the canister at the same time.

Now for the other questions:

Don't buy any fish to start the cycle that you don't like. You could also do a fishless cycle which is what I did. Instead of taking 2 months for the tank to be fully cycled, you could potentially finish the cycle in 2 weeks while going fishless and then you could add the entire stocking of your fish at the same time without worrying about ammonia spikes or other problems like that.

If one bulb in the tank was burnt out, it is likely that the other one is on its way out as well. Fluorescent bulbs will lose a lot of their brightness the older they get.

You don't need a bubbler for your tank, but I have one running a redundant filter in my 55 just in case. The only time you really "need" a bubbler is when your fish are gasping at the surface which is a sign of low o2 content in the water.
 
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