Just purchased a new tank

[Angry the Clown]

Hi All,

Wow, my first post. I have been without a tank for about 5 years now, and I finally convinced my wife that it was time to get a new one. So we were down at the LFS and I got a killer deal on a 75 gal with stand and hood. Now I need to get everything else...

So my questions:

1. substrate. I am looking at turface as a substrate. I am not sure if I can use it alone, or if it should be mixed with something else. I have a lot of it on hand, as I use the stuff for my bonsai, and let me tell you, if you've never used it for terrestial plants, you're missing out. Rather, your plants are! I have had spectacular success with the stuff as a soil amendment, and I am wondering if that is what it should be in my soon to come aquatic garden. Any suggestions/advice here would be greatly appreciated.

2. lights. I am looking at getting 4 55w PC lights for my tank (2.93 w/gal). I am wondering if this configuration would be superior to a setup of 3 96w lights (3.84 w/gal). I like the configuration of adding the lights like this:

[ == == ]
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or a 2 x 2 setup vs a 3 long setup.

I hope I explained that so that someone understands what I am saying. Again, any input would be appreciated.

3. background. Is it better to use a removable plastic outside of tank background, or painting the back. My tank is glass. If I do decide to pint it, what is the best type of paint to use? (not color, which brand, type of paint.)

It will be some time before I have everything that I need, and have anything that will be sharable with everyone.

TIA!

 

[travis simonson]

You are definitely on the right path AtC

1] The 75G form factor is my favorite aspect ratio. It is large without being too big.

2] Turface simply rules for a good cheap substrate. I have a friend who uses it exclusively in her tanks and her plants are thriving. A very, very good choice. The only caveat with Turface is the fact that it is a bit light and tends to float a bit so you have to be careful when you try to root plants in it. It is as good as anything that you can buy for keeping aquatic plants though, so go with it

3] Go with the 4x55 lighting. Over a 4' tank like a 75G you can't beat it. Besides you'll have more options with 55w lights as far as spectrum than you would if you go with 96w (trust me, I use 96w lights and wish I could get those cool 8800K lamps that Amano uses but they don't make them in 96w ).

4] And you didn't mention this. With the setup you're looking at you will need pressurized CO2. The amount of light and the size of the tank dictates this. If you're not familiar with it you should read the stickies on this forum. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding this but, believe me, if you don't get it when you build this setup, you will regret it

 

[travis simonson]

Oh, and I forgot your background question. Here's what I like: place your tank about 2-3" out from the back wall and don't paint it or use a background. Go to the hobby shop and find some matte board with a color you like; pin it up on the wall behind the tank. If you ever decide you want a different color background you can just get some different matte board and you don't have to take your tank down. Try using a cheap fluorescent light from Walmart (about $15) to backlight the matte board. It gives an incredible diffused sky-like aspect to the background. Of course that's just the way I like to do it. I'm sure there are other great ways to do it. I'm just not a fan of the old plain-Jane backgrounds

 

[Purrbox]

Yeah... what Travis said. LOL

As far as the background goes, I think it's mostly preference. The nice thing about the plastic backgrounds is that you can change them fairly easily if you decide you want to change it. Scraping paint off and repainting takes quite a bit longer.

I'm currently using Turface and love it. I've got a little bit of Onyx Sand mixed in with it to help buffer the water slightly since I had it left over from a previous tank, my water's pretty soft, and I'm injecting CO2. It is a bit light which is nice for planting but a pain since it's easy to accidentally uproot things while maintaining the tank. Cost wise I don't think you'll find a much better option combined with its high CEC which is great for plants.

 

[Angry the Clown]

Wow, great, thanks for the input! I have CO2 injection supplies, but will be upgrading to a better regulator (one with a solenoid) and a ph controller. I already have a CO2 tank and a regulator, so after the break-in period, I can start with some low-light plants until I get the lights ready to go.

 

[mr funktastic]

another backround idea is using the textured spray paints. lonewolfblue on this site used one and i thought it looked amazing. u can get alot of different colours and it really adds depth the tank. but it is a paint so i hope u like it once u spray it lol. as for substrate it isnt just about how benificial it is to the plants. u have to like the look of it. i assume u do like the look of the turface though. i prefer eco complete for its benificial minerals aswell as the appearance of it. i love black sand in planted tanks simply becasue the plants stand out in contrast to it. aswell i like eco becasue of the variable sizes of it. from sandy to a small gravel which really helps keep those stubborn stem plants down aswell as makes it easy to plant very fine plants such as h.cuba. which brings me to my next question... what plants were u planning? alot of the members here are constantly giving away there trimming so if we know exactly what u want then we can usually help out. i cant wait for some pictures of this tank i hope it all goes well.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

As for me, I prefer the painted back. I use textured paints to paint the backs of my tanks. Check out my signature below to see 2 of my tanks that I painted, my 29G and my 75G. Each of those posts I went step by step, taking pics along the way, up til today. And as I do things, I post about it and add pics. I think you will enjoy them. But this gives you another idea as you are getting different thoughts together before making your final decision.