55g conversion to 75

[Da Squid]

I run a 55g planted tank with two T5 bulbs, pressurized CO2, Turface substrate and a Cascade 1200 filter. The fish are small community tetras mostly. Nothing more complicated than a few zerbra loaches.

The 55 tank is old and the silicone is started to chip and wear away. Some algae is growing on it at parts and I'm afraid to clean it off for fear of removing more Silicone. I've wanted to move to a 75 gallon tank anyway so here's my chance!

My questions...

Should I move to a bigger filter? Cannisters are probably the only option since I don't want surface disruption. The Cascade 1200 works great in the 55g but is a little noisy.
I'll be running low on the Turface substrate. Are there any substitutes I could mix in with it to help fill up the 75? Possibly some small pea gravel? Has anyone tried this before?
Will my 48 inch T5 lights be enough for the 75g? I play on buying a fixture with 4 T5's in the future, but would like to squeak by with my current lighting for a little longer.

Are there any other concerns I'm missing?

 

[Fishguy2727]

I prefer Fluval canister filters, on a 75 I would recommend the FX5.

You could add almost any substrate in to what you have to supplement and fill the 75.

A 75 is the same length and height so you wouldn't really need more light depending on how you arrange the plants, or at least a second light could wait a little while until it is a little more affordable. You could simply add another 2 bulb HO T5 fixture (I am assuming that is what you have now) rather than buying a 4 bulb and replacing your current fixture.

 

[Da Squid]

Thats great news on the substrate. I think I'll go with a small black gravel to darken up the light brown Turface. I hadn't considered just buying an extra 2 bulb HO fixture. That would make more sense, thanks!

I looked into the FX5 filter and that seems like a bit of over kill doesnt it? I won't be keeping very messy fish in the 75 in the first place and all the heavy plants should help keep the water clean. I suspected the Cascade 1200 might not be enough, but I didn't think I'd need to go that extreme with a new canister.

 

[Fishguy2727]

I would go with at least a Fluval 405 in addition to the Cascade. My 75 has two 405s and I wish I just had an FX5 (it would have been cheaper anyways, but I already had the 405s). If it is lightly stocked you could definitely get away with less, I just prefer to go with more, especially if I change the stocking at a leter time.

 

[Da Squid]

Got the tank and stand! Unfortunately, I fell prey to a sales pitch. They took $100 off the tank price if I bought a filter from them. Unfortunately all they had was a Marineland 360. I've read reviews that they can leak of not handled well, so I'll probably have my work cut out for me. If I'm running the 360 and the Cascade 1200, I assume I'll want the outputs and opposite ends pointing at the middle?

thanks again for all the advice.

 

[BigJim]

When you say "conversion", does that mean you're cutting apart the 55g to make it a 75g?

 

[Da Squid]

No, nothing complicated . I bought a 75g new tank and will be moving everything in the 55 over to it. Then I hope to reseal the 55 and try an african cichlid tank, but thats a whole other project!

 

[BigJim]

Good call.

 

[Da Squid]

Well, the dreaded moving day is coming up. My 55g is on the second floor and it's contents are going into the 75g in the basement. I've got a rough idea of how to do things, but could someone pick through it and point out any inefficiencies/bad ideas?

1. remove canister filter on the 55 and put half of the dirty filter media in the NEW second canister filter to help avoid any cycle (I'll have both canisters running at opposite ends in the new 75).
2. Take out all drift wood and plants, putting plants in wet rag.
3. Remove 30+ fish and place them in large buckets full of existing tank water.
4. Remove substrate in buckets.
5. Put substrate in new 75 tank, along with rocks and driftwood.
6. Fill new tank w/tap water, add lots of PRIME, get two canister filters running, and plug in heaters.
7. replant the green stuff with fresh root tabs.
8. wait for temperature to be right, add a little more Prime, then add fish.

I'm hoping the fish won't be in the tank for more than a few hours. Should this be ok? I don't own any airstones and feel uncomfortable putting a 150w heater in a plastic bucket. Speaking of heaters, will two 150w's be enough for a 75g?

thanks for reading all this. All warnings and tips are appreciated.

 

[BigJim]

2. Throw the plants into a bucket of water. When I moved, I left a piece of driftwood with java ferns out of the water because I figured the wood would have enough water for a while. My mother fern lost several large leaves because they dried out too much. I was worried about losing the plant.

3. If you keep the buckets at room temperature, they should be fine for a while. Consider adding Prime to control the ammonia in the unfiltered buckets.

Everything else sounds fine.

 

[Da Squid]

Gotcha. Thanks!

 

[Da Squid]

Success! It took far longer than I thought it would, but here is the finished product (mostly, still tweaking it).

It's been wonderful getting to work with all that extra space in the new tank. I hope to pick out some good mid ground to foreground plants to help replace all the javafern in there.

My only worry right now is my two 150w heaters seem to be running almost constantly to keep the tank at 75 and the basement will certainly be getting colder soon. Should I pick up some bigger heaters?

The hardware thread probably isn't the place to ask aquascaping advice, but if anyone wants to throw some in there, feel free

 

[mattrox]

Looks good to me!

 

[Da Squid]

The other issue I noticed is when I turn on/off my basement ceiling light, it will sometimes trip the GFI protector that I have my power strip plugged into. I suppose that means I'm really pushing the amount of electricity that part of the room was build to handle.

I'll have to abandon the plan of having an african cichlid tank nearby.

 

[Smitty]

I'm in FL so no basements here... but I would be suprised if there was only one circuit for your basement. I would think more than one. How do they do it? I guess it would depend on just how big the basement is... my only experience is visiting my dad in CO and he had 3-4 separate curcuits but the basement was as big as the floor plan of the house.

If your heaters are running all the time then it may be best to get new heaters. If nothing else they will have an early death because of it IMO.

 

[Fishguy2727]

a GFI is different from a circuit breaker. A GFI will trip if there is less electricity coming back through the wiring then going out (you are losing current somewhere and risk fire/shock). For example if the light fixture gets wet and you lose electricity there the GFI will turn off to prevent fire/electrecution. A circuit breaker will turn off when the power being used exceeds that of the circuit breaker.

It is possible for the lights and that particular power outlet to be on the same circuit. If the outlet itself is GFI then the light going on or off shouldn't matter unless the light is plugged in to that or a subsequent outlet.

 

[FishEggs]

i'm assuming this is a ceiling light in the basement and not a lamp plugged into the same outlet?
if that is the case then the electric is tapped from the gfci outlet box and the wiring is wrong or there is a short in the light fixture somewhere. either way you should have an electrician check it out. it could be very dangerous either in electrical shock hazard or starting a fire. i would discontinue use of that outlet and if possible the light too.
i think current codes dictate that lights have to be on a separate circuit than the outlets. this is easy to do unless it's a finished basement with sheetrock on the ceiling.

 

[Da Squid]

Eesh, now I'm getting nervous! The basement light is a ceiling light. Typical florescent fixture set in a lowered dry wall ceiling, though it is within about 5 feet of the wall outlet that has all the fish tank gear plugged in.

Come to think of it, the built in GFI outlets in my bathroom have the same problem. I'll turn on the shower fan and it will trip the outlet and turn the bathroom lights off. Maybe the previous home owner did something odd with the wiring? I had the house inspected for all that before I bought it and it came back fine... but not all home inspectors are created equal.

 

[Da Squid]

Mind you these GFI trips don't happen all the time. Perhaps one in fifty times I turn off a light switch it'll shut part of the room down.