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Mitch P's 75 Gallon Jungle ( UPDATED 2/9/13)

7K views 43 replies 12 participants last post by  mitch p 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello Planted Tank!

I have been smitten by the planted tank bug recently and endeavored with a 15g small planted tank. I messed that up the first time but diddnt give up and tried again and well, I am having some great results over the past several months. I have recently decided that I want to get really serious about planted tanks and transform my 75G African Cichlid tank to a tropical fish, massive planted tank:icon_eek:.


It is just time for something new if anyone knows what I mean ( had the Cichlids for several years now ).


So I have began to gather all the necessary items! But I could use some input on things if you all would recommend I get. It seems a lot different having a larger tank.


Things I have for the 75 gallon:

Timers:
2 x Westek TE06WHB 2 Outlet Digital Timer with 2 Grounded Outlet, White

Filters:
- Brand New 2x Eheim 2217 (still in box :redface:) ( will be taken cycled media from current 75g setup and putting it in the eheims :))


Co2:

- 5lb Co2 Cylinder
- Green Leaf Aquarium Co2 Regulator ( Stainless Steel one )
- GLA Diffuser ( currently have a smaller one, will be getting a large one for the 75g)

Lighting: Currently in route here via shipper :)

Catalina Aquarium 3 Lamp t5HO fixture.
- 2 x 6.5k and 1 x plant grow bulb:
- This fixture seemed to be the best bang for the buck. For the price I was able to get the light fixture and the eheim 2217 for LESS than a 4 bulb fixture.

- Also to note, I will not be running all 3 bulbs at once. I will be running 2 on a timer together and 3rd on a noon "Burst" timer.


Substrate: Currently in route here via shipper :)

-ADA AquaSoil: Currently have 5 x 9L Bags on the way.

Heater:
- 2 x Aqueon Pro 250w (had these forever!)

Driftwood:
- I purchased a piece of driftwood on Ebay recently. Only to see it on here as well xD. Its a large piece and I hope to run it from the left hand side of the tank to middle-ish. A pic of the driftwood from Ebay ( I am sorry if you did not want this picture used, I just havent gotten the wood yet cause I just bought it yesterday :tongue: )



Ferts:
- I ordered the Pfertz Hi tech soltution with the 45% off :D
Ok so that is what I currently have for the 75g. Please feel free to comment. All comments and suggestions will be taken seriously! And I will respond to EVERYONE that posts in this thread.

Test Kit:
- I now have an API Freshwater Master Test Kit :D
- I have ordered an API KH & GH Test Kit :D


Now we are on to things that I still need to get. Not much is left that I am fully aware of, and I will do my best to get ahold of everything in a timely manner :).

Things I need or have questions about:

Filter Questions:
-I am thinking of purchasing a second Eheim 2217 or the Eheim Pro 90 or higher to put on the tank in place of the AC 110s and Fluval 305 once the ammonia is gone from the Aquasoil. . It seems it may be more aesthetically pleasing to do so. Please feel free to give me your opinions!

Fertilzers:
- Ordered PFertz Hi Tech Solution!
- Need to find some reliable Osmocote capsules!

Glassware(AKA DropCheckers):
- I currently have a CalAqua Nano Dropchecker from GLA. I dont know if this will be enough for the 75 gallon. Might need to upgrade this.





As I continue to go through the process of all this, I will add more things that I need as I found out what they are! Of course, once again, please feel free to comment and add suggestions!


So now to the Fish and Plants segment of this journal. I currently have these ideas:

Fish:
- German Blue Rams ( want to get 1 male and 1 female, maybe 2 females if the tank size permits it. What do you guys think).
- Cardinal Tetras
- Fancy Tail Guppies
- Panda Cories :)

Those are what I know I want if I can make it work. Time will tell as I do more research to see what Rams will be compatible and comfortable with.

Plants:

This is where my lack of a vast majority of plants bothers me. I currently did not organize my 15g at all. Just put the plants in as I saw fit and made kind of an unorganized jungle of sorts. But with this 75 I really want it to be organized with stems in the back, some bushiness in the mid ground, and a decent carpeting plant. I am still looking into different types of plants trying to identify the names and correlate them to where they would go in the tank.

Currently I know I have and want:

- Mircro Sword
- Ludwigia ( I currently have many different types in my 15g, just not very organized)
- Amazon Sword
-Blyxa Japonica(Currently have a bit in my 15g :D)
- Moss for the Driftwood ( have a little bit but not much right now)
- Crypt Wendtii
- Anubias ( have a few different kinds right now)

And here is a pic of the 15g at the start:



And I also added some of this ( not sure what the name is but its beautiful and has grown out of control lately xD sorry for the strings of moss left on them, this pic was taken immediately after they were planted)



Those are some of the plants I KNOW I currently have and will be transferring to the 75g. I will be needing to find a LOT more plants and in a more organized fashion then the 15g. So this is something I need tons of suggestions on, and pictures if you have them!!!! All help will be greatly appreciated and you will be thanked personally for any suggestion!





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Update! Picture of all the supplies so far on my floor :p


 
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#3 ·
Your plan this far looks rockstar! I am but a newbie really, but your filtration ideas seems plenty. I have a 2217 and a 2213 on my 75 and it seems to be enough. With the attention to detail you seem to have down pat, and the high quality components you are setting up, I think your money in the bank. The DW is epic! I love it and cant wait to see it in action! Good luck and keep us all posted with pics........we love em!
 
#11 ·
How much flow are you planning on having? I run a Aquaclear 110 and Eheim 2128 on my 75g and it seems like plenty of flow and filtration even with around 80 fish. And you are going pretty high tech considering most of the plants on your list could probably flourish in low tech. My last suggestion would be to set it up peninsula style if you can. 75g have beautiful dimensions for peninsula setups.
 
#13 ·
I am going to be running just the 2 2217s with bio media from the current filters on the tank. I will be replacing a lot of the media in the 2217s with the blue coarse pads eheim makes.



Why on earth are you running so many filters?
There will only be the 2 2217s on this tank. With lots of the blue coarse pads. The filters (2 ac110s, and 1 Fluval) are only there because they are on the current African Cichlid setup I have going in the 75. I will be taking their biomedia from those 3 filters and placing them in the 2 Eheim 2217s. This way the ADA AquaSoil will take less time to cycle :). Sorry if the post was confusing, I am gonna go back and update the top :D
 
#16 · (Edited)
Well guys after a few months of waiting, I have finally completed the setup! Here are some pictures of the setup :D


Had to first start out by cleaning out the tank! Switching from Mbuna to Plants is quite the amount of work! After a good shop vac use we have this!



Next I wiped down the glass and cleaned it up pretty well :D


Next came adding the Penac W and Penac P. I was very gracious with these! Doing a little research showed that some people ( in larger tanks ) use entire bottles of the stuff! And also add the stuff to their filters! But I chose to use about 1/4 of each bottle and just spread evenly as I could!!!




Next comes adding the Powersand Special S Medium, TOURMALINE BC, CLEAR SUPER and BACTER 100. Now I know that the PS has these in it but with a little research I found that people still added more! So thats what I went for!



Next came adding the Aqua Soil and getting a nice scape down that I liked. After some serious time spent on this, I decided to go for a setup that wasnt overcrowded with rocks. By doing so I feel like I got a little more elegant right side with more swimming space!



Of course after that came filter placement and other equipment placement ( Co2 and Lighting).

For the 2 Eheims I ordered extra Coarse Pads. And added seeded media from the previously attached filters on the mbuna tank. This should help with the cycle time of the Aqua Soil. So my media basket in both Eheims looks like this ( from bottom to top):

[Coarse Pad||Ceramic Bio Media|| Coarse Pad || Eheim Polishing Ceramic Beads || Coarse Pad|| Eheim Polishing Pad ||Bag of Purigen]





So after that of course came planting! Here is what my 15g looked like from the top down ( so you can see why I needed to upgrade :D ). You can see that I had some pretty good growth in there!



So after all that work and replanting the plants I wanted, here is the final product! More to come soon!!!!!


I will post another picture tomorrow after my 50% water change so its a bit clearer!

Please feel free to comment!!!!
 
#18 ·
Solid start! I'm going to be setting up a similar 75g jungle in March so I'll be very interested to see how yours progresses. Please post plenty of updates!

I've got a couple of questions:

Love rams. Never had any, though, because my other tank has shrimp. Are rams really mellow enough to hang with fancy guppies?

You're dropping an impressive dime on gear and set up but if you don't mind my saying so, your plant choice seems a little predictable. Have you thought about popping for something less common? Hygro pinnatifida and Crypt nuhrii Pahang Mutated get tossed around this forum a lot, but there are so many other options. Filling a gorgeous set up like yours with swords and ludwigias seems like a missed opportunity to me. (But I'm a hopeless plant snob so ignore me if you like.)

Seriously, though, I can't wait to see how your tank fills out!
 
#19 ·
As for the rams: Rams are generally regarded as one of the most peaceful and shy cichlids there are. However that being said, they can get aggressive during breeding time! Many people put them with tetras or guppies/danios etc. The more docile the tankmates they have, the more lively and comfortable they will be!

And heres my response to your plant question :biggrin::

But of course! These are the current plants I had in my 15g. I did not pay for any extras yet! I will be gathering a BUNCH of plants now as a get more settled with this setup if you know what I mean.:hihi: I just didn't want to drop a dime on plants and then not be prepared for them entirely! I actually talk a lot with a member on this forum known as BitfuuL and he is very helpful and has told me some plants to look into. Once this tank is completely settled, I will def be going for some more "out there" plants :icon_wink:icon_surp:icon_smil !!!!

Are there any plants that you are looking into by chance? I am not exactly versed in all the great plants there are :(.
 
#30 · (Edited)
How do you find the Catalina light set up? I'm thinking of ordering the exact same. 2 6.5K lights and 1 plant grow.

A few questions:
(1) How did you test for the ammonia (you mentioned it went down?)
(2) What size bag aqua soil
(3) Did you find the powersand special M was enough or would you have prefered L?
 
#36 ·
I really like the branch/stone halves of the tank, looking forward to seeing this when the plants grow in a little more.
 
#39 · (Edited)
Just a quick update with some pictures!

Here are some of the fish :D. After getting my tank cycled, I added a couple drops of ammonia for a few days to make sure it went to 0 in the Ammonia and Nitrite categories before adding any fish to the tank.



Here are some of the fish :D. After getting my tank cycled, I added a couple drops of ammonia for a few days to make sure it went to 0 in the Ammonia and Nitrite categories before adding any fish to the tank.

Current stocking list:
Guppies
Mollies - May get rid of the mollies not sure.
Platys
German Blue Rams
1 Albino Bushynose pleco

After moving all my plants from the 15g, I noticed I had some babies in the tank! Here is a picture of 1 of them growing up pretty well. I have since had more babies that include guppies and platys!



After moving all my plants from the 15g, I noticed I had some babies in the tank! Here is a picture of 1 of them growing up pretty well. I have since had more babies that include guppies and platys!

I did have a bit of an O2 problem at night but that has been fixed by putting 2 airstones with check valves and putting them on a timer for whenever I stop my Co2. Problemo solved!




And now here is a full tank shots! This was taken before running the UV Sterilizer a few days ago. When I get home I will take another picture and post it for a before and after effect.




I have had some pretty good growth as you can see! I did actually change the bulb timings I have and the length of time they stay on. I currently have this setup:

8 AM : Plant Grow Bulb turns on (simulates sun rising )
9 AM: Plant Grow Bulb Off - 2 6500k Lights on
4:30 PM: 2 6500k lights off -Co2 Off - Airstones on - Plant Grow Bulb on -
6 PM: Plant grow Bulb off.

This seems to be working REALLY well for me for growth, algae, and fish happiness.

My dosing/ Waterchange schedule is currently:

Sunday: 50-60% water change + Trim + ADA Phyton Git+Dose ferts (Pfertz dosing)
Monday: ADA Green Bacter
Tuesday: 15% water change
Wednesday: Dose Pfertz
Thursday: ADA Green Bacter
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest


So far this really seems to be working for me.

I also have a bunch of Nerite snails on the way to help out as well!

Comments welcome!
 
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