skystrife's 75 Gallon Low Tech (56k warning)

[skystrife]

Hello all!

Starting my first journal here, with my second tank ever and my first foray into the planted sector of freshwater aquaria. My goal with this is to be a relatively low-maintenance tank without sacrificing on the beauty.

Equipment

• 75 Gallon Aqueon tank from LFS
• Black pine stand from LFS
• 2x API Fillstar XPL's
• Hydor 300W inline heater
• 48" Lithonia lighting shop light (running one bulb for low light according to the PAR charts)
• 8 bags of Eco Complete as substrate

Flora

• Anacharis
• Anubias (nana, "petite", "coffeefolia")
• Crypts (wendtii, undulata, parva)
• Hygro (giant and compact)
• Java Fern
• Java Moss
• Italian Vals

Fauna

• Nothing (yet)
• 5x Bolivian Ram (planned)
• ??x Cardinal Tetra (planned)
• ??x Rummynose Tetra (planned)
• 3-4x Bristlenose (planned)
• 6-12x Otocinclus (planned)
• ??x Corydoras (maybe?)

So, here we go! First, the pretty stuff.

The order arrives!

I bought them all online and was surprised at the quality I got. Will definitely do it again in the future should I need more plants.

Getting them in the tank (using RODI water for the tank and the system isn't yet set up at this point):


Filling it up:


All planted! lol



Hardscape arrangement:


Getting ready to plant!

Bucket o' plants:


First planted plant!



The final product:


FTS:


Closer to the wood. I'm hoping these Anubias attach... they are fairly loose.


Right side:


Left side:


Crypt. parva:


Crypt. wendtii "red":


View from the back:


The whole set, if you're interested: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8570487...7631224930540/

Now, the update stuff.

Wood still wanted to float despite being soaked for several weeks, so I had to tie it to tupperware lids with fishing line and bury the lids in the gravel. Easy, effective, and inexpensive. And non-permanent, which is a plus.

Just got the filters and the heater running (@ ~79F) yesterday. Media is set up as follows (excuse the crude ASCII drawing) in both filters:

==============
polishing pad
-------------------------
purigen + bio stars
-------------------------
fine foam
==============
ehfisubstrat pro
-------------------------
more ehfisubstrat pro
==============
foam
-------------------------
foam
==============

Beginning to fishless cycle the tank now, after finally finding some clear ammonia at a Walgreens (everything else has surfactants in it). Bumped the Ammonia to ~4ppm and waiting for it to fall.

I've remineralized the RODI water with GLA's GH Booster and added some buffering capacity with some baking soda, but it appears I overshot my target:

Wanted: 1-2 dGH, 1-2 dKH, pH ~6.5
Got: 3 dGH, 4 dKH, pH ~7.6

So I'll have to play chemist some more to figure out exactly how much of each I need to add since I clearly overshot (I think it didn't dissolve right away so I didn't see the new reading and overdid things). Oh well---iirc the cycling goes more smoothly at higher pH anyway.

And there you have it: a newbie planted tank journey, starting now!