75 Gallon On A Budget

[squidneh]

As many of you are aware, fish keeping can quickly turn from hobby to obsession.  I, however, would like to categorize myself somewhere between the addicted and the obsessed, however right or wrong it may be.  What started out as a 20 gallon with a few goldfish and the intentions of seeing if I could successfully keep them alive for an extended period of time (which in my childhood proved a daunting task) quickly turned into a 40 gallon with a few species of more 'intermediate' fish.
 
And now I am pleased to announce I am in possession of a lovely 75 gallon fishy kingdom.  I obtained this beauty through hours of scouring the nearby towns on craigslist, and was rewarded after several weeks.  After an hour drive (which turned into two hours, as I got hopelessly lost and had to turn to dunkin donuts employees to point me in the right direction) I picked up my new tank and stand for a grand total of $60 (which was meant to be $50, but in my excitement I only brought 20s with me, so I bought a new heater from the seller as well).
 
We loaded it up, the tank hardly fitting in my 2011 Honda Civic, which thankfully is not a coupe, the stand precariously nestled in the trunk and strapped in with bungee cords, and me grinning from ear to ear.
 
Upon arriving home (which was much easier than the trip up!) I was unable to unload the tank by myself for fear of foolishly dropping it in my haste to lay eyes on it and rinse it out.  So the next morning the fiance and I set both the stand and the tank in the drive way and had ourselves a bit of a project of them.
 
The Tank:
-Dirty, had obviously been outside and unused for quite some time so was cleaned out and filled (2 days with no leak, hoorah)
-The plastic trim is damaged in some spots, and the plastic brace across the top center is cracked. The previous owner used what looks to be wood glue to repair it, which I scraped off as it was hideous. Will find a better alternative. Anyone know if the tank would perish without it?
 
The Stand:
-Some missing paint, squeaky hinges on the doors. I decided to repaint it and oiled the hinges.
-The top board had some water damage and I certainly didn't want my tank on compromised wood, so I replaced it with a nice thick board of mahogany we had lying around.
 
So, now that the basics have been fixed it is time to begin my journey with this tank.  I plan to go to the pool store tomorrow and purchase white pool filter sand for the substrate.  I have some driftwood that's been soaking a while now and hopefully will be ready soon. I am aiming for a natural moderately planted tank.
 
Stocking: (not set in stone, still deciding...) red= already owned
1 Rainbow Shark
1 Chinese Algae Eater
6 Neon Tetras +5-10
4 Emerald Corys +3
3 Peacock Eels
2 Blood Parrots
 
Pictures will be posted when my computer decides to cooperate 

Upcoming events
-Getting the tank upstairs
-Adding the sand, aquascaping, etc

 

[sawickib]

Nice story haha, in regards to the broken plastic trim, you can buy some 100% silicone at your local home depot or lowes, and fill in the cracks, this silicone is the same stuff inside your tank and takes maybe 30+ minutes to dry. I did it on my 180 gallon, in a LOT of different places, the trim actually broke off on one of the sides, so i had to scrape off the old, dirty silicone with a razor and put new silicone on.
 
You will only need one bag of pool filter sand, make sure to give it a good rinse. Rooted plants might get uprooted by the eels, id suggest using marimo moss balls, java fern, java moss, and anubias nana, or some floating plants like water lettuce if you want.
 
Id be precautions with the blood parrots may make life a living hell for your other fish.
 
The CAE might suck the slime coat off of your eels later on leaving them susceptible to disease much easier.
 
Not sure what you mean with the neon tetras, the math doesnt add up lol 6+5-10=1
 
Make sure your floors are supported 75 gallons can still weigh quite a bit.
 
Looking forward to pics, good luck on your new venture!

 

[squidneh]

Ah, than you for that info, I will pick up 100% silicone tomorrow then, and than you for the plant suggestions as I am a total noob when it comes to aquarium plants. As I said I'm not set in stone on the blood parrots, but I am hoping to go for them or red severum. I have read dozens of mixed reviews on each.  Neither are common in my area and it would be easy to rehome either should a problem arise. 
 
In regards to the neons, I meant that as I will add 5-10 more (+5-10) to up the school 

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Your Epalzeorhynchos frenatum will likely eventually try to kill your Gyrinocheilos aymonieri or, in English, your rainbow shark will likely try to kill your chinese algae eater until one of them is dead.
 

 
A slightly better choice for the community tank than E. bicolor but tankmates must still be chosen with care.
 
While small specimens tend to hide away much of the time they become increasingly territorial as they grow and can display particularly high levels of aggression towards similar-looking species.
 
Some individuals may be more belligerent than others and there exist reports of apparent alliances with other species such as Chromobotia macracanthus. We’re unsure if these behavioural differences are indicative of gender but at any rate loaches from the genera Chromobotia, Botia, Syncrossus and Yasuhikotakia do seem to be left in peace by Epalzeorhynchos species whereas congenerics and members of Crossocheilus, Garra and Gyrinocheilus, for example, tend to be attacked constantly. Please note that in terms of the loaches not all may be housed together and proper research is essential.

from http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/epalzeorhynchos-frenatum/

 

[noobgamers]

Nice story haha, in regards to the broken plastic trim, you can buy some 100% silicone at your local home depot or lowes, and fill in the cracks, this silicone is the same stuff inside your tank and takes maybe 30+ minutes to dry. I did it on my 180 gallon, in a LOT of different places, the trim actually broke off on one of the sides, so i had to scrape off the old, dirty silicone with a razor and put new silicone on.
 
You will only need one bag of pool filter sand, make sure to give it a good rinse. Rooted plants might get uprooted by the eels, id suggest using marimo moss balls, java fern, java moss, and anubias nana, or some floating plants like water lettuce if you want.
 
Id be precautions with the blood parrots may make life a living hell for your other fish.
 
The CAE might suck the slime coat off of your eels later on leaving them susceptible to disease much easier.
 
Not sure what you mean with the neon tetras, the math doesnt add up lol 6+5-10=1
 
Make sure your floors are supported 75 gallons can still weigh quite a bit.
 
Looking forward to pics, good luck on your new venture!

yeh also looking forwards to pics just as a general idea one litre of water is a kilo so 75 times 4( i presume youre using american gallons) you have 300kg minimum plus stand and substrate fish hard furnishing i wouldn't doubt you have 350 kilos there on less tan 1 square meter

 

[squidneh]

Thanks for the responses guys.  I'm aware of possible conflict between the algae eater and shark in the future - if/when it should happen one will be re-homed or separated.  
As far as concerns about the floor go, I have done my research prior to even looking for a larger tank.  Even my 40 gallon gave me some doubt as I live in an older home (which I discovered in all probability means my home is actually stronger than most new) so I read many articles written by engineers and builders who happened to be aquarists as well.  One I will mention is http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/aquarium_weight.php which i found to contain a lot of good information.  I have located the direction of the joists in my home and I am sure they are not parallel to the position of the tank, although it seems that is just an extra precaution. I'm sure all will have their own opinion on this, but I feel good about my tank not falling through the floor.
 
Anywhoooo,
Today was an eventful day indeed. I rose bright and early to run some errands and etc, as well as pick up some things for the tank.  I purchased the pool filter sand for $8 and some silicone for $4.
I set up the sand in a bucket and shifted between mixing and just allowing the water to do it's thing. 
It started off looking like this

 
And after about 45 minutes, two frozen hands, and a well watered patch of sidewalk later (use whatever measurement of time you prefer 

) looked like this

 
In retrospect, I think I shouldn't have used the whole 50 pounds and saved some to replace what gets sucked up during vacuuming, but to me it just doesn't seem like enough even though everyone has said one bag will do.  Upon purchasing I was asked what size bag I would like, to which I thought ummm...herm...they only said one bag, not what size! 

So I just got the bag the guy suggested after giving me some very strange looks and probably questioning my sanity when I explained it was for an aquarium.
 
During my sand watering I sealed up the cracks in the plastic trim and center beam. Unfortunately no after pics on this one, but you can see why the first thing I did was scrape the yellow gook off.

 
And the bowing/warping in the wood of the stand, to which I also have no after picture (it's getting dark early again 

)

 
Now, onto the bad news and good news portion of the day.
Bad News - the tank does not fit the stand.  It is meant to sit inside of the whole created for it and rest upon the nice piece of mahogany I replaced the water damaged wood with. But it doesn't fit, so I was unable to set the tank up right away.
Good News - I now understand why the plastic is so damaged, because the previous owners had used it with that stand even though it sat only on the edges and had no support except for about a half inch around the edges. Water test showed this didn't cause enough damage for leaks and it will be seated properly once I fix the stand for it.
Bad News - I spent more on filtration and aeration on the tank than I did for the tank itself
Good News - My fishies will be happy and I can stare at my fancy equipment happily when all is set up and running.
 
Upcoming Events:
-Fix up the stand so the tank will be evenly supported
-Figure out how to transfer things from old tank to new tank in the least back breaking manner (as I already broke my back today and would prefer to give it a few days to forget its broken)

 

[sawickib]

O sorry i didnt know there was different sizes of pool filter sand, all the play sand and pool filter sand ive ever seen is 50lb bags. Also it didnt take me 45 minutes to clean my pool filter sand lol it did take that long for play sand IME though. 
 
The silicone is a clear substance correct? 
 
If your going to be working on the stand i would suggest coating a few layers of sealant so you avoid warping and rotting wood.
 
I know how you feel haha i took down a established 55 and 75 gallon tank in one day, after moving all the fish and decorations into bins and the floor, and then i moved my two tanks out of my room, then took the 75 gallon to a guy who then gave me a 180 gallon tank, which i then brought home, and then spray painted the back, and siliconed all needed areas, then i moved it into my room and set-up everything and washed 150lbs of play sand, and put the three filters in and then the fish when everything was settled and then i had a really nice bed time haha I missed a lot in that description but you get the jiff

 

[squidneh]

Haha no worries, not your fault at all. So I have chosen the right one then I assume? And It ran clear after probably 5-10 minutes, but I was just being overly cautious (plus I was preoccupied with fixing up the tank with the silicone, which yes is clear).  I have already given the tank a few coats of plasti-dip which in theory should water proof if, and I am going to use the 'fancy' spray made to seal plasti-dip.  I am also looking into creating a small trough, for lack of better words, to catch any over flow in the event of a leak or filter malfunction, but I am still in the thought process stage on that one.
 
That sounds crazy! Today I emptied my 40 gallon of all water except 2-3 inches, moved it onto my bed, and pushed my dresser to the opposite wall before trying to put the tank on the stand and realizing it doesn't fit. I started this at about 12:30 and had to leave for work at 2:30, so I was setting myself up for failure either way haha.  I have tuesday off, which is also the day my filters and pumps are due to arrive, so I am hoping to get an early start and have her running by tuesday night 

 

[squidneh]

A little bit of an update on the whole process.
 
The tank is now up an running, water params were a bit off for 24 hours but I fixed it with a few water changes. Now everything is in tip top shape.
 
My fiance threw my plans a little bit off by surprising me with some new fish! Nothing too fancy, just a few more neons to up my school, and an opaline and gold gourami.  I returned the gold gourami as it was quite an evil little thing and beat up my CAE quite badly.  Poor guy has a torn up face, but he's a trooper and will be okay I think.  The opaline is about 2.5 inches long and very pretty.  I'm unsure of gender, and haven't been able to get a good picture yet (I ran over my cell phone!).  I am leaning towards female, but it is still too small to tell for sure.
 
Seeing how this new gourami acts makes me think beyond a doubt that my previous one was sick.  I had blamed my shark for his death, but this one is doing just fine.  The previous one was very lethargic, spent all his time in the filter outflow and died after two weeks. This new guy swims around a lot, is a competitive eater, etc. I quite like him.
 
I found a LFS that is actually very good.  He is very knowledgeable, and all of his stock looks to be in great shape.  I asked him if he could get me any peacock eels, and he just let me know he got them in.  Looking to pick them up Saturday.
 
Tank is still in need of major work as far as scaping goes.  Can't wait to get proper lights and set up the natural theme I'm aiming for. 

 

[squidneh]

Well, over a month later and I finally got my tank set up a bit better. I purchased a plant package from aquabid and got some lights that I rednecked into lighting for the tank. Really they are desk lights, but I now have 120 watts at 6500K for $40 total, and they don't look too bad either imo. So I'm hoping my plants will do well.  I have some Valisneria Americana, some sort of Hygro, pennywort, and dwarf sag along with a few moss balls. None of them are very demanding so with my lighting, and hopefully ferts in the future, they will do well. At least the price on the plants was so cheap it's not a big loss if I end up sending them to a premature watery grave.
 
My stock at the moment is my CAE, Rainbow shark (which I will say right now, neither of them cause even the slightest problem in my tank. So far I've been lucky with these two individuals, who are now pushing 6 inches), 8 neon tetras, 4 emerald corys, and one female opaline gourami.  Now that I have the tank how I want it, and it looks much emptier without all the plastic decor, I will be adding a few more fish, upping schools, etc.
 
Anyways, here are some update pictures. Excuse the dirty water and even dirtier glass - water change is tomorrow as well as biweekly deep clean.  I also have four dogs and the fiance and I were in the tank a lot today and brought in some dog hair. The filters are at work now and it will be cleaned tomorrow.
 
I know the aquascaping is amateur at best, but it was my first time with live plants and I was only able to use my left hand as I filleted my thumb open Tuesday on my right hand so my fiance did a lot of it as well.
 

 

 

 

[squidneh]

Just a little update, it's been about two weeks since I got the plants.  Yesterday I went out and got some liquid fertilizer and root tabs, so hopefully they will fair a bit better.  None have died except for a few I didn't get to planting which I left floating in the tank. However even some of these grew a fair bit that way.  The dwarf sag was showing yellow leaves and not growing much, and the val hasn't been doing very well but it hasn't died yet. The hygro and pennywort are showing good growth.
 
In other news my LFS was having a sale on tiger barbs so I picked up a small school of them, two albino and four normal.  My gourami is currently harassing them, but they only have to deal with that until they grow a bit or she gets used to them, whichever comes first.  They are slightly bigger than dime size at the moment.
 
Rainbow shark and CAE continue to be peaceful and keep to themselves.  No problems.
 
My ghost shrimp are loving the plants and have been reproducing, although I'm pretty sure the babies get eaten pretty quickly as I haven't seen any yet...but then again, they are ghost shrimp after all.
 
And of course, here's a few pictures of the new additions, and a pregnant ghost shrimp
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

[Flash_Fire]

What kind of lighting do you have? The tank looks pretty dark, it might not be enough for plants.

 

[squidneh]

Haven't been active on this sight in quite a while.
 
Flash fire, I have two 60 watt fluorescent bulbs.  My plants have been growing quite rapidly after I began dosing with ferts.   The tanks has a black background and my phone camera basically sucks, which might be why it seems so dark.  In person it is brighter looking.
 
My cories have begun to spawn as of late, pretty exciting, although I don't expect many survivors, if any at all.  Between the barbs and shark my shrimp population has gone down quite a bit, so I can't imagine fry surviving, but we'll see.  I'm working on getting some floating plants for cover.
 
My CAE did a wonderful job cleaning when I had a slight algae outbreak (found out my filter wasn't running properly for a while, fixed it cleared up).  There was a bit too much for him to handle all by his lonesome, but there were very obvious streaks where he had been cleaning, and he cleaned off his skull in a matter of hours.  He remains peaceful and entertaining.
 
Have had some things come up so further improvement on the tank is at a standstill, but it is thriving as it is.  I am looking to rescape and get different lights that are more aesthetically pleasing once the budget allows for such. 

 

[PlumbersMerchant]

Good read. I think the important thing to remember is that everyone has different experiences with different fish. I for one HATE betas as mine went for anything and everything regardless of size. What people say I'm here is usually right as they are a very clued up bunch as aposed to other forums I've been on but I still go by what works for me an my fish. Keep going

 

[squidneh]

I haven't posted on this site in over a year. But, I wanted to poke my head in this fine evening. 
 
All is well with my tank. I ended up getting rid of my plants/letting them die because I no longer had time to care for them properly, what with college and work and relationships and a new puppy. 
 
The rainbow shark and algae eater are still coexisting peacefully despite what everyone has told me lol. I also still have my opaline gourami, my original school of neons, and my original school of tiger barbs - plus a few new neons and a few new barbs. Took in some rescue black skirted tetra's - 3 of those as I don't plan on having them once these ones pass on. 
 
I'm hoping to get a little more involved with my tank over the summer, so there may be new posts/pictures here soon... but we will see.
 
Thanks for reading!