75 gallon Planted Office Tank Journal

I did my test fill of water (about 30 mins ago), so far no leaks, no breaking glass noise, so I think that's good.

Thank God for the internet. I googled how to prime my eheim 2217, and up comes a nice post here on AC. I followed he simple instructions, and had the filter primed in literally 20 seconds. Here are the instructions:

dudley said:
Once the filter is assembled with the media and NO water in it, place it under the tank, it must be below water level. Connect intake hose & place in tank. Then suck on pressure hose & while filter is filling with water, connect pressure hose to spray bar. Once filter has completely filled with water & air has been expelled, plug in the filter.
Click to expand...

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1313860&postcount=5

Filter bubbled for 15 seconds until filter was full of water, when it stopped I plugged in the filter, and it blew a few more bubbles and it now operating silently. Very nice!

How long do you think I need to leave tank full to test for leaks?
 
Here are some phone pictures (camera battery dead) of me testing the filter, heater, and I wanted to see how well the python vac worked to both fill and drain. Draining with 100 feet of hose is VERY slow, I think I am going to do it old-school and use gravity to drain the water out of a loading dock...

2010-03-26%2018.18.11.jpg



2010-03-26%2018.18.47.jpg


I think I might be the only person checking this thread, LOL.
 
Interesting journal so far Geekpryde! You have a lot of pictures, which is really helpful to us giving the suggestions. I don't know enough to give some helpful advice but I can tell you are putting a lot of thought into it so good luck!
 
Draining the 75 gallon was not fun, especially with my wife and kids waiting in the car to pick me up from "playing" at work. I think it was a combination of 100 feet of hose and a SMALL diameter hose, but this thing took FOREVER to drain. I figure since it was only a little more than 2.5 times my 29 gallon, it should drain as fast as 2.5 x [time it takes to drain 29 gallon]. Wrong! I think if I ever have to 100% drain tank again, I will have either a much larger diameter hose or multiple vacs going at once.

Anyway, the tank is now officially in it's final resting place on the stand and waiting for eco-complete to come on Tuesday or so. I brought the canister filter home and hooked it up to the 29 gallon so I could get a jump start on the cycle with seeded media. We'll see it that ends up working or not... I think my fish are freaking out at the increased flow, and I aimed the return bar upwards, which will keep it out of their faces at least.

Probably wont have any pics until Monday, in the meantime I need to settle on a regulator and solenoid. I think the $80 one from Dr. Fosters looks good enough, along with reactor 500. I have already picked up silicone tubing, Red Sea indicator, and a dual timer for lights and CO2. I don't know if a bubble counter is really necessary, what do you guys think?

People in the office have two things to say when they see the tank (1)When is there going to be fish? (2) can we have piranhas? :swear:

I need a cool piece of driftwood, I think I can grab something local and soak it, but someone told me this was not a good idea.

Someone also told by Seachems Stability actually works . I have enough time to do a traditional cycle, so I don't plan on using it, but can this stuff be for real?
 
Great journal so far! Though I would have re-sealed the entire interior...new silicone doesn't stick to old silicone.
 
Rbishop said:
Great journal so far! Though I would have re-sealed the entire interior...new silicone doesn't stick to old silicone.
Click to expand...

That's what I've read here. You're right, I didnt reseal that bottom pane of glass, but that seemed to be a larger project than I was willing to bite off. I guess I am taking a risk, but one that I think is small. The use of a used tank and used stand in of itself is a risk, I hope it turns out alright. I think it will.

Thanks for the kinds words about the journal, I really wanted to put up a lot of pics. I know that I have learned the most from other people's picture heavy journals as I have lurked on AC for more than a year.
 
Regarding the addition of the eco-complete, which is my next big step. I am going to follow this simple advice, from another thread about adding eco-complete to an already established tank.

lookit said:
...put in your Eco. Don't throw the Eco bags away. Instead, after you get the Eco in to the depth you want, lay the Eco bags on top of the substrate and pour your new water in. This will keep cloudiness to a minimum. Once the tank is almost full, take out the Eco bags and set up your filter(s), heater(s) and thermometer(s).
Click to expand...

I also used the following calculator to determine how many pounds I needed to order.

http://www.plantedtank.net/substratecalculator.html
 
More stuff arrived today, camera still dead, so no pic of the co2 cylinder I picked up today. It looks like it's in rough shape, but it is food grade (beverage grade as the dude said), which means they clean out the inside each time it's filled. 10lbs cylinder doesnt quite fit inside the cabinet standing up, so I will lay it down, which the gas man told me was fine.

Co2 silicone tubing showed up today, as well as the Red Sea indicator. At some point I assume I will convert to one of the pretty all glass drop checkers, but for now, this simple color coded one is a good first step for me.

According to tracking substrate wont be here until Wednesday. :-(

Here are stock photos of the reactor I am using and the drop checker:


reactor500.jpg





CO2_Indicator.jpg



Here is the pressure regulator I bought. I know alot of people are very anal about their pressure regulators and solenoids, etc. but I think this is a good middle ground in terms of costs and value. If I'm nuts, then please chime in.

co2.jpg
 
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