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i have some questions, hope you can answer them. would a AC 500 be enough filtration for this tank (maybe add a underground or canister if it isnt), how many watts for the heater is needed, how many watts of lighting (planning on having live plants), how many pounds and what type of subtrate for plants, lastly im planning on making a home made co2 diy system, what size bottle would i need for the c02 formula mixture.

Last edited by haRg0wbOi at 13-Dec-2004 21:12

I will give you my experience, I have about 75 lbs of gravel, with a 404 fulval canister filter (good up to 100 gal) I have a single light strip (standard 40 watts), and a adjustable heater (not sure wat size, just adjusted it to the temp. before i added fish). I also have an additional strip light that I got from a hardware store the kind you would hang in your garage turn it on every once in a while. I keep live plats like amazon swordplants, and bunch plant. I go to the pet store and look for plants that look really healthy over a period of time. I have a varity of fish mainly tertras, my prize fish is my school of congo tetras. I don't really do anything special just add liquid fertilizer.
hope this helps

p.s. have had my 75 gal tank for about two years, alot of my experience is from trial and error. alot of people with suggest alot of special stuff i just went with a basic set up

depending how stocked the tank will be decides if that wilter will be enough, its pretty close to normal filtration though. if your gona pack it well then might wanna add a small canister. with HOB filters you want Gallons per hour (GPH) to be about 9-10x your water volume. this is very good filtration and followed by those that stock thier tank very well. canisters are far more effective so less GPH is needed. deffinetly dont go with a UGF. the agrivation of cleaning alone would be enough to drive ya nutts and with plants this will be magnified. they also need to cleaned constently so plants were be uprooted way to often. on top of all this they are horrible at thier job, best place for these are in a tank with no substrate and the fish require little water movement like bettas.
as far as heating, 75g tank you will need a single 300 watt heater or 2 200 watt heaters, one on each end of the tank adjusted to closely match when they turn on/off. few posts in technical tinkering that may help you. i went this route so i could try to help ya out if i can with adjusting.
and plants, im pretty new to that area. i also keep sand so my selection is insanely smaller then someone with a tank suited for them.
hope this helps.

Sin

alrite thx guys, how much filtration will i be getting with the AC filter alone, x?

6.6x turnover which isnt bad at all as long as the stocking is light.

would another ac 500 make my filtration 12x?

im planning on having as many fishes as possible. the fish im going to put in there are that i have at the momment are, 2x disucs, 2x bronze cories, 2x khuli loaches, 2x H. Rasboras, and 1x Rubber nose pleco.

yes, i know that most of the fishes i have need to be in schools. im planning on buying more of each. maybe 3 more discus, 4 more cories, 4 more khulies, and 6-10 more H. Rasboras. what do you think about the stocking.

the stockign soudns ok to me other then the discus, kinda tricky. but im no expert on them thats for sure.
the filtration iw ould keep at 10x or so, 10x will produce alot of current. a way aroudn this is to use a canister, less GPH needed for them. you could stick with the 500 HOB and add a small canister to get desired effect with current. filtration itself doesnt really decide exactly. its more of area of space for bacteria. biowheels and canisters have great support for bacteria. by coming close to overstocking you will have to have a strict water change regement to keep the nitrates down. plants will help with this if enough are supplied. some plants suck in nutrients better then others of course. lighting would play a part also.
im not really an expert on any of these subjects im more of "basic needs" type of person. i can get you going in the right direction but as far as exact figures and requirments your prolly better off waiting for others to jump in. sorry im not more help hope i was a little

its alrite, i appreicate it that you are trying to help. yeah i will probally have a HOB and a canister. I want to know if im overstocking or not, ill just have to wait.