New Project: 55-75 gallon Planted Tank

[ian8834]

Here is my newest project: a 55 or 75-gallon planted tank.

Plans
Substrate: Aqua Soil Amazonia II
Filter: Undecided. Canister of some sort
Lighting: T5's. Probably from eBay.

Fish:
Option 1: Crystal Red Shrimp and Neon Tetras
Option 2: Discus
Option 3: Leave a reply with your thoughts. I'm up to any suggestions.

Here are a couple of questions:
1. How much Aqua Soil Amazonia II should I put in the tank? They come in 3 and 9 liter bags.
2. Any recommendations on the lighting? Links to eBay auctions would be nice.

Stocking suggestions are appreciated too.

This tank will be a work in progress. Heck, I don't even have the tank yet. But I will be slowly but surely collecting the things needed. I'm trying not to rush into this tank like I have my others. I plan on doing this one right and taking my time with it.

Any/all suggestions are appreciated.

 

[MyGiants]

I think your on the right track. I purchased one 9 liter bag of Amazon II for my 25g not knowing either how much that was. It was more then enough probably too much but I put it all in anyways!. I think one 9 liter bag for a 55 is enough.
Ebays got some hot deals on T5HO double and quad fixtures. I purchased a 36"double T5HO from Petsmart for $85.00. I found later on ebay 36" double T5HO for less then halve that price! I purchased another one from ebay. The only thing I would add to your fish selection is SAE Siamese algae eaters from the get go when you start stocking plants. Also a co2 setup I highly recommend.

I think a canister filter is a good choice. I run canisters on both my 25g and 40g planted tanks. If you got another fish only tank running now. I'd recommend you setup the canister on it ahead of time to cycle it, seed it with bacteria. When you setup your planted tank move the already seeded canister to it. Then you fish will not suffer any.

 

[ian8834]

I think your on the right track. I purchased one 9 liter bag of Amazon II for my 25g not knowing either how much that was. It was more then enough probably too much but I put it all in anyways!. I think one 9 liter bag for a 55 is enough.
Ebays got some hot deals on T5HO double and quad fixtures. I purchased a 36"double T5HO from Petsmart for $85.00. I found later on ebay 36" double T5HO for less then halve that price! I purchased another one from ebay. The only thing I would add to your fish selection is SAE Siamese algae eaters from the get go when you start stocking plants. Also a co2 setup I highly recommend.

I think a canister filter is a good choice. I run canisters on both my 25g and 40g planted tanks. If you got another fish only tank running now. I'd recommend you setup the canister on it ahead of time to cycle it, seed it with bacteria. When you setup your planted tank move the already seeded canister to it. Then you fish will not suffer any.

Thanks for the input!

I looked up prices on lights, and the 48" T5HO was $124.99 at Petco. Nearly the same light is $49.99+24.00 shipping on eBay. Looked into the aquarium sale at Petco where tanks are $1 per gallon. Now I'm looking into getting a nice stand, as this will be my "display tank." I've looked on Craigslist around here, but there hasn't been a whole lot lately. A decent stand at Petco is somewhere around $120. I guess for now we're just waiting for a stand.

I originally was looking for a 75-gallon, but I think a 55-gallon will go in the space better. Hoping that by the end of the summer this thing is getting on it's way.

 

[MyGiants]

There some deals on Craiglist. I too was looking a few months ago for a stand for my 100G plexi. Found an oak stand for $150.00 that came with a 100g TruVu plexi! that also had a complete wetdry setup. Now I got an extra 100g plexi and extra wetdry sump! Depending on what your willing to work with. I was almost ready to do a cinder block stand 3 blocks on each side with a board. They don't look that bad and can be put together real cheap.

 

[ian8834]

I have purchased a 55-gallon column tank, as well as a lot of other tanks, filters, and lights. The nice lights, which are Coralife lights, are too big for this tank. I am probably going to trade them or sell them and then buy the correct size light.

So the filter looks like it's going to be a Magnum 350 or a Rena XP3. Substrate will be Aquasoil Amazonia, and I'm not sure which plants will be going in. As far as stocking goes, I'm leaning towards some Congo Tetras right now. I have a LFS that has a few nice-sized ones in, and they look really nice.

Haven't started setting this up yet, as I am moving into a new place on the 15th. Hopefully some progress will be made before the beginning of September.