# Advice for setting new 75g tank needed



## nismobg (Jun 7, 2013)

Hello everyone, I have been following this forum for a while now and finally got myself a 75g , I build my own stand following the infamous 2x4 template , i got a 110 AcuaClear filter and 200w eheim heater. Now i found this dirt cheap river stones at Lowes plus black and round stones too, which will be perfect for planting the tank imo. 

The questions I need help with are about my stand and soil.

a. No matter how much i try to lvl the tank i cant do it perfectly the difference from end to end in the water lvl is 2mm. Will that fix itself over time when the tank sets in the stand. Btw the tank is placed in the basement on wooden floor. 

b. what big store soil should i use as i absolutely refuse to spend insane money on overpriced fish tank soil. I got this Schultz Tropical Mix from Lowes too but noticed it had this white things inside so not sure I will use it . They had the regular Schultz and the Miracle-Gro too. 

c. what gravel if needed should be used for capping the soil.



p.s. I am not new to this hobby , had 5 small tanks full of livebreaders when I was 12 ,now 20 yrs later i would like to do it again but with planted tanks.

thank you


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Miracle grow organic potting soil is the usual choice for soils.

A 200 watt heater might be a little small especially if your basement is cool like mine. I would use a 250 or 300 myself.

2 mm difference is a very nice leveling job, you won't get it perfect. Because it is on a wood floor, you might want to level it best you can, then fill it with water, check the level when full and if it goes a bit off, empty, adjust and refill again and test.

if you like the look of the river stones and they are an appropriate size, use those. you don't want any larger than about half a inch and that would be pushing it for gravel size when using dirt.


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## nismobg (Jun 7, 2013)

pyrrolin said:


> Miracle grow organic potting soil is the usual choice for soils.
> 
> A 200 watt heater might be a little small especially if your basement is cool like mine. I would use a 250 or 300 myself.
> 
> ...


Just to make it clear, the Miracle Grow Organic or Potting Mix ?


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

Also, if you want a simple cheap substrate, you can use play sand, which is very very cheap. Mix some laterite into it (ijn the bottom half) to give your root feeders some iron, or maybe even mix some soil or use the sand to cap it (but maybe that is to messy, I've never tried capping soil before). Personally, I really like the look of the sand bottom in my tank, and my plants are growing very well indeed. I have an ozelot sword that is taking over my 35 gallon, and I am going to rehome just as soon as I move and get a 75 set up.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

reading off a bag. Miracle-gro organic choice potting mix. Nice size bag at home depot for 9.99. I got enough in one bag for a 90 gallon and a 15 gallon and may have some left over still.

Play sand can be a nice substrate, but I once used it to cap potting soil and it ended up being a huge mess after I moved a few plants a couple times. I don't recommend sand for capping soil.

You can also use amaco Mexican pottery red clay which you can get at michaels. General rule is 1 lb per 20 gallons. Put this on the very bottom of the tank for a great source of iron. I mixed it with water to get to more liquid so I could spread it around more evenly on my 90 gallon community tank which I just set up. Then I put about 1 inch of the potting soil and capped it off with gravel, about 1 inch. I just did this on sunday.

Laterite is great for plants to.

Main factor in deciding what substrate to use is budget. There are some nice "plant" substrates that are probably excellent but they are expensive. I would absolutely love to do a tank with black fluorite sand but the cost is prohibitive


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## nismobg (Jun 7, 2013)

Thank you for the help i really appreciate it, I got MGrow from Lowes for 6$ 28L bags. Now my last concern is the tank lvl. I filled it up again and its 1-2 mm difference between both long ends. Ill add some pics so you guys can see.

http://i42.tinypic.com/35ksl68.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/amf7s0.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/2yl8r69.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/2znom7k.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/v7qq2p.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/308iesj.jpg

and the last one is the only corner that's about 1 mm of the board,all other corners are solid but my main question is if the whole thing is going to sink into the stand a little over time. The stand doesn't shake/play and it feels very stiff.

My biggest nightmare as i have never worked with such a big tank is to wake up to 75gallons of water in my basement lol.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

The tank will not settle into the stand. Is the front parallel to the back in terms of level? Are the ends sloping exactly the same? You need to avoid any twisting of the tank. If it is a question of flatness of the stand it can be remedied with styrofoam. Styro will not fix problems with level.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Oh, I originally thought the whole tank was about 2 mm off. The 2 mm is just on the level, that is a fair bit off.

when you fill the tank up to just below the trim, what is the difference between the left end and the right end of the tank? In my opinion, 1/4 inch difference is fine but no more than that.

Looks like you have some work to do.


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## nismobg (Jun 7, 2013)

Its about 2mm left to right like i said, ill take it apart tomorrow and see . Probably i need to change the plywood the tank sits on and eventualy shim the back side a little as my floor has a slope . I was thinking to shim the corner but better be safe and change some stuff first. BA sells stands but they are in the 300$ range so diy is the way for me to go, even if it takes more time. Twisted glass is what scares me as it leads to fractures.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

You still have time to correct the problem since you haven't set the tank up yet. If the bubble is off enough to touch the line, over 4 feet that is noticeable. It is possible that the stand is rigid enough that it will resist your efforts to level it. If one corner isn't touching that is an issue that can be fixed, depending on what is causing it. This is a good learning experience. Leveling an item with four legs can be very difficult unless you have the option to pull a leg down as well as lift it up. What I sometimes did at work was to convert a four leg machine to three by adding a temp leg in between a pair. Leveling three legs is very easy as you only have two possible ways to go, and all three will always touch the floor. When level the original legs would be brought into contact with the floor and the extra leg removed.


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## nismobg (Jun 7, 2013)

Thanks BillD, took the stand apart and fixed some issue but at the end the main horizontal support at the front is arched in the middle just a very little bit. So I decided to buy tomorrow some 1/8 wood or rubber tile and juts shim between the top plywood and the horizontal support . There is only on corner (front left) that's not touching , about 1-2mm off the plywood. And my floor is wicked uneven so ill just shim the whole bottom with composite shims around till it's perfectly leveled. I'm confident that will do it as all posts are exactly even.

One more question since you know these stuff well, is it ok if the plastic tank rim sits exactly in the middle on the long support (left to right) 2x4, or should it sit on the outside, or its ok in both cases.


thanks.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I would center everything


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## nismobg (Jun 7, 2013)

Small update,

The Miracle-Grow from Lowes is full of the white stuff, I think its called "perlite", maybe I should look for different top soil. The stand is officially the most shimmed stand ever . The one corner that was sticking up was shimmed between the stand and the plywood with composite shims and than the entire gap was filled with PL Premium and shims. Lets see if it hardens enough when it's cured to support the weight(the Lowes guy said it should but again he never heard of egg crates which they have for 12$). Tomorrow when it dries ill fill up the tank and see what happens.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

you need the organic choice miracle grow potting soil, not the regular


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## nismobg (Jun 7, 2013)

Another update,

The PL Premium works wonders for leveling the top of the stand combined with shims. Its extremely hard and you basically cant break it of or smash it in.

And now the tedious cycling begins. My 75g tank requires exactly 10ml of ammonia to reach 3ppm. Btw you can buy the cheap 2$ Walmart ammonia, it's pure and it's called "Goldex Household Ammonia".


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

sweet, another place to buy it


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