I finally lost my mind

I finally lost my mind and did it. I jumped right in and did a dirted 75g tank.

It was a lot of work getting it set up but it's so worth it. I am currently on Day seven of the new tank.

After set up I filled the tank it looked great water clear. The second day water was real cloudy and dark. I let that go until day 3. On day three my plant order arrived and I drained the tank and planted it and refilled.

Yesterday on day 6 and water had a haze but not as bad as the first 3 days. I did a 75% water change. I am trying to do them every 3 days. I am not planning on adding fish for at least 3 to 4 weeks.

I haven't done any water testing at this point. I would expect it to be off the charts with all the nutrients from the soil. I will start checking when I am a week out from getting the first fish.

I want an active community and plan on getting some Rainbow fish and Tetras. Looking forward to see how things grow and change over the next few months.

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Comment by Chuck P on July 31, 2013 at 6:31am: Nice tank. The driftwood is perfect.

I did my first dirted tank, also a 75 gallon, about three months ago. Plant growth has been intense. Still battling a series of algae outbreaks and I think the super nutrient rich soil is one of the causes.

Comment by Sam DeMarco on July 31, 2013 at 8:21pm: Thanks for the comment. This is so far my first successful to this point dirted tank.I ust need to keep up the water changes for now. I plan on adding fish in about 3 weeks.

light is on for only 5hrs day right now. Don't want the algae to start yet.

Comment by Fry on August 3, 2013 at 10:47pm: i do about 90% water changes once a week in my dirt tank and run lights 4 or 5 hours, if you want clearer water use sand to seal the dirt in about 2 or 3 inches of it, you can pour it in a filled tank pool filter sand works good silaca sand, people say its bad to use which isn't true, works fine also makes planting so much cleaner since the sand fills the holes when u plant like quick sand.

Comment by Sam DeMarco on August 4, 2013 at 12:49pm: Fry: Thanks for the comment.

I already used gravel but was thinking about sand. Maybe in a few months if I decide to rescape i will pull the gravel and replace with sand. Water is actually looking pretty good after 4 water changes and addition of a canister filter.

Comment by Sam DeMarco on August 4, 2013 at 12:57pm: Well it's been two weeks since I set up. I added a Filstar xp-l canister with foam, saechem matrix,bio-chem zorb. I have the aqueon 55/75 HOB, and a Magnum 55 HOB canister with activated carbon and zeo-lite mix.I added 10 feeder fish to help with the cycle and water is clear not hazy. water tests are good no jump in nitrates yet. I use prime for water changes and also add bacteria starter when i change the water. I used my penguin 150 with established matrix media for the last two weeks. When I set up the filstar and mixed the old matrix with the new matrix to help get it started with good bacteria. I feel really good about the tank at the moment and will try and post some pics later tonight.

Comment by Chuck P on August 5, 2013 at 7:05am: I'm thinking I left my lights on for too long when I set up my first dirted tank a few months ago. (11 hours on a timer). after two weeks with plants, the algae has taken off. still trying to combat it. The plants, especially the wisteria, are growing like crazy though even without CO2 injection.

Comment by Sam DeMarco on August 5, 2013 at 9:05am: I had the same problem with my 20g, lights were too bright and on too long. Since I moved it to the other room algae has stopped and cleared up. I also removed the bright lights and went back to the LED the tank came with.

I only have an old dual lamp 80watt strip light on the 75 right now. I am running about 6hrs a day. No signs of algae yet!.

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