So back in December Jeremy bought me a 75 gallon aquarium off Craigslist. 

After a month and a half of ordering odds and ends equipment, planning, replanning, surfing the internet and replanning again I finally just decided to jump in.  My main plan for the tank was to set it up for my angels so I decided on an Amazon biotope.

Last week I set the tank up, cleaned all the components that came with the tank, gravel, aquarium decor.  I put together the new light fixture, tried to map out where everything was going to be plugged in - the basic stuff.

Wednesday  the boys and I went to House of Rocks and picked up some rocks then we swung by Home Depot to pick up terra cotta dishes to anchor driftwood and egg crate to elevate the rocks.  When we got home I couldn't find the masonry drill bit.  I also realized one of the rocks I bought was too wide for what I wanted so the project was stalled there.

Thursday we picked up some amazon sword from Jack and went to Home Depot again.  I  picked up a blade to cut the rock and a masonry drill bit.  It didn't take too long to put everything together, maybe an hour or two, but when I went to fill it up both of our outside hoses were frozen.  I ended up using 5 gallon Homer buckets!  Tony helped by using a pitcher while I used the buckets.  30 minutes in I told him he could stop but he said he didn't want to because it is about time we put some fish in there.  lol.  When I told him no fish for a week he brought me a bathtub fish toy to add.  I explained why that wouldn't be a good idea.

Of course at this time the filter didn't work.  I took it apart again and realized I didn't have the impeller engaged completely.  Thirteen  hours later the tank is running.  I went to sleep hoping the filter wouldn't quit or the aquarium wouldn't spring a leak.

Here are some pics.  It looks very vacant.  I am going in on the plant order next week so hopefully this time next week I will be able to post photos of the completely planted tank   I'm going to read up on fishless cycling too so I don't know if it will have swimmy residents next week or not.  I know I am not going to do huge, daily 50% water changes until I have a trash can on a dolly and a hose attachment for my bathroom sink.

Here is the overall tank:
[img]http://sites.google.com/site/auroraphoenix/home/75 gal.JPG[/img]

The left side.  The driftwood has java fern attached.  The plant on the far left and center are water sprite.  Behind the rock wall I plan to put A. Reinecki for a splash or reddish/green and add some stargrass to the right of the driftwood.
[img]http://sites.google.com/site/auroraphoenix/home/75 gal left.JPG[/img]

This is the right side of the tank.  My mom found the driftwood at the lake this past weekend.  Ignore the big rocks weighing it down, I didn't soak it long enough and once the water got 3/4 up the driftwood it started to float   Anyway, it also has java fern attached and the tall and shorter plants behind the driftwood are swords.  The short ones will eventually grow too huge for three to take up the space if Jack's are any indication of what size they will grow to, but for now I have three.  I am going to order a couple more of the taller swords and some smaller foreground plants.  [img]http://sites.google.com/site/auroraphoenix/home/75 gal rt.JPG[/img]

I know, too much info for my first journal entry.  If you are still reading, thanks for hanging in there