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hello from kansas


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#1 Guest_Sasha2_*

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Posted 30 March 2014 - 08:24 PM

Newbie here. Ive got a 75 gallon aquarium that Im really wanting to make into a local species aquarium, mostly planted(local plants too) and maybe small minnows, snails, crayfish maybe.I really dont know were to start.Hopefully this will be a good place to start.

#2 Isaac Szabo

Isaac Szabo
  • NANFA Member
  • Marble Falls, AR

Posted 30 March 2014 - 09:49 PM

Welcome to the forum. Where in Kansas are you? We have a few members from MO/AR/OK who are sometimes active on here.

I'm sure some of the other members will help you with planning your tank (I mostly snorkel). I'll just say that I would recommend a planted community tank with local topminnows, minnows, and darters. Snails are fine too. Crayfish can sometimes be a problem though, eating fish and tearing up plants.

#3 Guest_Sasha2_*

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Posted 31 March 2014 - 06:04 AM

Thanks for the welcome,
We are right on the Neosho river, and about 5 minutes from the Council Grove reservor. Lots of little creeks and such.
I have two big concerns and thats the weight of the tank when full of water (850 lbs without the sand) and the lighting to keep the plants healthy. if I can get past these two obstacles the rest will be easier.

#4 Michael Wolfe

Michael Wolfe
  • Board of Directors
  • North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 31 March 2014 - 06:52 AM

Welcome Sasha! First, I would say I totally agree with Isaac's advice. Community tanks are a lot of fun and our native minnows and darters and chubs are underappreciated. And my experience with crayfish is that they are very active nocturnal hunters and eat fish while they sleep, so I don't keep any in my fish tanks at all. As far as your 75 gallon tank, I dont know what kind and what age your house is, but most modern houses will not have a problem if you put the aquarium across the floor joists. This will allow several of the floor joists (the supporting mechanical "studs" that make up your floor) to share the load of the tank. And there are lots of lighting options depending on what you want to do. But really you could get away with a couple of four foot shop lights. I ran my 75 with two of these (four total fluorescent tubes) for a long time and had pretty good plant growth. This is probably the most economical way to go. A year or so ago I switched mine over to a Marineland LED fixture (pricey, but it works well, looks cool, and I have not had to replace a bulb in over a year).
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#5 Guest_AMcCaleb_*

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Posted 31 March 2014 - 10:15 AM

Welcome to the forum. 75 is what I currently have for my native planted tank. I've got videos of it on the photography subforum if you want to check it out. As far as lighting for a 75. I have a 4 bulb T5HO setup that I got off of aquatraders.com, check them out. They've got good stuff for great prices. I agree on the shiner, darter, dace idea. I don't have any topminnows but I think a school of those would look awesome in a 75.



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