Been forever! But starting up a NEW tank!

First topic message reminder :

I've been out of the picture for quite awhile, but long story short: I'm pregnant and will be having my husband's and I's first child (a boy) in April. I decided to make our 75 gallon tank into a really pretty Tropical Freshwater Community tank. I want to get started before the little guy gets here since I will be pretty busy once he arrives.

I am planning to use about 30 fake plants, some driftwood and natural stones for aquascaping with a kind of arc of greenery and fairly open in the middle of the tank towards the front.

I've got a Marineland Magnum 350 (if I can get it running again...) filter, a 48" PC light, 2 200 watt heaters, and had a Koralia 2 for water movement, but it's going to have to be replaced....

I am planning on having about 7 Pristella Tetra (Pristella maxillaris), 6 Scissortail Rasbora (Rasbora trilineata), 5 Panda Cory cats (Corydoras panda), 1 Candy Striped Pleco (Peckoltia vittata) and the show piece will be 5 Bosemani Rainbows (Melanotaenia Boesemani).

I'm planning on keeping the temp at 75 degrees F, and pH of 7.0................

So what do ya'll think? The plan is low maintenance, nice color and movement.... Questions, comments, suggestions?

Well 48 hours after dosing my tank with Microbe Lift Special Blend, Microbe Lift Nite-Out II and Microbe Lift Substrate and Gravel Cleaner and keeping the tank light off, my water parameters went from:

Hour Zero: Before dosing
Ammonia- 1.0, Nitrite- 0, Nitrate- 0

12 Hours In:
Ammonia- .5, Nitrite- .5, Nitrate- 0

36 Hours In:
Ammonia- .25, Nitrite- .5, Nitrate- 10

48 Hours In:
Ammonia- 0, Nitrite- 0, Nitrate- 5

And this is what it looks like:


I didn't think it was possible to cycle a tank that fast with such low swings in Ammonia and Nitrite, but it worked! It's hard to believe, but WOW! Yay!!!

wow congrates. Looks great.

wow nice good job!! what else are you planning on putting in there?

Large volume and few fish - it'll cycle like that. Expect stronger cycle as you add more fish. Cories were actually a good fish to cycle with considering they can handle very VERY rough conditions in water quality! (Just ask my four who survived a tank turning into sewage over christmas break...LOL)

Just add 2-3 fish - wait - and 2-3 more fish...

Now I've got some Scissortail Rasboras (4) in there as well now. Ultimately there will be about 6 of those, about 7 Pristella Tetras, 1 Candy Striped Pleco, 6 Julii Corydoras (I added 2 more last night- my sister brought me 4 Julii and 1 Albino from Walmart the other day. She will be getting more Albino Cories and adding them to her tank once it's up and running), and 5-6 Bosemani Rainbows. And that will pretty much max out that tank... lol.