mommyeireanne

I am very excited; I am about to do my first big tank! (I almost feel like saying first real tank.) I started with fish two years ago and soon wanted plants. I tried Nano soil setups, then did a 10 gal, then a 20 gal. soil set-up... Now I am going to consolidate the plants and animals from these into a 75 gal tank. We got the stand six months ago or more and I've tried to think ahead as I purchased equipment. So all I have should all work with my new tank. Both tanks are crowded with plants so I should have plenty.
Here's my tank plan:
open top 75g tank
may put a piece of wood in this tank, it's been soaked and ready
Some sandstone rocks (rocks and wood will go on bottom before dirt)
plain topsoil without fertilizers
sand/gravel topper by kwikrete
heater (I'll keep the temp at 78degF)
(Submariner) UV filter
may run a HOB filter too for bit until soil settles in
two architech style lamps; each with 100w eqivalent CFLs
all kinds of plants: plenty of rooted, fast growers and two floater species
MTS, RCS & Amano shrimp
some Rainbow fish, Dwarf Gouramis, molly, Oto cat

I'd like some advice on a few things: I considered re-using the soil from the 20 gal that has been running for 8 months because I know I won't be able to find all of my inverts. But I'd rather not. If I feel like I have almost all of the snails and cherry shrimp, then I won't. Of all the things I've fed them green beans and sweet potato have had the best responce, so I'll try to bait and trap them, net them, whatever I can. I've considered using my gravel vac all over once I think I've found all I can. But I'm afraid that that would kill the shrimp fry. I'd like to know what has worked for other people in this situation.
I also really need to know how long to bottle test gravel to see if it will increase water alkalinity.
I have very hard, very alkaline water as it is. I bought distilled water and added some of the 3M Quikrete 'sand' that I would like to use. It's like pool filter sand, the MSDS says quartz silicate but the color says limestone to me. Anybody have first hand experience with this product?

Recap:
I want to know the best way to get the inverts out,
how long until I see results on the gravel test
and/or if Quikrete sand will raise my alkalinity or general water hardness.

Thank you to everyone here! I've gotten so much help from you all as I worked with and learned about my NPTs.