Jason Baliban

Hello Everyone,
I have recently aquired a 75 Gallon tank in a game of chance. I now have the exciting task of making it come alive. I was wondering if you could all help me. My goals as of this moment are pretty simple. I want this thing to be very easy to maintain. I want to put my hands in this thing as little as possible. I have another tank that I have to prun every week without fail. That tank is much smaller and it is still almost too much to maintain.

My question is how to accomplish this? I wanted to originally not have CO2 at all to cut down on lighting and setup coasts. I wanted this thing to be completely low tech. I would still consider this, but it looks like this is not really a great idea. I currently have a 4x55PC retro laying around. I would consider using it, but is it too much light for my goals? Also I want the plants to be mostly slow growing.

I also would like to talk about ferts. I am using EI with my other tank and it is great. However, it is a high tech tank.....and i have read some people having issues with EI with lower light. Any thoughts on ferts?

So I guess these are my questions now (considering my goals of maximized self sufficiency):

Lighting?

Filtration? I probly want and ehiem - so this is where you eheimhead's come in with some great advice!!!

CO2 Yes or No?

Ferts?

Plants? - I really dont want to prun.... There is always prunning for health, and that is fine, but i really dont want to be topping 6000 step plants each week.

Fish? I was considering discuss just for size of the fish!!! But I dont know much about them? What about angels? Anyone have thoughts on fish? While tetras are great!! I want to have something that has some size....and i think this is the tank to do it.


Thanks so much guys!!! I am super excited to start the project. With all your help im sure i can get this thing within my goals. Thanks Again!!!

jB