75 Gallon Build - Large Goldies

I think it was a good try, sometimes we need to try a few times until we get it right or just the way we want it. I usually try something new on a small scale so I can experiment to get what I want before trying full scale.

After much consideration I have decided to abandon making my own 3D background.
I was not happy with the results and I do not want to attempt to do the same with the time and money involved.
I purchased this today: https://www.universalrocks.com/fish/backgrounds/rocky-style/various-sizes and I hope to receive it before next weekend but I doubt it.
Originally I had looked at a similar product on their page but was concerned about the price and the volume of water that would be out of circulation. The version I purchased is much cheaper and very flat on the back side so mounting flush to back side of tank will be a breeze.

Also purchased Seachem Stability today for setting up water in the new tank and a decent piece of driftwood. I still plan on another larger piece of driftwood...I shudder at the price.

Type of substrate is still a major debate in my head.
Read lots of pros and cons about gravel and sand.
Gravel: Harder to clean with siphon, food particles fall down in it and rot etc. Gold fish can actually choke on it. Not cheap.
Sand: Easier to clean with siphon (just sweep across surface) with waste remains on top of sand layer. But can get in goldfish gills and cause damage/irritation. Can be incredibly cheap. Avoid getting it deeper then 2 inches.

I had 3 koi in my 55 gallon for several years with gravel with no problem and they liked digging around. I had plastic plants and they would move them around looking for food. They grew to big so now they are in a friends pond.

Going with sand. Purchased 3 Bags of 50lb Pool Filter Sand today plus a large piece of driftwood. I read a lot of pros and cons for both specifically for fancy gold fish.
Sand won by a large margin for me after checking multiple sources.

Currently waiting on my Background I mentioned above to arrive before moving forward. I have been scouting where to buy Fancies at and my options are extremely limited right now. They pretty much don't exist anywhere outside of a couple online vendors. I also live in a rural area and good pet shops are few and far between.

Purchased 3 x 50lb bags of pool filter sand from Rural King. It was $9 a bag.
It is incredibly dusty. It took me almost 2 hours to rinse 1 50 lb bag.
Still need to rinse the other two bags.
3D Background arrives today.

Finally some progress.


This valve comes off a Tee. Will allow the canister filter to pump out the water for me during water changes.


These two valves are for filter maint. Will prevent me from dumping all the water out of the lines.


Picture of the 3D background, plus how I routed air lines for air stones from behind the 3D Background. 3 Air stones total.


20Gal High for Isolation, and later on for water prep for water changes to be pumped up to larger tank.

So some setbacks and progress.
Frustrating setbacks though.

So I purchased pool filter sand. 2 times actually. First 150lbs was sand that was to light colored, too white. I gave it to my neighbor.


I then purchased pool filter sand from Rural King, which is a farm supply store. $9 for 50lbs. Avoid this **** like the plague.


I started to rinse it and immediately was concerned how dirty it was. Me rinsing a few pounds of it with a bucket and pooring into the tub.

So I rinsed it a lot. I mean a whole lot.

The water never came crystal clear, but looked good enough. It seemed like it was not coming more clear at a certain point no matter how much I rinsed it.
I figured the filter would clear it up, or it would settle in the tank.
This is as "clear" as it would ever get. (This is from the tank)


This is after I tried draining the tank completely, rinsing gain, then draining again, and doing a slow fill to avoid stirring up the substrate. Again a fail. So cloudy. So angry.


It left this residue where water settled for more then a moment.

So now something that worked really well.
The ball valves, Tee splitters and things I installed under the tank with my canister filter works really well in draining the water.
I can drain from tank full to this level in under 10 minutes.

I have new sand arriving tomorrow...at least from what petco says as of this weekend when I ordered it.
100lbs of this for $6 shipping. Suckers lol. Has good reviews, and will contrast nicely with the background.

I also finally...finally found some goldfish. 2 Hours away I found these 3 all at Petsmart in Evansville Indiana. It is almost a 2 hour drive from my house. It was the first place I found that had the styles of fish I was looking for and the size.
They are currently in the Isolation and/or refill tank.
Using Seachem Stability to avoid new tank syndrone.
The black moor is slightly smaller then the other two.

So it has been a while since my last update. I had a lot of things go wrong but all is well now.

I purchased a 2nd black moor. I could not help it, I love them. I put him in the isolation tank by himself. Lighting down there was poor and he seemed lethargic. His activity would increase as I temporarily improved the light. I did not notice anything else wrong with him and put him in the main tank after almost 2 weeks. Then I ask myself, is that Ich or slime coat on his pelvic fins. Nothing else anywhere as you would traditionally see it show up after a two week period. It was Ich. I should have had better lighting for isolation tank. I should have had more patience.

So everything went back into the quarantine tank for 3 weeks for Ich treatment.
The main tank I cranked up the temperature as high as it would go to speed up the life cycle of any Ich in the tank. Also treated it for Ich on top of that.

Everything is fine finally. I can focus on getting more plants and adding rocks.
I also got a bristlenose pleco. It is by far the largest I have seen actually for sale in person. Almost 2 inches.
I also purchased a much more expensive light for my quarantine tank.

The new moor Ich free


The bristlenose


The tank so far.

It looks so good! I love how the fishes colours all contrast so nicely, and the dark sand looks great too. This thread was an interesting read, thank you. We've all felt the trials and tribulations of setting up a new tank, but you worked through it

Absolutely beautiful fish! Surprised that they are that healthy, especially because they came from a PetSmart.

The black sand also looks really good - complements the dark driftwood.

love this project. It is coming along really nicely! What is the texture of the new black sand? was it sharp when you were washing it? would you use it for fish that root around the bottom? It's on my maybe list for my tank, but I know nothing about the brand.
Looking forward to more updates!