75 G Community Tank And Stand Build

HI folks. Just joined your community a few weeks ago and am officially underway with my setup. I had a 75 gallon tank about 15 years ago and liked the size so I just bought another one to get back into the hobby.
First step was to build a stand, and having worked in cabinet shops over the years it was the easy part.

After a lot of research I’ve decided on a low tech planted tank to feature German blue rams, cardinal tetras, congo tetras, one or two dwarf gouramis and some Cory’s. Any suggestions on stocking levels or any other advice will be greatly appreciated. I’ll post again when I figure out how to post photos

 

For stocking how about
2 german blue rams
2 pearl gouramis
10-12 congo tetras
15-20 cardinal tetras
20 sterbaI cories or bronze cories

 

I was thinking more like 5 rams with fewer Congo’s and Cory’s. I know the 5 rams could be a problem but with a lot of rock work, some plants and dither fish it might work.

 

Ok let’s see if I can post a photo.

 

Ok let’s see if I can post a photo. View attachment 475363

This is the basic construction method for the stand. Kreg heavy duty pocket holes for the framework, and a groove for the panels. Ripped both edges off the 2x4's to square up the edges.

 

This is an assembled end panel.



Completed frame



Doors

 

All assembled and tank in place. Also built a hood but didn’t take any construction photos

 

Here’s the inside. It’s gray on the inside because I originally painted it all gray but the wife hated it. So back to Lowe’s paint dept and another coat of her choice. Should have taken her with me the first time.

 

After researching how to slope the substrate decide to do the lava rock in panty hose thing. Actually used black fishnets. Don’t ask me where I got those



Here’s the finished hill. Substrate is imagitarium black sand from Petco.

 

After researching how to slope the substrate decide to do the lava rock in panty hose thing. Actually used black fishnets. Don’t ask me where I got those
View attachment 475376

Here’s the finished hill. Substrate is imagitarium black sand from Petco.

 

And here’s where I’m at now. Used two 17 lb bags of Seiryu rock from chewy

 

After researching how to slope the substrate decide to do the lava rock in panty hose thing. Actually used black fishnets. Don’t ask me where I got those
View attachment 475376

 

Nice! What are you planning on growing and maybe add some more rocks it looks a little empty

 

Don’t know much about plants. I’d like to keep it very simple but moderately well planted. I’ve ordered a beamworks DA 5200 lumen led light fixture. I only need a few types of plants, not looking to create the garden of eden here, so suggestions are welcome. I would like some type of easy carpet plant if that’s possible. Don’t know if that’s realistic with low light, no CO2 and inert sand substrate.

 

Don’t know much about plants. I’d like to keep it very simple but moderately well planted. I’ve ordered a beamworks DA 5200 lumen led light fixture. I only need a few types of plants, not looking to create the garden of eden here, so suggestions are welcome. I would like some type of easy carpet plant if that’s possible. Don’t know if that’s realistic with low light, no CO2 and inert sand substrate.

 

Sorry for the double post. Haven’t figured this all out yet

 

Sorry for the double post. Haven’t figured this all out yet

It's fine. I don't really know of any low light carpet plants, but i'm sure a quick search here would help way more than I can.

 

Wow Doug, most impressive stand build! I'm jelly!

 

Thanks Neb

 

Ok. Tank is planted, but things will get moved around since I still have some manzanita branches coming. Cycle is underway. Time to work on my stocking list. Here’s what I have so far.

5 German blue Rams (from yunite sdrams not lfs)
2-3 dwarf gourami
20 cardinal tetras
8 Congo tetras
6-8 SterbaI corys
1 farlowella catfish

Very open to changes, suggestions etc.
Still monitoring ph which rose to 7.4 after adding the rocks, but has fallen to about 6.8 which is the same as my well water.
Temp is 80. KH 4. GH 5

Sound like a good list? Too many fish for a 75 or room for more? Biggest question is what to add first and how many at a time? I’m taking things slowly, so no fish for several more weeks. Want to make sure tank is cycled and stable with all aquascaping finalized.

Plenty of filtration: eheim 2226 canister, Aquaclear 110, and a large cpr hob refugium with some lava rock, Marimo moss balls and some java moss.

I need lots of opinions, I tend to overthink things and sometimes have a hard time making decisions

 

Just got my manzanita branches from blooms and branches. This is two of the 36” natural pieces. They were way too thick so I pruned them down quite a bit. Have em soaking in a tub weighted down with rocks so they don’t float. Probably takes too long to get waterlogged so I’ll probably attach them to rocks so I can get them in the tank. Here are the before and after pruning pictures.

 

Not getting any responses or answers to my questions but I’ll try one more post. This photo is after rescaping. Pruned the branches down some more and glued some java fern and java moss to the branches. Had to move a few rocks and plants around and so far I like the overall look. I’m hoping the white spots where I trimmed off the branches will be less noticeable with time. I’ve read where the red bark sloughs off in time but I can’t even tell if it is bark, if so it’s extremely thin.

Would still like some responses to my stocking questions from a few posts ago? That would be much appreciated.

 

The dwarf gourami may fight, they are pugnacious little things. Can you get a single male and two females?
There is a huge size difference in cardinal tetras and congo tetras. Be careful that your cardinals don't hide all the time trying to avoid the much larger congos.

Why 5 rams and not 6? Do you know the gender ratio of your rams?

 

Thank you for the response. I may only get one male one female gourami, or just one male. Not interested in breeding but if it happens that’s fine too. If the Congo’s would be a problem for the cardinals what other schooling species would fit well with the others? The website I’ll be ordering the rams from has specials for specific size groups with free shipping, such as 5 rams - free shipping- $55.98. I think you can request the ratio of males to females, like 2 males/3 females. The next size group is 8 which is too many.

 

It is usually considered best to have even numbers of rams as they tend to pair up. Having five would be someone getting left out and likely picked on (maybe killed). If you do decide to go with 5, try 3 females and 2 males.

Are you looking to go larger or smaller with your schooling fish? As that would help determine whether to keep the cardinals, or the congos.
If you wanted to keep the cardinals I'd say green neons, rummynose glowligh (not glo-fish) or lemon tetras are good options that are smaller and less likely to be problematic. If you wanted larger to go with the congo tetras there are numerous rainbowfish species like the boesmannI and turquoise which are all active, large schoolers with lots of color. You could also stick with south american and go with black phantom, red phantom and the black/white skirt tetras.

Also loving te scape so far. That's going to be so lush and dense in a few months.

 

I really like the color contrast between the wood and the plants, and those rocks have some great texture to them.

Also, that cabinet is awesome.

 

Hey all interesting thread, Beautifuf Stand, Canopy & tank Display it proudly!! best of luck stocking it

 

Love the stand. Simple, clean. I love Kregggggg. Use quite a few of there products regularly. My stands though are always overkill lol. Always overbuilt

 

Thanks to everyone for the compliments. I’d like some opinions on my revised stocking list.

3 German blue rams
1 male cockatoo dwarf cichlid
1 male dwarf gourami
12 cardinal tetras
18 rummy nose tetras
9 SterbaI or panda Cory’s
1 red whip tail catfish

Snails?
Shrimp?
(Don’t know much about either)

Does this sound like a reasonable stocking level for a well filtered, planted 75 gallon Suggestions or changes?

 

It looks great.

I would consider valesteria planted along the back.

Manzanita will look nice.

Your stocking is heavy in my opinion. I wouldn’t add anything else except bump the corys to 10-12.

IME sterbias are some of the shyest corys. Pretty but you don’t see them as often as say bronze corys which are more active.

 

Very nice!
I just set up a 75 myself. Such a great size. And like you, I’ve never done plants before so I’m experimenting.
Can’t help with stocking. I use aqadvisor and tend to stock conservatively.
My stocking plan for my 75 is:
7-8 golden diamond barbs
8 tiger barbs (yes I know they tend to be aggressive but the ones I have lived with my scissortail rasboras for several months and seem quite laid back so we will see what happens when I move them to the 75)
And 6 golden zebra loaches
I’ve read loaches can be hard on plants so that will also be a wait and see experiment

 

A week ago added the first livestock.

8 rummynose tetras (all they had, will get probably 8 more.

8 peppered Cory’s

5 Otos (bought six but one was dead when I got home)

8 nerite snails

Also asked for 6 amano shrimp but the guy forgot and I didn’t realize until I got home

Going back in another week to get more rummys if they have any, the shrimp, and either a dwarf gourami or a pearl. Can’t decide which one. Any opinions on which would do better with the German Rams I plan to get later?

All fish are eating and doing well. Had some brown algae pop up but it’s starting to get better. Will post a picture later.

 

A week ago added the first livestock.

8 rummynose tetras (all they had, will get probably 8 more.

8 peppered Cory’s

5 Otos (bought six but one was dead when I got home)

8 nerite snails

Also asked for 6 amano shrimp but the guy forgot and I didn’t realize until I got home

Going back in another week to get more rummys if they have any, the shrimp, and either a dwarf gourami or a pearl. Can’t decide which one. Any opinions on which would do better with the German Rams I plan to get later?

All fish are eating and doing well. Had some brown algae pop up but it’s starting to get better. Will post a picture later.

PS. Using the fishlore app, what’s the difference between reply and reply topic?

 

You'll have temperature incompatibilies with rams.
Rams like really warm water 80-82 ish. Peppered corys and rummynose tetras both won't do well in such high temperatures.

 

I envy your setup! It's beautiful and once it grows in a little.. wow!

 

Thanks. And on the temperature subject, this is what’s most frustrating to me about this hobby. Research using different sources always yields different answers. I plan to keep the tank at 80, and I realize now the Cory’s may have to go back. But I’ve seen temp range for rummys as high as 82, and others where the high end is 77, so who knows.

But back to the Cory’s, I was gonna buy sterbaI but the lfs wanted $8.49 each and the peppered were only $3.49. So not knowing at the time they were a cool water Cory I made the choice based on price. I think they only had sterbai, panda and one other I can’t remember so I’ll have to figure out something.

 

SterbaI actually have a higher heat tolerance than most corys, they would probably fit your stocking much better than peppereds. I keep mine at 76-78 but I have read people successfully keeping them in warmer waters.

 

Thanks. And on the temperature subject, this is what’s most frustrating to me about this hobby. Research using different sources always yields different answers. I plan to keep the tank at 80, and I realize now the Cory’s may have to go back. But I’ve seen temp range for rummys as high as 82, and others where the high end is 77, so who knows.

But back to the Cory’s, I was gonna buy sterbaI but the lfs wanted $8.49 each and the peppered were only $3.49. So not knowing at the time they were a cool water Cory I made the choice based on price. I think they only had sterbai, panda and one other I can’t remember so I’ll have to figure out something.

I keep my Peppers at 78, too high by most standards but they have been in the tank for a year, 0 deaths. Very active. And my tank gets up near 80 in the middle of summer with outside temps near 110.

 

I’ve actually been thinking about keeping them. I really don’t want to pay $8.49 each for 8 if the sterbai. I understand that peppers have been captive bred for many years and may be far removed from their wild cousins. I read another post where someone kept theirs at 80 for 2-1/2 years with no problems. Yes they may have a shorter lifespan, but they seem very happy and active.