75 gallon planted community build

This is going to be my first major foray into not only a planted tank but this is the largest tank I've ever owNed in my life thus far.

This is just going to be my diary, if you will, about the progress of my tanks from beginning to end.

I'm currently cycling a 75 gallon and a 5.5 and possibly buying a ten this week as well. We'll see. This project will probably take me about 2 month for completion from this point. Let's just jump in shall we?

my stocking plan for my tank is as follows:
Purple harlequin rasboras 5
zebra danios 5
serpae tetras 5
pearl danios 5
scissortail rasboras 5
glowlight tetras 5
neon tetras 10
and corydoras 10

Plants:

Definitely:
anacharis
hornwort

Considering:
java moss
java fern
anubias
Water wisteria
amazon sword

If you have any insight feel free to drop in and share and follow along

 

That sounds like a good stocking plan to me. Not sure what temperature the tetras need but be careful with the corys and danios because they usually have lower temperature thresholds than the tetras.

 

I was planning on 75 degrees as this is pretty close to the tanks natural temperature and seems to be in line with the temp parameters of the fish listed. Although I do know certain corys prefer warmer/colder ranges.

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Only cories that would work at that temp are panda, peppered and trilleneatus.


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I cant wait to see how beautiful everything turns out! Its gonna be awesome, and im sure it will be your pride and joy! Setting up a new tank is always fun, its such an excellent creative process, and is really pleasing to the soul. Dont forget to upload pics as you have them, we all love us some pictures!

One thing I would suggest, I see you have 6 schools of 5, I would recommend changing that to 3 schools of 10, or even better, 2 schools of 15. A proper school is normally stated as 6, however in larger tanks, that minimum school size needs to be a bit higher to reduce aggressive behavior like fin nipping and such. Also, with larger schools, youll see not only more peaceful, but more natural behavior, and it will benefit your fish in the long run as they will have an ideal and stress free environment.

 

Uploading a picture for before/after. This is my current set up with playsand substrate, free driftwood held down by slate, and a few plastic plants (for now). This is just so I have something in my tank for the few fish in there. Sorry about it being so dark, I don't have my lighting fixture yet.

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I'm so excited I had to post an update. I received my package today with some fish goodies and wanted to update my journal for posterity. I bought 2 Aqueon Quietflow 55 / 75 400gph filters and ordered an API freshwater master test kit and I gotta say I'm in love with both. The filters run, not only smoothly, but quietly as well and the test kit is simple to use and the instructions are easy to follow.
My current water parameters are:
Ph 8.2
Ammonia .50 ppm
Nitrite .25 ppm
Nitrates 30 ppm
Temp 76 degrees

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There are others..... Coradee can name them.
Keep in mind trilineatus is often mislabeled as C. julii, so if it says julii cories than they are most likely C. trilineatus.

 

Coradee I was planning on a school of peppered and a school of bronze. In your experience will this work? Or should I just go with peppered. Also where can I find out what temperature each cory likes?

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Update parameters:
Temp 77 degrees
Ph 7.8
Ammonia .25 ppm
Nitrite .50 ppm
Nitrates 10 ppm

Getting closer every day!

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Curious what your substrate and lighting is... can you provide some specifics? I am in process of building out a planted 55 gallon tank too, so it's fun to compare notes and experiences. I chose to do a natural planted tank (Walstad method), wondering what you are doing as you say it is your first planted tank.

 

bigdreams my substrate is sand as I read it was the best things for the corys that I plan on putting in the tank and the light I'm going to get is the Finnex planted plus. I'm just beginning so I plan on a few varieties of low light plants, trying to get as close to an amazon biotope as possible for my corys but it won't be totally a biotope.

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Ph 8.2
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite .25 ppm
Nitrates 0 ppm

I think it's time for some fishies! Finally, YAY!

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To be on the safe side, id wait til your Nitrites are absolutely 0. I made the mistake of adding fish a bit too soon, and had a 5 day nitrite spike when I first added fish to my 55g. Nitrites are even more toxic than ammonia. Also its a bit odd that your Nitrates are reading at 0.

 

I thought nitrites were less toxic and Nitrates less than Nitrates but still bad if too high. Should I add a bacteria supplements? I have the ongoing parameters on this thread and I had up to 50 ppm I believe but then it went to zero again.

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Ammonia is very toxic, Nitrites are EXTREMELY toxic, Nitrates are only toxic once they start to get in the 40ppm range or higher.