75 Gallon Planted Tank Advice

Hey All,

Im looking for some advice regarding plant selection for my new tank. My specs:

75 gallon built in overflow with 20 gallon sump DIY wet dry filter 9.5 mag drive return pump.

I put 1inch of fluorite on the entire bottom of the tank and then covered that with 3inch of white pool filter sand.

I will be buying a 48inch T5-HO coralife fixture (2x54 watt 6700K bulbs).

Fluval m300 heater.

Glass Tops.

My Questions:

1. What plants would you recommended and placement(background, mid, foreground etc)

2. I have a large piece of driftwood...what to attach to this(plant wise).

3. Will I need CO2 and if so can i get by with some DIY system and place it in my sump. Best metod of doing this. I want all my equipment in the sump if possible.(IMO...provides a clean crisp proffesional look.)

4.I would like a thick ground cover almost like grass. Is this suitable for my tank and if so whats the name of it.

5.Would it be best to place my light directly on the glass or use the leg stands and prop it up over my glass...I plan on keeping the glass tops on.

Thats all the questions I can think of now. I know that a overflow/reef ready tank isnt ideal for planting but I stole this tank off craigslist and someday will make it into a reef tank.

 

we have ALLOT of great planted tank members.and im sure they will be along to help Im only good at beginner plants but I do need to ask, what fish are in the 75g tank? that will make a huge difference as allot of fish will eat most plants.....and maybe update your aquarium information as I dont even see your 75g listed? good luck

 

Yes, we really need to know what fish are in the tank before we can recommend which plants may work for you. I don't want to recommend a fine leaf plant only to find that your tank is full of Severums & have you dissapointed because they eat the plants that were recommended.

For the light, I would definitley use the legs that came with it. T5HO lights put out alot of heat & if they are sitting straight on the glass lids that heat will transfer through & heat up the wte quite a bit. The extra few inches of height won't make any noticeable difference to the intensity of light penetrating to the bottom of the tank.

For co2 you could use a multi bottle co2 rig. I would recommend running at least 3 x 2lt yeast generators in a 75gal to get any real benefit. How much benefit you get from it will depend alot on how much splash there is from your overflow system & how much surface disturbance there is through the filter system & main tank. The more splash & disturbance the less effective it will be. In a 75gal you might want to consider an injected co2 system to get full benefit from co2 supplementatinon.

 

I was going to put in a school of cory cats, school of neons, school of neon mickey mouse platies(2-1 female-male ratio)....

Im still not sure on the platies.....suggestions welcomed on a different type of fish.

Thanks

 

Cool. No plant vandals among that lot. If you stick to general community fish like Tetras & Rasboras you don't need to worry about plants being munched too much. Beware of Barbs though, lots of Barbs love eating plants. Some do & some don't so if you decide you want to add some Barbs to the mix, research the ones you wnat first to be sure they won't chomp all your plants.

To attach to the wood you have many choices: Java Fern (Microsorum Pteropus many variants), Java Moss (Vesicularia species), Christmas Moss, Anubius Nana 'Petite' (other Nana varieties to), Fissedens (Fissedens Fontanus) & African Water Fern Bolbitus Heudelotii). All require lower light levels so put them in the shade of a larger plant or floating plants.

Foreground: Micro Sword (Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis) would be my first choice. Followed by Pygmy Chain Sword, (Echinodorus Tenellus) & Dwarf Sag (Sagittaria Subulata). For something a little different you could try Downoi/Little Star (Pogostemon Helferi) or do a carpet of Riccia (Riccia Fluitans) grown between some hobby mesh cut to shape. The Riccia will grow right through the mesh & hide it from view.

Mid-ground: Ozelot Sword, Red Tiger Lotus (Nymphaia Lotus Zenkeri 'Red'), Water Milfoil (Myriophyllum Aquaticum), Lobelia (Lobelia Cardinalis), Oval Ludwigia (Ludwigia Ovalis), Water Wisteria (Hygrophila Difformis), Red Melon Sword (Echinodorus x Barthii), Cryptocoryne Undulata, Cryptocoryne Lucens, Cryptocoryne Ciliata, Dwarf Bacopa (Bacopa Monniere).

Background: Crispus (Aponogeton Crispus), Green Cabomba, (Cabomba Caroliniana), Radican Sword (Echinodorus Cordifolius), Ruffled Sword (Echinodorus Martii), Jungle Val (Vallisneria Spiralis), Sunset Hygro (Hygrophila Polysperma 'Sunset'), Elodea (Elodea Canadensis), Aponogeton Boivinianus, Giant Hygro (Hygophila Corymbosa)

There should be a few things on that list that you will like. There are other options as well but that's what I can think of immediately.

For fish, 75gal is alot of room. There are literally hundreds of fish you could have in there. A few of my favourites though are Rummynose Tetras, Harlequin Rasboras, Lemon Tetras, Black Widow Tetras, Cherry Barbs, German Blue Rams, Kribensis, Silver Tip Tetra, Bloodfin Tetra & Pretty Tetra.

Having some Otocinclus catifsh & a couple of Siamese Algae Eaters will also be good for a planted tank as they will help clean up any algae that may form.