Help me plan my new build!

Hello! I decided to start anew after a 35 year hiatus last March. I set up a 20H planted tank. Though there were some hiccups, things have gone remarkably well. I only lost one fish that wasn't brand new in the past 14 months, and I'm itching to move my friends to a new home and try out some new species.
I'm looking at something in the 60-75 gallon range. I would move over my current stock of plants, as well as 1 Dwarf Blue Gourami, 14 Neon Tetras, 5 Albino Corydoras and 3 Amano shrimp.
Any pitfalls to the larger tank I should be aware of? I'm open to aquascaping ideas, stocking ideas, anything and everything you want to throw at me! I probably won't purchase this tank until July-August, and then it needs to cycle, so I've got plenty of time for research and ideas.

 

None off the top of my head besides making the cory group bigger.

 

I'm definitely going to increase (double?) the cory group. I'm also leaning towards a few Angelfish. I may bump up the size of my Tetra school as well.

 

Never against that. Tetras do like bigger groups. I doubled the size of both my black phantoms and red eye tetra groups when i moved them out of thwir respective 20s. Between that and being in a much bigger tank, their activity level is through the roof!

 

Tank wise...I'd wait for the next Petco sale unless you have an in with a lfs. I'd go as big as you can and it will probably still be small once you start filling it. I thought a 125 was huge until I put some large fish in it - got rather small quickly after that.

Only "pitfall" I can see is working yourself into a trap where you think that because its larger, it can go longer without maintenance. Well that and if you're doing a bucket brigade for water changes, it'll get old quickly if you're in the 50% weekly camp. Mid-Heavy planting I can get away with bi-weekly water changes with mid-high stocking.

I've run HOB's on 55's and 75's and they do work. Recently I've converted a 75 over to a Sicce Whale 500 canister and I'll be converting my other 75 over soon...ish. Let's be honest, canisters aren't cheap. They are quiet though and alot more customizable than some HOB's.

Light wise - I'd advocate that whatever you choose be a 4' fixture. In the Fluval series the box says 48-60". I have Fluval Aquasky 2.0's on most of my tanks. This is due to the ease in programming using Buetooth and an app on a phone or tablet. We experimented with a Finnex Planted+ ALC on a 75. Light wise its a very nice light. Programming wise....have an adult beverage or 3 then view the Youtube video. It's not the most pleasant of experiences.


My son's 75 Severum tank has the following:

(6) Panda corydoras
(1) striped raphael catfish
(1) yellow bn pleco
(1) king tiger pleco
(2) bosmani rainbows
(3) turquoise rainbows
(2) angelfish
(1) red shoulder severum
(1) green severum
(4) electric blue acaras - how'd I forget these??

The severum will eventually outgrow this tank and be moved into the 125.


My 75 community tank:

(12 or more) Diamond Tetras
(2) Opaline Gouramis
(1) Red Tail shark
(4) African cories (that's what the pet store sold them at, I'm not convinced)
(1) clown loach
(1) yo-yo loach
(1) regular bn
(1) blue phantom pleco
(1) orange seam pleco
(1) spotted pictus catfish
(1) upside down catfish
(1) cherry barb - needs an attitude adjustment

 

Tank wise...I'd wait for the next Petco sale unless you have an in with a lfs. I'd go as big as you can and it will probably still be small once you start filling it. I thought a 125 was huge until I put some large fish in it - got rather small quickly after that.

Only "pitfall" I can see is working yourself into a trap where you think that because its larger, it can go longer without maintenance. Well that and if you're doing a bucket brigade for water changes, it'll get old quickly if you're in the 50% weekly camp. Mid-Heavy planting I can get away with bi-weekly water changes with mid-high stocking.

I've run HOB's on 55's and 75's and they do work. Recently I've converted a 75 over to a Sicce Whale 500 canister and I'll be converting my other 75 over soon...ish. Let's be honest, canisters aren't cheap. They are quiet though and alot more customizable than some HOB's.

Light wise - I'd advocate that whatever you choose be a 4' fixture. In the Fluval series the box says 48-60". I have Fluval Aquasky 2.0's on most of my tanks. This is due to the ease in programming using Buetooth and an app on a phone or tablet. We experimented with a Finnex Planted+ ALC on a 75. Light wise its a very nice light. Programming wise....have an adult beverage or 3 then view the Youtube video. It's not the most pleasant of experiences.


My son's 75 Severum tank has the following:

(6) Panda corydoras
(1) striped raphael catfish
(1) yellow bn pleco
(1) king tiger pleco
(2) bosmani rainbows
(3) turquoise rainbows
(2) angelfish
(1) red shoulder severum
(1) green severum

The severum will eventually outgrow this tank and be moved into the 125.


My 75 community tank:

(12 or more) Diamond Tetras
(2) Opaline Gouramis
(1) Red Tail shark
(4) African cories (that's what the pet store sold them at, I'm not convinced)
(1) clown loach
(1) yo-yo loach
(1) regular bn
(1) blue phantom pleco
(1) orange seam pleco
(1) spotted pictus catfish
(1) upside down catfish
(1) cherry barb - needs an attitude adjustment

Thank you! This is exactly what I am looking for. On my current tank, I do 20-30% water changes weekly (Moderately planted, 0 Nitrates). When needed, such as when fighting Hydra a month ago, I will do more frequent larger changes. I have a sink about 20' away from my tank, so I think I'm covered there, although with the volume of water, I might opt for a Python instead of the 3 gallon vessels I use now.
I think I'm going to keep smaller stock (the Angels being the biggest) and go for bigger schools and more room to move. I also overfilter my current tank with a Fluval 30. I have another 20 gallon filter sitting around. My plan is to set that 20 up about a month before setting up the new tank, then move it over to run in concert with a canister filter (or seed the canister with media from it) to hopefully jumpstart the cycle.

 

The biggest pit fall of a larger tank is what it does to your wallet!

Angel fish will most likely eat your neon tetras. If you are set on angels, I'd suggest trading them in for cardinal tetras. Just about any center piece fish bigger than the gourami is probably going to make a snack of the neons.

I agree with increasing your schools. You could even mix the albino corys with some bronze corys. They are the same species, but that would add in some more variety. Plenty of room for a few more dwarf gourami if you wanted to go that route too.

Another school of fish might be nice for some variety too. Maybe some deeper body tetras? I'm just throwing ideas, but I think a variety of different shaped fish is just appealing.

Just give in to the MTS and keep both tanks! If I had the chance at a bigger tank, I'd keep one of the cichlids that are plant safe, like EBA, rainbows, sajica, topaz. Jewels or tapajos would work if you just had plants attached to wood or rocks, but they are diggers.

Large pieces of driftwood can take forever to sink, so you may want to start soaking early or screw some down to a big piece of slate that you can just bury in the substrate. I have also seen a lot of people using media bags full of lava rock under their substrate to give it more dimension without having to use a ton of soil or sand to make hills.

You might be able to snag some nice equipment sales on Amazon Prime Day. The date isn't set yet officially, but it is expected to be around the 12th if July. They usually have a deal for like a free month of Prime then also, if you aren't already a member. Of course, there are often pretty decent sales anyway if you hunt for them...and you have plenty of time for hunting while you are planning. You could always consider getting used items as well. Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, a local aquarium club.

 

The biggest pit fall of a larger tank is what it does to your wallet!

Angel fish will most likely eat your neon tetras. If you are set on angels, I'd suggest trading them in for cardinal tetras. Just about any center piece fish bigger than the gourami is probably going to make a snack of the neons.

I agree with increasing your schools. You could even mix the albino corys with some bronze corys. They are the same species, but that would add in some more variety. Plenty of room for a few more dwarf gourami if you wanted to go that route too.

Another school of fish might be nice for some variety too. Maybe some deeper body tetras? I'm just throwing ideas, but I think a variety of different shaped fish is just appealing.

Just give in to the MTS and keep both tanks! If I had the chance at a bigger tank, I'd keep one of the cichlids that are plant safe, like EBA, rainbows, sajica, topaz. Jewels or tapajos would work if you just had plants attached to wood or rocks, but they are diggers.

Large pieces of driftwood can take forever to sink, so you may want to start soaking early or screw some down to a big piece of slate that you can just bury in the substrate. I have also seen a lot of people using media bags full of lava rock under their substrate to give it more dimension without having to use a ton of soil or sand to make hills.

You might be able to snag some nice equipment sales on Amazon Prime Day. The date isn't set yet officially, but it is expected to be around the 12th if July. They usually have a deal for like a free month of Prime then also, if you aren't already a member. Of course, there are often pretty decent sales anyway if you hunt for them...and you have plenty of time for hunting while you are planning. You could always consider getting used items as well. Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, a local aquarium club.

Awesome tips on the driftwood and lava rock, thanks! I hadn't considered the Neons becoming dinner, since my Neons are absolute UNITS. I hadn't realized how much my fish have grown until last week when I went to Petco for a heater and browsed the tanks. My Neons, Dwarf Gourami and Corys are at least twice the size of the ones for sale.
I tried Harlequin Rasboras early on, but they started to inexplicably die off, so after a few mysterious deaths I surrendered the remaining Rasboras to my LFS. My parameters were all good, there was just something about my tank... maybe now that it's more mature they would flourish? I'll look into some other schooling fish though. Also, I like the idea of doubling my Cory gang with some bronze.

 

Hmm, curious what was going on with the harlequins. They are generally really hardy. Maybe you just got a bad batch. I've noticed the fish at the stores around me are much smaller too. I think the wholesales are pushing out the fish at a younger stage than they used to. I guess with better and faster shipping meaning higher survival rates they can keep them moving faster. Man, the nano fish especially, at my LFS are practically still fry!