Recommendations For 75 Gallon Tank

So I originally wanted a 29 gallon tank, but my boyfriend thought it wasn't big enough so I planned for a 55 gallon and we got to the store yesterday (which is an hour drive) and they had a 75 ensemble for the same price, so I ended up with a new 75 gallon tank.

I'll start off by saying I'm not a complete beginner. I've kept small betta tanks for almost 5 years now but I've never gotten into anything else. I have a fairly good understanding of the nitrogen cycle but very limited knowledge on fish keeping outside of Betta. I've also kept a couple of anubias and java ferns in one of my 5 gallon tanks.

Anyways, so I have a 75 gallon tank, hood and stand with an LED light strip (it's marineland brand). I need,
1) filter recommendation (I am going to also have a larger sponge filter, I keep them in all of my tanks)
2) heater recommendation (I know I will need 250-300 watts, my house can get down to 62 degrees during the winter but up to 78 in the summer)
3) to make sure my substrate is OK, I have Miracle Grow organic potting mix and vigoro pea gravel to cap it and I'm planning on ordering a starter plant pack from LiveAquaria
4) Lighting recommendation since I'm pretty certain the LED strip that came with the tank won't be sufficient for plants (I think I am looking at 6500k daylight bulbs in at least 75 watts? The hood is glass so I'm hoping I can find a light fixture I can just set on top of the tank so I don't have to mount anything to my walls/ceiling or anything)
5) stocking advice, I am thinking about doing about 8-10 guppies, 1 angelfish, 6 platys, 2 bolivian rams and 10-12 kuhlI loaches. I am mostly concerned about the angelfish and bolivian rams, I've been working on researching but I have found a lot of conflicting information. The only thing I am absolutely 100% committed to getting are the kuhli's. My brother gave me two of them in a 10 gallon tank years ago that I had to rehome but I loved them. I had a lot of options but I am trying to fill all levels of the tank and I specifically picked guppies and platys because we have hard alkaline (7.8 pH) tap water.
6) advice for ordering online. I am hoping to order all at once if at all possible from LiveAquaria because I have a 15% off coupon and between the fish and plants, I have enough for the free shipping and they have a 14 day guarantee. HOWEVER, that means that I would have to pretty much add everything to the tank at once. How bad of an idea is this? I am planning on fishless cycling the tank beforehand with filter media from my established tanks, but my largest established tank is only 10g.
7) inexpensive/diy decor that look good in a planted tank? I'm already dropping a lot of money and decor is expensive especially for this size of tank lol, but I want enough coverage and especially lower hiding spots for my loaches.
8) Anything else I should add to my online orders? I'm buying the filters, heater, and seachem flourish liquid and root tabs online from amazon/drs foster and smith which I also have a 15% off coupon for. I also bought some frozen foods today (brine shrimp and a community fish blend of some sort) and I have omega one & NLS pellets and freeze dried bloodworms. I use seachem prime water conditioner.

I know it's a lot of questions lol. I appreciate any answers even if it's only to one or two questions.

TIA!

 

Surprisingly, the Aqua-Tech filters are some of my favorites. I also like top Fin and AquaClear filters. The lighting depends on the plants. For decor, driftwood is a great option. You can collect it yourself. With the listed stocking, you still have plenty of room. I like Rummynose Tetras.

 

You seem like you know what you're doing. I don't know about the miracle grow potting soil, maybe you should get something for aquariums since you are spending so much and really want the plants.

 

That potting soil is great for plants. You might want to consider capping with pool filter sand or black diamond blasting sand though. The kuhlis will appreciate it and it will probably keep the soil buried better.

You can keep plenty of schooling fish in your water; fish can generally adapt to harder water, unless they are wild-caught.

Eheim Jager heaters are nice, and more efficient than many, so you won't need as much wattage (check the ordering page to find the appropriate size).
Clay pots make cheap caves, and don't look plastic-y.

If you move fast, Drs. Foster and Smith has a Memorial Day sale on, 25% off today.

 

I stand corrected, I thought it was better not to use gardening supplies. i'm just learning though.

 

KuhlI loaches will dig themselves into the substrate if they can, so make the cap thick if you don't want a mud explosion. Soil is cheap and better than any commercial substrate labeled for growing plants, but as everything in life, it does not last forever. Adding ferts to the water column will also help the plants and make your soil last longer.

 

1) whatever filter you choose buy one that runs at 8-10 times your tank size... For your tank I'd say something around 700-750 gph and use it in conjunction with your sponge filter.

2) heaters in a tank that size I'd use two 200-250 watt heaters, they are fairly inexpensive and I've used a variety of brands they all seem pretty equal in my experience. Some people prefer ones that can be recalibrated as needed, myself I just make adjustments accordingly lol

3) I have never ran a dirted tank, some one more knowledgeable will have to advise

4) lighting, depends heavily on your plants... Finnex makes a great selection of lighting from low light to their 24/7. Their listings on Amazon compare features well on Amazon.com. They can get spendy.

5) other people are better at compatibility than I, I'll keep my opinions to myself

6) adding all the fish isn't a terrible idea.... It WILL be more work and a longer wait to Fishless cycle. IF you stick with the current list, I would highly recommend being completely cycled and processing AT LEAST 2ppm of Ammonia to nitrAtes in 24 hours or less. Personally I'd probably get the bioload to 3-4ppm Ammonia in 24 hours I'd think that would be overkill but should prevent any major spikes after adding everyone. You should count on monitoring your parameters pretty much daily or every other day for a month or so after adding fish to be sure nothing goes amok on you.

7) DIY decor... Well if you don't mind from an esthetics view there's a TON of options until you can purchase over time more visually appealing items. With plants you can hide the view a bit. Clay or terracotta pots all sizes, PVC pipes (straight, joints, elbows, etc) not the prettiest but keeps tunnels, caves, holes, hides etc at the ready for everyone and you can easily rearrange if you start getting territory wars. Then everyone can be happy until you find and piece together what you want!

8) I recommend getting Seachem Stability and Prime and having those on hand for your cycling as well as helping throughout any hiccups after you add fish. I prefer these products over others as you get reliable test results, you can add daily so you can stop or adjust the routine and amounts as necessary, and they work very well together. If you don't have a test kit I strong recommend going on Amazon and getting the API freshwater master test kit it's like $20ish on Amazon (never seen it cheaper anywhere else)

And frozen foods are great, I don't really do any freeze dried I get everything flake, pellet or frozen and everyone seems to like frozen the best. I feed a wide variety of frozen, generally a combination of a couple different things a day and keep it mixed up so everyone gets their favorites. Pellets and flakes round out anything else and give the less aggressive fish in my tanks a completely healthy alternative to the feeding frenzy

 

You should check into canister filters. Those work great on large tanks. I started with the Top Fin 20 gallon starter kit and the HOB filter was waaayyyy too loud, so I bought a canister filter which is quieter and is at foot level. The little bit of noise it makes is harder to hear since it isn't at ear level.

As for lighting, it all depends on what plants you want. LED lights will work fine for low light plants like java ferns and moss balls. OTOH, Red Ludwigia is a popular plant that requires more powerful lights. I put some red ludwigia in my tank and installed a Marineland Plant Life LED. Now I'm seeing green algae, and the ludwigia is doing okay, but my java ferns that got huge under standard LEDs have started to turn brown and some of the leaves died. I think they are getting too much light.

Anyway, my point is research the plants you want and then pick the type of lighting that works best for them. The LED lights you have should work for most beginner plants that are low light.

 

Thanks for your replies!

These are the plants I have in my cart right now
Micro Sword (Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae) - Potted 3
Anubias Nana - Bare Root 2
Chainsword Narrow Leaf (Echinodorus tenellus) - Potted 2
Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus) - Bare Root 3
Undulata Cryptocoryne (Cryptocoryne wendtii) - Potted 3
Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides) - Potted 2
Hornwort Single (Ceratophyllum demursum) 4
Ludwigia Broad Leaf (Ludwigia repens) - Bunch Plant 3
Cabomba (Cabomba caroliniana) - Bunch Plant 4
Amazon Sword Plant - Bare Root 2

And I'm pretty sure this is the light that came with the tank it's the 36"-48" one.

I did forget to mention that I have the API freshwater master test kit (although I'm going to need a new one soon because I'm running really low). I've successfully done many fish-in cycles using Tetra safestart and daily prime dosing. Any experiences using TSS on a fishless cycle? My coupon expires at the end of June so I'm hoping to have everything ready by then. Also, as far as algae goes, I'm thinking about adding nerite snails to the tank and hopefully the angelfish won't eat them. I'm hoping he/she will be too full on platy and guppy fry lol. I had a nerite years ago in an unplanted 5 gallon that was completely covered in algae and she had it sparkling clean in less than 24 hours.

Thank you!

 

Ludwigia requires more than a standard LED light. Check into the Marineland Plant LED, if you want Ludwigia. It's actually a pretty cool light too because it has an automatic timer that goes from off, to blue lights, to white lights, to blue lights, and then back to off.

 

Thank you! I will look into it. The plants are part of a kit so I didn't actually choose them individually so I appreciate your help.

My only other question is does everyone use the LED lighting now? I'm just wondering. Back when I had a planted tank most people suggested daylight fluorescent bulbs. I'm not sure what the differences are but the LED fixtures seem much more expensive.

 

I've ran incandescent (been doing aquariums for a while lol) all the way through LEDs.
Although the LED has a higher upfront cost for a good setup and there's a myriad of options and light specifications they have been by far the best I've ever used on my tanks. They have also opened a vast array of opportunities for new and different plants as well. They are low profile, don't put out nearly the heat of any other options and you don't have to have special set ups to accommodate different styles or types of lighting.

And in all honesty it truly does make a difference in energy consumption as well... Cost wise it's got to be significant over time to go from any other light to minimal wattage in an LED. I couldn't give you a comparison ad I've moved far too many times over the years and had many different tanks and electric providers lol

 

Bolivian rams need coooler water than angels. German blue rams or electric blue rams would be fine though.

 

Thank you! I will look into it. The plants are part of a kit so I didn't actually choose them individually so I appreciate your help.
My only other question is does everyone use the LED lighting now? I'm just wondering. Back when I had a planted tank most people suggested daylight fluorescent bulbs. I'm not sure what the differences are but the LED fixtures seem much more expensive.

LED lighting is the best bang for the buck. There's a lot of options out there from expensive lights that have timers and different effects to more basic LED systems with white lights with a moonlight setting. Canister filters are the way to go with a tank that size, I would look for something in the range of 350 gph. With canister filters you need 5x turnover rate for you water, I have about 7x running a pair of canister filters. For heating I would use a pair of 200 watt heaters so there's a back up heater incase one goes down. I have never had a dirted tank but use BDBS with a lot of plants that are doing great, at $8 for 50 lbs you can't beat it.

 

Oh and the cheapest place to find the Marineland Plant LED ispetmountain I bought it for I think $169.00. All other places for the same light in the size I wanted were $200 to $400 dollars.

 

Are there any more basic plant LED lights or is the marineland as basic as it gets? Should I just replace my LED fixture that came with my tank or supplement it with another light?

Also, I'm assuming if I go with a cannister that I really don't need the second sponge filter?

 

You'll be fine without the sponge. If you keep the ludwigia you'll need a higher powered light than the standard LED that came with the tank.