What would you recommend for a 75gal. set up?

Question
Okay so my question is rather broad. I need a new tank (my first one was only on borrowed terms), I want to upgrade from the 55 gal. octagon tall tank to a 75 gal. rectangle tank. My problem is that I have no idea what to get. I have a little collection of fancy goldfish (as in a pair of Ryukin) and want to add more (Orandas, Lionhead, Ranchu and Black Moor), I know goldfish are very messy but I'm a tech dumb when it comes to figuring out what filters will work and what won't or even what lights are needed. I don't even really know if I can fit all of the fish in there together, I know they won't be aggressive with each other but I don't want to overcrowd them.

Answer
Hi Leighann,

Wow! Sounds like it's going to be a lovely tank. My recommendation would be to put no more than five (and preferably four) of the deep bodied fancies in a 75 gallon tank. If they were all black moors or veiltails, you could get away with six, but Ryukins, Lionheads and Ranchus all should have a bit more space - they are bigger and produce more waste.

As far as filtration goes, more is better. For a 75 gallon tank with big messy goldfish, you want at least 10 times turnover of the water per hour. This is rated in gph - gallons per hour. So you are looking at at least 750 gph from two filters, or one filter and some powerheads. I personally really like the combination of canister filters (low flow but lots of biological filtration) and power filters (less bio filtration but lots of flow) since they work well together. Maybe something like an Emperor 400 with a canister filter such as the Magnum 350. Or you could use two Emperor 400s - but canister filters have tons of room for biological media (ceramic rings and foam sponges) so work very well in goldfish tanks. Goldfish produce lots of ammonia for their size, so an abundance of biological filtration is a must.

Goldfish need lots of circulation because of their demands for water rich in dissolved oxygen. That's why cooler water is better for them too (cooler water holds more oxygen) - although with fancies, no cooler than 70 degrees would be my suggestion (unlike with common goldfish). Between 72-74 degrees is just about perfect, IMO.

As far as lights go, if you are not growing live plants, any lights will do. But goldfish do really well with SOME plants in their tank - floating ones are ideal since you don't need any special lighting. Amazon frogbit, Naja grass aka guppy grass, and Indian fern aka water sprite can all be grown floating and do wonders to keep ammonia and nitrites 0 ppm, and nitrates low. The only downside is the goldfish might nibble these, so you'll need to replace them sometimes.

Goldfish diet is very important to their health, also. Feeding dried foods only is a recipe for swim bladder troubles - floaty, bloaty goldfish. Read this article for more information:
http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gldfshmalnut.htm

These two links are also very helpful ones regarding goldfish care:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/goldfish101art.htm
http://bb.wetwebmedia.com/express.php?cat=3&mode=view&article=8
Full disclosure: that last link is to an article I wrote.

I hope that helps! Take care.
Nicole