75s are a ton better than 55s, especially for larger fish. What kind do you want to keep, anyway?
I live in GA, and I bought my two used 75s off craigslist. Thats the best place to find them I think. The first one was $200 with everything; the second was $125 with everything but a stand.
The glass lids shouldn't extend all the way to the back of the tank; there should be a few inches for the hoses/filters to fit through.
for a heater, I like stealth heaters. The are plain black so they shouldn't be very noticeable, and they aren't glass so your fish can't crack them.
AC110s are probably the best reviewed HOB (hang on back power filter) filters. You could get a canister filter instead though; those are the ones that go under the tank and have hoses going up to it. Fluval 405s are good, so are eheim 2217s and rena xp3s. They are more expensive though. A fluval 404 (previous version of the 405, no significant differences) is $85 on ebay. I have 2 of those, they work great.
Unless you've got a lot of big fish, just one of these filters should be fine.
I also recommend painting the back of the tank (outside glass) black. It looks a lot nicer than a regular background, and your fish will stand out more. I used latex paint and applied it with a roller. It takes a bunch of coats, but it dries quick so I only had to wait about half an hour between coats.
I live in GA, and I bought my two used 75s off craigslist. Thats the best place to find them I think. The first one was $200 with everything; the second was $125 with everything but a stand.
The glass lids shouldn't extend all the way to the back of the tank; there should be a few inches for the hoses/filters to fit through.
for a heater, I like stealth heaters. The are plain black so they shouldn't be very noticeable, and they aren't glass so your fish can't crack them.
AC110s are probably the best reviewed HOB (hang on back power filter) filters. You could get a canister filter instead though; those are the ones that go under the tank and have hoses going up to it. Fluval 405s are good, so are eheim 2217s and rena xp3s. They are more expensive though. A fluval 404 (previous version of the 405, no significant differences) is $85 on ebay. I have 2 of those, they work great.
Unless you've got a lot of big fish, just one of these filters should be fine.
I also recommend painting the back of the tank (outside glass) black. It looks a lot nicer than a regular background, and your fish will stand out more. I used latex paint and applied it with a roller. It takes a bunch of coats, but it dries quick so I only had to wait about half an hour between coats.
