Sorry to hear of all your issues, hubby had some trouble with the latest rack but it worked out alright. Since I'm always ready to show pics, and hopefully they'll help...here:

This is how we did the rack, and a distant view of how we did water bottles:


This is a closeup of how we did the water bottles, nothing spiffy really, although we've found it to work better with the 45 degree water bottles from Lixit, we just put it in the hardware cloth, and rest it on the wood frame:


As to how many can comfortably live in that space;
This.....is too many lol, (thinning out tomorrow and they haven't been in there long, ended up out of room):


This is better, although only a holder, so they will not be in there until adult size in that quantity:


This is our breeding groups, kept permanently in this rack. I prefer a 1:6, but 1:7 seems to work quite well equally.


As far as toys go, I don't provide them, more because they're not realistic at the size we're aiming for then anything, there's room for anything but a wheel though, and plenty of room for chew toys.

Hope to help!