[neilanh]

So, it's starting. 125 gallon ( 72 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 23 3/8 ) FW planted tank. I've been debating what to do with this tank for a while now, but it's time to finally get down to business.

I've decided on 2 36" TEK 4x39W fixtures for lighting, mixing the midday (6000K) bulbs and the 10000K bulbs for starters. That should put me at around 2.5WPG, which is probably more than enough.

I already have pressurized CO2, just may have to upgrade my 5# tank to accomodate the larger tank at some point.

For filtration, I'm debating whether a pair of XP4s will be too much. May drop that down to a pair of XP3s. I really like the Rena filters, currently running 3 of them for a year now with no issues.

Substrate is still on the table. I had convinced myself to go with the Schultz Aquatic Soil, I'm running that in my shrimp tank right now and have had huge success with it, plus you can't beat the price. But kind of wishing to go with a darker color, but don't want to spend the $$ on a full run of Eco, and I hear Turface MVP and SMS are no longer readily available. Any other ideas?

Probably going to start out with rainbowfish as the center, with the grand idea of going Discus ultimately with it. There will be a wide array of plants once I get the hardware up and running.

Off work for a week, parts going on order today, and hoping to get a bulk of the stuff underway next week.