Advice on 125 Build

[Nelsontreyjones]

Hello, I’m in the planning stage for my 125 gallon tank. I’m looking for some advice on some of the equipment and stocking list. This is going to be a community with some plants nothing. Not playing to take this high tech with a Co2 setup but I have excel to dose. As far as the equipment goes I’m stuck on the filtration and lighting. For filtration should I spend a little more money and get the Fluval FX6 now or would I be better of getting two Hydor Professional Canister 600 (1 at first and a second to add later). And for the lighting do you think I could get away with 2 36" Current Satellite Freshwater LED Plus or should I just invest in a 72" BuildMyLED 10000K Planted - XB Series with the Suspension Mounting Kit and dimming unit. The BuildMyLED is about double the cost. I'm just nervous about the Satellites Plus not providing enough light but they are returnable vs the BuildMyLED.

Here is my stocking list. Suggestion would be nice

Fish
15 x Rummynose Tetra (Hemigrammus bleheri)
9 x Boesemans Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia boesemani)
6 x Turquoise Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia lacustris)
10 x Panda Cory (Corydoras panda)
1 x Siamese Algae Eater (Crossocheilus siamensis)
5 x Oto (Otocinclus vittatus)
7 x Harlequin Rasbora (Trigonostigma heteromorpha)
4 x Amano Shrimp (Cardina multidentata)


For plants, I like the idea of:
Amazon Swords
Mix of Cryptocoryne species
Mix of Rotala species
Mix of Anubias species
Maybe Dwarf Sagittaria for the foreground


Also looking for some good DIY plans for a 125g stand? I am trying to see if it would better off just buying one around $350 or paying someone else to build one since I don't have the tools.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Linwood]

For filtration should I spend a little more money and get the Fluval FX6 now or would I be better of getting two Hydor Professional Canister 600 (1 at first and a second to add later). And for the lighting do you think I could get away with 2 36" Current Satellite Freshwater LED Plus or should I just invest in a 72" BuildMyLED 10000K Planted - XB Series with the Suspension Mounting Kit and dimming unit. The BuildMyLED is about double the cost. I'm just nervous about the Satellites Plus not providing enough light but they are returnable vs the BuildMyLED.

I just started a 220 build, planted, and are going through some of the same considerations.

I had and really liked the Satellite LED+ on a small 45G. I did a way to web-control it. Very nice light. I debated and hemmed and hawed, and finally went with 4 of the LED+ 48", so there's a 2' overlap where the bottom is lit by 4. I'll know in a few months if it is really bright enough; attempts to measure with a camera and compare to the 18" in my 45G (with one) to the 30" in the 220 (with 2 at the end) shows them about the same brightness, but I have no idea if the same power.

But I could buy 4 x 48" of them for the price of 2 x 36" of the Ecoxotic E-series. And I wasn't sure how much control I would have over the BML lights, which I really like the looks of as well.

As a nice side benefit, the LED+'s have a LOT of LED's. The light is very even, including at the surface. I've seen some of the super-bright LED's where the lights are 3" or more apart, and this makes for real bright hot spots near the surface. Not a problem for plants, but visually distracting I think.

Anyway... good luck deciding. For what it is worth almost everyone warned me against the LED+ as not being bright enough.

Filters: I decided to go out on a limb, and bought two of the SunSun 404B's instead of a Fluval FX6 which is what I originally planned. I did it mostly because my 3 month old Fluval 306's flow is awful. And I read a lot of people having that trouble. So I was annoyed at Fluval at the time and decided to go this way. I ended up buying 3 of them (something like $95 each), and put one on my 45G and now have 2 x 404B and 1x306 on the new build, and it seems to have plenty of flow.

They are pretty cheaply made, and don't come with media, but they hold a LOT of media, and have decent flow (nowhere near their rating, but that seems to be true of all filters). I measured it at 30" height with no media and with media as almost exactly the same, at 278 gph, with a 5 gallon bucket test (they are rated 525 gph).

One thing I like about this approach is redundancy. If a FX6 failed and it was my only substantial filter, I don't know how quickly I could restore flow. In this way I've got decent flow if any one of the filters fail, and lots more time to fix it.

I'll stop rambling now.... Anyway... good luck.

 

[Spencer1044]

If you don't want to have a high tech set up but still want your plants to grow really well put top soil (make sure it has no chemicals in it so it must be organic) under your substrate. About in inch thick it works wonders and it's cheap to do. The water is still perfectly clear. I did it in my tank and it's just amazing what it did in 2 months. before after


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[Nelsontreyjones]

I just started a 220 build, planted, and are going through some of the same considerations.

I had and really liked the Satellite LED+ on a small 45G. I did a way to web-control it. Very nice light. I debated and hemmed and hawed, and finally went with 4 of the LED+ 48", so there's a 2' overlap where the bottom is lit by 4. I'll know in a few months if it is really bright enough; attempts to measure with a camera and compare to the 18" in my 45G (with one) to the 30" in the 220 (with 2 at the end) shows them about the same brightness, but I have no idea if the same power.

But I could buy 4 x 48" of them for the price of 2 x 36" of the Ecoxotic E-series. And I wasn't sure how much control I would have over the BML lights, which I really like the looks of as well.

As a nice side benefit, the LED+'s have a LOT of LED's. The light is very even, including at the surface. I've seen some of the super-bright LED's where the lights are 3" or more apart, and this makes for real bright hot spots near the surface. Not a problem for plants, but visually distracting I think.

Anyway... good luck deciding. For what it is worth almost everyone warned me against the LED+ as not being bright enough.

Filters: I decided to go out on a limb, and bought two of the SunSun 404B's instead of a Fluval FX6 which is what I originally planned. I did it mostly because my 3 month old Fluval 306's flow is awful. And I read a lot of people having that trouble. So I was annoyed at Fluval at the time and decided to go this way. I ended up buying 3 of them (something like $95 each), and put one on my 45G and now have 2 x 404B and 1x306 on the new build, and it seems to have plenty of flow.

They are pretty cheaply made, and don't come with media, but they hold a LOT of media, and have decent flow (nowhere near their rating, but that seems to be true of all filters). I measured it at 30" height with no media and with media as almost exactly the same, at 278 gph, with a 5 gallon bucket test (they are rated 525 gph).

One thing I like about this approach is redundancy. If a FX6 failed and it was my only substantial filter, I don't know how quickly I could restore flow. In this way I've got decent flow if any one of the filters fail, and lots more time to fix it.

I'll stop rambling now.... Anyway... good luck.

I think now i'm going to go the Satellite LED+ route now and see how that is first, since amazon has a 30 day return policy. Maybe I will get two of 48" inch and overlap them in the center. Even then is will be half that of the BuildMyLED setup. As far as the filter goes I had the FX5 before and really liked it but like you said if something would ever happen having two would create a failsafe.

 

[Nelsontreyjones]

If you don't want to have a high tech set up but still want your plants to grow really well put top soil (make sure it has no chemicals in it so it must be organic) under your substrate. About in inch thick it works wonders and it's cheap to do. The water is still perfectly clear. I did it in my tank and it's just amazing what it did in 2 months. View attachment 248660 before View attachment 248661 after


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I was planning on using Safe T Sorb since it has high CEC. I had a bad experience with my last tank with it being capped substrate. There was no problem until I need to move it and had to remove the substrate.

 

[Spencer1044]

Yes that would be a problem


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