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Go with dry ferts. With liquid ferts your pretty much buying ferts.

If you want to supplement co2, buy metricide 14 off of eBay. It's the same thing as excel, but double the strength. So dose like excel but slice the dose in half.

For light, you would need 2 current LED+. A 4 bulb t5ho would be good, and you can always run a few of the bulbs if its too much.

What are YOUR wants? A low light tank? High light? Lightly planted? Heavily?
 
Sillyfishies said:
Go with dry ferts. With liquid ferts your pretty much buying ferts. If you want to supplement co2, buy metricide 14 off of eBay. It's the same thing as excel, but double the strength. So dose like excel but slice the dose in half. For light, you would need 2 current LED+. A 4 bulb t5ho would be good, and you can always run a few of the bulbs if its too much. What are YOUR wants? A low light tank? High light? Lightly planted? Heavily?
Click to expand...

Plants plants plants lol. Wanted to replicate a lake almost some thick bushy areas and I would love some Lilly pads. So I was told I would need high light. Ok looks like I'll go with dry ferts. The one site I was looking at that was suggested by rivercats was kind of confusing though. And as far as lighting I'm torn between current LED+ and T5HO. Wasn't really trying to spend TOO much. So I may justo with T5HO.
 
PAwrangler08 said:
Plants plants plants lol. Wanted to replicate a lake almost some thick bushy areas and I would love some Lilly pads. So I was told I would need high light. Ok looks like I'll go with dry ferts. The one site I was looking at that was suggested by rivercats was kind of confusing though. And as far as lighting I'm torn between current LED+ and T5HO. Wasn't really trying to spend TOO much. So I may justo with T5HO.
Click to expand...

You would need multiple current led+ lights. I'd go with a quad t5ho.
 
If you like leds which I do, look at the finnex fugeray line, if you google par data you csn find a chart for the fugeray and fugeray 2 theres also the new planted plus which has red leds as well.

Www.aquavibrant.com you can look at all the finnex line here. I love these products and wont ever get away from them.

Ill edit later with more links when im not on my phone.
 
Sillyfishies said:
You would need multiple current led+ lights. I'd go with a quad t5ho.
Click to expand...

I think that's what I'm going to do. It seems that a quad T5HO will give me the most light at 24" depth to have high light plants, correct? My only problem I'm going to run into is getting the right length. It's 60 inches long but separated in the middle at 30".

This may be a stupid question but is it possible to give your low light plants, too much light?
 
PAwrangler08 said:
Well yea. But I'm not sure how far it is from leg to leg on every fixture. If the fixture itself is 30" then the legs are going to make it longer than 30" and that's not going to work.
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Id do 2 24" fixtures that can extend to 30.

You cannot give low-light plants too much light. Although, anubias tends to grow algae because it's such a slow grower.
 
jehenry89 said:
I like the liquid fertilizers because it's just more convenient for me. Online is your best bet for that route. Most stores only carry the flourish comprehensive which is basically micro nutrients. Excel is liquid carbon which can be used daily but it's expensive. I only use it at th site of algae. The individual bottles include potassium, phosphorus and nitrate. All the trace nutrients come in one bottle. The only one I am familiar with is flourish comprehensive blend.

When you say that fish place, I'm assuming you mean the one in Lancaster,pa? If so, they run a huge online store called "thatpetplace" I do all my ordering from them because it's only an hour and half from me and I get my order next day with ground shipping lol. I live in bucks county.
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I live in Buckinghamshire as well. Where u at?
 
PAwrangler08 said:
Do you guys think a T5 HO 48" quad fixture would be good?
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The dimensions of a standard 120 gallon tank are 48 1/2 x 24 1/4 x 25 1/2, so yes that would work. I am assuming you are looking at something like this? (the bulbs you get with it are for coral) With 4 slots running at 6500k light bulb (something like this), that would put you around 1.8 watts per gallon and the correct color temp range for plants. The t5 fixtures technically have more watts per gallon from what I read since they are much brighter than the older t8 or t12 models. I don't know the exact science of it, I am sure someone around these threads does though. That would basically put you around moderate-high lighting with the t5 bulbs, which is good!
 
jehenry89 said:
The dimensions of a standard 120 gallon tank are 48 1/2 x 24 1/4 x 25 1/2, so yes that would work. I am assuming you are looking at something like this? (the bulbs you get with it are for coral) With 4 slots running at 6500k light bulb (something like this), that would put you around 1.8 watts per gallon and the correct color temp range for plants. The t5 fixtures technically have more watts per gallon from what I read since they are much brighter than the older t8 or t12 models. I don't know the exact science of it, I am sure someone around these threads does though. That would basically put you around moderate-high lighting with the t5 bulbs, which is good!
Click to expand...


Correct, I was planning on running something just like that. My tank is 60" long, just wanted to make sure a 48" T5HO would b enough.
 
You have a few options. One is LED which I believe someone talked about earlier in the thread, these tend to be more expensive. If you wanted to do t5 lights, your best option in my opinion would be to use two 30 inch light fixtures like these Aquarium Lighting T5 Fluorescent Light Fixture: AquaticLife T5 HO Dual Lamp Light Fixtures, and use the edges and middle beam for support. These are only dual but I know they sell quad lights in 30 inches. You could also do light fixtures that support CFL lights (they sell daylight bulbs with 6500k)and hang them from your wall and over the tank but I really wouldn't suggest that for a tank that size. It is an option if you are looking for a cheaper alternative though. I do this on my 10 gallon and it works well for a fraction of the cost. It would look something like this
cfl lights above aquarium - Google Search
 
I wouldn't do the 48" light fixture. Even on my 48" tank the sides of my tank are poorly illuminated. I do however agree on using 30" fixtures but at that point LED might be a better option because replacing 8 bulbs yearly is going to be expensive.
 
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