What filter? What lights?

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courtneem

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 25, 2007
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South Dakota
www.structed.net
I am going through the task of getting the things I need for my 120gl. I know a guy that is going to build my stand he is a wood worker YAY

Filter.

I want the Rena FilStar canister, but what one. XP3 or XP4? The XP3 is big enough for a 120gl but I know more filtering is better. I will have a bullhead and a pleco in there for sure. Bullheads messy? I know the pleco is, he is a poop machine yuck!

Lid

Trying to find a glass canopy for this is hell too! All places online I find them are out of stock!!! Any ideas? That is the lid I have my heart set on.

Lights

Two light strips 24in each or do a full 48" across it? and what is a good brand?

sand or gravel?

I would like to go sand on this tank. Catfish like sand? I assume so, so they can settle into it more like they do mud in a river. I am still learning about catfish.
 
I've heard the xp4's are having problems, but I haven't personally run one.
The xp3s are good filters, I'm running 5 of them right now and they've been working great. If possible go with two xp3's over one xp4.

As far as the glass canopies have you checked Drsfosterandsmith.com? Doesn't say they're out of stock on any of them.

Far as the light strip, that's a personal preference. I have 48" strips on all my 48" tanks, but if you're just trying to light the tank to look at fish go with whatever looks best or is cheapeast. I think the 48" strips look better. If your tank has a brace in the middle you may wanna go with two strips because then you only have to take one of the strips off if you want to clean or remove a canopy, but I don't have a problem even with the single strip.
The brand doesn't matter too much unless you're wanting to grow plants, in which case you need to figure out what kind of plants you're trying to grow. I haven't had any strips fail on me, even after getting them wet, and some of them are pretty old.

What kind of catfish do you want to keep? Bottom dwelling catfish usually like sand but depending on the species they will stir the crap out of it, throw it into your filters, make your tank cloudy, etc., so you may not want to take the option.
 
I agree with the two XP3 suggestion.

as far as lights go, two Coralife 48" freshwater aqualights would be great.

they each have two 48 inch T-5 lights, one pink bulb for fish colour and a 6700 K bulb for plants.

My brother has one on his 90 and it is good, so two on a 120 (its wider) would be great.

they are well priced too and come with bulbs already.

I have the 30 inch models on all my smaller tanks and love them.

very bright and great colour.
 
For a lid I just used a 3/8 sheet of acrylic and cut it to shape, then drilled holes in it with a spade bit for opening.

If you just want to see your fish, no plants, then a single 48" strip is all you need. You could go two 24" but the first option is much 'cleaner' looking.

Plecos love sand. If you have diggers then I would advise for small, smooth gravel.
 
I am not doing plants so just a basic light is nice. I agree two instead of one would be best. The more I think about digging in the tank.

Glad I asked about the filters. One should be good to start I would assume, my bullhead is still 3" and my common pleco are the ones going in there. The common is about 6" so not a huge bioload. I can hook up the second a few months down the road.

Pleco and a bullhead would stir sand to much ya think?

If I dont do sand I am tempted to do bare bottom. Yet still have logs for them and drift wood to hide in.
 
Pleco and a bullhead would stir sand to much ya think?
Click to expand...

Oh yes. I have a bullhead, it would definately stir the sand. I would suggest barebottom if you don't mind the way it looks, much easier to maintain and my bullhead doesn't seem to mind it at all.
 
awesome! bare bottom it is :)
 
nooo, dont do barebottom, you will regret it. Go get some sand from HD, play sand around $5 bucks for 50lbs. Its a heavy sand so it wont be stirred up easy its what I use and I have 2 birchirs, 2 Lima, 1 Pleco, 2 Barracuda and a Jag. They love the sand and its more of a natural look expecially with the bullhead. I would say do sand and slate for the bullhead. Do shelves with the slate because Bullhead like to hide in the shelves of slate.
 
I also agree on the 2 XP3s, they are keeping my 150G in extremely nice shape :) Id go for a single bulb 48" strip, it will light up your tank good enough. Actually Id probably take some electrical tape and wrap my bulb to resemeble a candy cane to cut down on the lighting myself. But then I like my tanks to be taninis stained and low light.
 
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