new 125g tank started

baggy007

hi people:;hi1

got my tank on its way,ive put in all i have atm before i put my filters and heaters in, i need to but hose for my canister as one of the hoses is to short,im going to put a couple of hob filters in out of my current tank in to help the cycle on its way

when its cycled im going to add some live plants in each of the back corners,never done live plants before, any suggestions as to what?

also the lid has no light at the min, ive seen some led that i quite fancy, white for daytime and blue for night,has anyone any tips for plants that this lighting would be suitable for?

heres how its looking at the min,think it looks better already than the previous owner

any tips or comments greatly welcomed:)

1st pic is how the lady had it before me

the rest is how its going so far

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Geomancer

A 125g offers lots of possibilities. Are you sure on the size? Looks like a 4 foot tank in the picture which a 120g is, the standard 125g is 6 feet in length. Doesn't look like a standard tank anyways though =)

I will say though that you are going to run into problems if you don't put that onto a proper stand. The weight gets concentrated along the corners, which you don't have supported at all. A 125g tank weights 1400 lbs filled with just water. Substrate and decorations just add to that weight. Plus in the first picture it looks like that stand you have it on is bowed down in the middle. The flexing of the tank is going to weaken the seals.

(on closer look, the first picture looks different than the others)

For lighting using the LEDs they might not be bright enough for plants, they would have to be really, really bright LEDs for that depth tank. The blue night lights I would not recommend using. Fish (and plants) need periods of total darkness every day.

Byron

Yes, make sure the entire tank frame is well supported. A sheet of minimum 1 inch plywood under the tank so that it extends just past the outer edge of the frame all the way around will work. The tank will then "settle" into the wood evenly.

For plants, I would suggest some swrods, Echinodorus bleherae, Echinodorus cordifolius, for the corners. These are in our profiles, click the shaded names.

I agree with Geomancer on the light, LED is very expensive to get sufficient, I would go with a dual tube T8 fixture that takes two 48-inch tubes. This assumes the tank is 5 feet length. We can discuss further.

Byron.

baggy007

thanks for the comments guys

the stand in the 1st pic is what the previous owner had it on, i have a different 1 you cant see it very well because its black,its exactly the same size as the tank (60x24x24) inches and 2 feet high

thanks for the info on the lighting,will shop around and see what i can pick up
will take a look at the plants mentioned
thanks again, will keep you posted