Redoing the 125 to a planted tank.

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THE V

Hiding from my children
Nov 25, 2007
1,931
2
38
Washington
Real Name
Mr. Incognito
Some of you might remember that my 125 goldfish tank sprung a leak a month ago.

None of my goldfish survived the leak and subsequent attempted rehoming (filter clogged in the middle of the first night and they were all dead by morning from ammonia toxicity).

Since I can't go back to goldfish for a few years (too painful) I thought I restart up the tank as a planted low maintenance setup. I've decided to make a career move that will have me flying around the world quite a bit. When I am home I plan on spending as much time with my wife and boys as possible. My wife enjoys looking at my fish and she will feed them for me while I'm away. All the other maintenance is of course my responsibility.

What I have to go back into the tank.

Mag 250,
C-360,
160W of T12 shoplights
Gravel substrate
Driftwood.

2 bushy-nosed pleco's (only survivors of the leak)
20 or so guppies (been living in my QT tank for 4 or 5 generations)
400+ Malaysian Trumpet Snails

12 small to large sized Amazon swords (Started with three and they were reproducing like crazy in the tank).

With my travel schedule (and budget) I won't be able to mess around with CO2. So now I get the fun of balancing a tank that size. I don't mind some of algae if the BN can keep it down to reasonable levels. Playing with ferts/photoperiod/stocking is something that I enjoy.

Light levels - I want to rebuild the whole stand and hood and install some custom lights. However the "honey do" list has several other projects in front of that so that will be on hold for a year or two. So I'm pretty much stuck with the two shoplights unless I rewire the thing with CFL's. Given the hoods dimensions I think I could fit 12-14 23W bulbs in there.

Substrate - I like the look of the pea gravel I have in the tank. I've got two options of how to keep the look.
1: Mix sand & gravel.
2: Layer Eco-complete or silty/clay soil (autoclaved) on the bottom followed by sand and then gravel.

Second is the plant choice. My wife loves the look of swords so I though I'd keep it going. I thought I'd pick up different types of swords and maybe some Crypts & anubis. Any other suggestions? I wouldn't mind a few stem plants in the back. They all have to take the low light so a groundcover is not a viable option.

Finally is stocking choices - I'd like to add in some SAE's and Oto's in with the BN's. The guppies can stay where they are at or migrate to big tank. However the rest of the stocking I'm at a loss for. Any suggestions on fish that are easy to care for, compatible, and won't shred the plants like my goldfish loved to do?

I don't plan on picking up heaters for this tank as I live in Cali and my tank in the past run's 70 in the winter and 80 in the summer.
 
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