New 125 what equiment is recommened?

I'm setting up a 125 right now. I bought the Rena XP3 after much research...most of it on this board. Sounded like a good filter for the money. I've always had good luck with Penguin products, but from what I've read, the Filstar outperforms. I was also going to go with an undergravel, but for my tank (72X18) it would have required 3 plates and I didn't want a powerhead right in the center of the back wall. Plus, again, after much research I decided, it really wasn't necessary and sounded like more of a headache than it was worth. I am also putting two Marineland Powerhead 1140's in the tank - one on each side. This should give me about 10X circulation. For now, I'm only going with one XP3 - the fish I keep are relatively small. Also, just to clarify, there is room in the XP3 for 6 different types of media in 3 baskets. It comes with a course sponge in the bottom, then a finer sponge just above that. It also comes with a pouch of activated carbon called "chem zorb". So there is room for 3 other types of your choice. I went with 2 sets of bio-media and a water polishing micro sponge at the top.
 
Hey Joe

Thanks for the input Joe...I think I'm going to go with 2-XP3's, couple of power heads and no under gravel filter for my 125 (72x18). I'm going to try and swing in to a local retailer I just heard about (suppose to be an awesome store and very knowledgeable) sometime this week. I want to check out all of the products first hand before I purchase anything. A good friend of mine owns a custom cabinetry shop and they are building my stand, so I'm not in a big hurry to purchase anything until I get an approximate date from them; trying to squeeze it in between jobs. Anyway, are you planning on putting live plants in your 125? If so, have you considered a U.V. Sterilizer at all. Just another thing someone threw at me and I'm going to start looking into that as well.
 
I'm going to try live plants at some point after setting up. I'd like to try something that floats on the top. I don't know much about U.V. sterilizers. I know some Reef keepers use them to further purify water. CO2 and lighting are supposed to be the most important to plants. I've just got a 6500k CRI98 full spectrum 40w flourescent that should be good enough. We'll see. Probably won't live long enough with my Pleco anyway :) .
 
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