Tank #2 came from Tpt's own Forddna, it has sat here in my office next to me for the last century, it seems...:
The stand came from Drs.F&S, and will be assembled (hopefully) by tonight.
I'm VERY happy with my new light fixture; for only $40 more I upgraded from an Odyssea 260w PC (it went with the old tank) to this Solar T5HO with individual reflectors and moonlights:
There are currently 2 actinic bulbs and 2 10k bulbs, which I'm calculating will give me 108 watts of T5HO 10k lighting for the plants. Remember, this is a low tech tank! I'm going to start with 8 hours of 10k, run the actinics during the rest of the day for my own viewing pleasure, and then moonlights at night. This tank is in my home office, and since I work from home (spending a lot of time in my office!) I want to be able to view the fish all the time.
For filtration I'll pair a Rena Filstar XP2 with an HOB filter; first an Emperor 400 (used) though I'll likely upgrade in a little while to a new Aquaclear.
I plan on using a heater for the first time in probably 15 years... I got a Hydor 300watt inline, and will start with about 80 degrees for the tank. If/when I get discus I'll bump it up to 82/83.
Substrate issues sparked a huge amount of research for me. I originally was going to use EcoComplete, but after purchase learned that Eco has a tendency to raise and buffer pH and hardness. As this tank may house discus in the near future, I took it back and traded for Fluorite black and Fluorite black sand. My entire substrate plan:
-bottom layer of peat mixed with established tank mulm
-mixture of 2 bags Fluorite black, 4 bags Fluorite black sand, + 50lbs black Colorquartz T grade
-35lbs of black gravel for an unplanted "river" (I HATE white sand! LOL)
I'm going to see how this tank does with no fert dosing. Instead I'll be using WonderGro fert tabs (from TPT's own Orlando).