I have utilized this site for the past few years to expand my knowledge around the fish keeping hobby. I more recently decided to create an account so that I can interact and ask questions to the many knowledgeable members here. The information I have received here has been beyond helpful and I thank everyone here that has chipped in along the way.


I have been in the fish keeping hobby for about 4 years (started in 2016). This does not count the many failed tanks I kept when I was a kid. My adult fish keeping hobby has consisted of a 1 gallon beta tank, then started a 10 gallon classic tank (tetras, plastic plants, etc.), went to a low-tech 46 bow front (failed miserably as I didn't fertilize), 30 gallon anubias low-tech, and now a high-tech 125G planted tank.


The 125G originally started as a low-tech tank but I seemed to have horrible skills at getting anything to grow. I decided to add CO2 after a couple of months of melting plants in the hopes of making up for my handicap. At the same time I started dosing NiloCG PPS-PRO dry ferts to compensate for the increased light and CO2. My plants now seem to be doing marginally better than surviving. Definitely the best progress I have made to date.


Fish and plants are equally beautiful to me and so my main priority is keeping a tank that is enjoyable to look at. I want to avoid being discouraged by having too high of standards and getting overwhelmed with maintenance.


The first picture below is when I first set up the tank, followed by a picture of when I added CO2 and finally a recent picture with a few plant additions. There are also a couple of pictures of my rainbows.


Set-up:

Tank: Aqueon 210G 72.5" x 24.5" x 30"
Lighting: 6x 36” Fluval LED 3.0 Plant
Filter: 3x Fluval FX6 Canisters, 1x Eheim 2213 for surface skimming and extra media for other projects
Substrate: Eco-Complete
Fish: 25 assorted rainbows, 4 SAEs, 4 Otos
Fertilizer: NiloCG EI dry ferts


I will be posting updates as my tank progresses. Please feel free to add questions/suggestions/comments!

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Nice large rainbow tank! Thanks for sharing, and I'll be following along!

Some additional photos taken a couple of weeks ago

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You had me at "Bow Tank"!

Add in 125G of plants, and even better.

Looks like a really good start. Good looking plants and Bows.

Lot's of possibilities with this one. Got a feeling it will just get better and better.

Subscribed!

Thank you for the kind words and glad to have you aboard!

Always nice having another planted Bow tank on the site. Lot of great pics so far - look forward to your progress.

How long have you had the Fluval 3.0?? How did you set them up? I am working on setting up my 110G (72x20x18) and was thinking 2x fluval would be the way to go - I like the control, and is it easy to setup 2 lights to be identical?

I purchased these lights when I initially purchased the tank which was about 5 months ago. IMO, they are a night and day difference when compared to the 2.0 when it comes to functionality. The 2.0 operated via wifi and was a nightmare as the lights would constantly deviate from the programmed schedule. Nothing worse than having the lights come on at 100% during the middle of the night (my tanks are in my bedroom).

I have one 36" for each half of the tank and have them on for an 8 hour photo period. It's very easy to set each fixture to be on the same schedule. You first need to save a profile (sunrise/sunset & light intensity) and you can then export the identical settings to any other fixture. See screenshots below. Please don't make fun of my lazy naming conventions.

My only complaint is whenever power is disconnected from the fixtures you have to open the app on your phone for the fixtures to return to their programmed schedules. Obviously, since they operate via Bluetooth you will need to be within Bluetooth range in order for them to return to schedule. My fear is that the power will go out whenever I'm out of town and I will return to a nightmare. I don't think there is a fix for this as it would require the programming to be stored in the fixtures themselves.

Other than the above, I would recommend them as they are very easy to use and seem to provide plenty of light to grow plants (have not measured PAR at substrate).

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I feel your pain with the Fluval lighting. Had (2) of the 24" 2.0 models on my tank for awhile. They were, in my opinion, better than the Satellite Plus Pro lights. Very much hated the WiFi connection.
I now have a 3.0 nano light on a 5g tank - much better interface. Was not sure how much of your light was running at 100% but figured at least some of it is as that is a pretty big tank.

I'm running all spectrums at 100% except "Warm White" which is at 12%. I don't particularly like the "Warm White" as it is too yellow for my preferences.

My algae is manageable with this set up and I think I can overcome it and still maintain this intensity.

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Gotcha - not a big fan of the "yellow" look either. Can't recall if you have been to the Share your dosing thread yet. If you know the substrate PAR of your lighting it would be interesting to see how your dosing compares as I suspect your light level is probably about half of what mine is. Small tweeks in your dosing might help reduce algae to a very minimal level - assuming good tank maintenance is happening.

I have not visited the "Share your dosing" thread yet as I have not yet measured my PAR at the substrate. I think your assumptions are most likely correct as I don't think my par is very high.

I plan on getting a par measuring device, a ph probe, and the "bubble counter" replacement gauge that Greggz and a few others use around this forum. I simply cannot count the bubbles that are going into the tank ATM.

Once I have the above measurements/controls in place I will then be able to tweek my dosing.

My tank maintenance is as follows:

Weekly
50% water change
Trim plants
Manually remove algae

I also clean a canister every 3 weeks which means each canister gets cleaned every 6 weeks.

This journal is awesome and I'm glad that I started this thread. Thank you all for the encouragement and feedback!

I anticipate that the simple act of starting this journal will result in a much more beautiful tank in the long run.

Cheers!

It's been a couple of weeks since I have posted so I wanted to give an update of my tank. I did my weekly maintenance yesterday and so I have some before and after pictures of the trimming.

Changes:
Switched from PPS-PRO dosing to EI. There is really no reason other than I have never tried it and I want to see if there are any noticeable changes. My weekly maintenance will remain the same with a weekly 50% water change.
Reduced my blue lights from 100% to 5% as I have read that it can induce algae to grow. We will see if it has any noticeable effects.
Added a new Dorityi who is already showing some good colors.

My LFS recommended an Aqualog poster that has pictures and descriptions of 64 rainbow fish species. I purchased this from Amazon and I highly recommend it for anyone who keeps a variety of rainbow fish (pic included below).

See below for the before and after FTSs as well as some bow pics.

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Tank is really coming along.

Nice mix of Bows, and they will only get better and better.

Keep up the good work!

It's been a while since I've posted an update. This is mainly due to not having any significant updates... UNTIL NOW.

Updates:

1.) I finally got around to adding a black background. At first I wasn't much impressed but after a few weeks I am really glad I made the decision as the tank looks much better IMO.

2.) Dwyer flow meter added

3.) Replaced my in-line CO2 diffuser with a reactor

My next steps are to add a PH controller for my CO2 and also figure out a way to measure my PAR. I don't think my PAR values are very high at the moment (guessing 30 at sub) but figuring this out will help me understand what will be needed to get more light. Once I have the above controls in place I think I will be in a position to finely tune my ferts.

I am also struggling with some brown algae on my foreground plants (pictures below). Can anyone help me identify what type of algae this is? It's really diminishing the growth of my MC and Dwarf Sag. It seems that the Dwarf Sag will have a period of growth and then be overcome with brown algae causing it to melt away.

See below for some photos of the additions as well as a few tank shots.

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