Hello Everyone!
I am new to freshwater planted tank and to this forum...
Started doing my research around Aug-Sep time frame and was listing down what i wanted to have as my setup... that's when I came across this forum and d2creative...
He has been the culprit for me going towards a 5ft tank! hahaha...
Looking for guidance/support from the family here... to be successful in this journey!

Little bit about me:
I am still young but little bit of old school... not there in social media ... and this is the 1st forum I am joining as a member.
Love to do things on my own.. kind of DIY guy... at least give it a try mindset!

My love:
After my family and friends... love riding my motorcycle (open air)... love for having a fish tank (I used to call when I was very young)...


P.S: Had a marine setup probably a decade ago...but I can honestly state I didn't do the right things still the livestock survived! not proud...

Below are my equipment details

1) Tank : Waterbox 6025 freshwater setup with stand (got delivered a week back ie 19th Dec!) impressed!
2) Filters : 2 units of Fluval FX6
3) Lights : 2 units of 60" long Fluval Aquasky 2.0
4) CO2 system : CO2Art Pro-Elite Series Complete Aquarium CO2 System with New Inline CO2 Diffuser (ending up returning the diffuser as I bought Fluval FX6)
5) CO2 cylinder: 10lbs from Keg Factory
6) CO2 reactor: 25" tall Co2 reactor same as NILOCG.. built my own..
7) Lily Pipes : 2 sets of JARDLI 20mm (3/4") glass inlet and outlet pipes
8) Hose : Going for 1" and 3/4" transparent food grade vinyl hose with reducers to fit the lily pipes (not planning to use ribbed fluval hoses)
9) Power strip : Kasa 6 outlet load monitoring power strip as I am not planning to go for APEX or GHL at this point (leaning towards APEX but not sure if it required)
10) ATO & Quarantine tanks: Clear Mini 6 and 10 with Waterbox
11) ATO system: Yet to buy. thinking about XP Aqua Duetto
12) Filter media: Seachem matrix 4L and Seachem Purigen 1L. Also, bought medium and fine filter pads
13) UV filter : 1 unit of Aqua Advantage 2000+
14) Thermometer: Inkbird wifi system
15) Substrate/soil : 3 bags of ADA Aqua Soil + 1 bag of ADA aqua soil powder + 1 bag of La Plata ADA soil
16) Air pump : Fluval Q2. I know it may not be required right... but mentally wanted to run this when CO2 is not on

Will share some photos... of these..
Yet to plan
a) Layout
b) Rocks
c) Type of Plants
d) Fish (planning to add them last)...

A Few Questions:
1) On Waterbox 6025 stand - the top plate of the stand where the tank sits has a huge slot at the back and the top plate width is 24.5" but the tank size is 25.3". I know they would have done a great job on the design and validation... but I am not able to remove the thought that the tank is not going to be supported on the sides evenly - Has anyone had a similar thought? any feedback on that?
*Note to Waterbox - they definitely need to improve the instruction for assembling the stand!...it not in proper sequence.

2) Is controller mandatory for Freshwater planted tank? I am not going to ask which is better between APEX and GHL ..dont worry!

3) Does one need to use RO/DI for freshwater or just RO is good enough?... I live in Houston and water seems to be clean (kind of ) and I have just a RO system in my home with a massive softener (typical to any family home)

4) How to upload photos in this forum (hahaha, don't laugh at me)...I really don't know. when I try to insert, it asks me to attach a URL but not allowing to upload photos from my computer directly...

Sounds like a great system you have planned with all the bells and whistles. One piece of equipment missing from your list is a good dosing pump. Regarding your stand, I would call the mfg, but since they came as a set I would think you're fine. On the controller I have one tank with an Apex and another without. The Apex is nice to have but not necessary; on my other tank I use two programmable power strips. On your water, you dont need the Di cartridges. On your equipment list you dont really need an ATO system or quarentine tanks. I have an ATO with RO on one of my tanks, but on the other I just add a gallon of RO water every couple days. And good move on choosing a reactor instead of an in-line co2 diffuser, too many bubbles.

Finally on the images I use Postimage. Just upload your images and use the link options below each photo. Choose " Hot link for forums" and paste the image where you want it within your text, and here is the result, easy:

Welcome to the forum and that sounds like one heck of a set up.

Like mentioned above, no DI needed with your RO system.

As to hosting photos, I use Flickr but there are lots of options out there.

Be sure to start a journal once you get going. I'm sure many would like to follow your progress, me included.

Good luck and look forward to seeing where this goes.

mboley :
Thanks for your input. Very helpful.
Probably I spend another $80 on waterbox clear 6 and 10 mini for the ATO and quarantine tank. They were half the price until yesterday, probably will give it to my kid.

You brought up an interesting question - Dosing pump. what do you recommend ? and what exactly I need to dose?
I bought Fluval Plant Gro+ as I haven't selected any plant until now.

And the photo you shared! - amazing... beautiful colors... would love my tank to look vivid with such colors someday!

Welcome to the forum and that sounds like one heck of a set up.

Like mentioned above, no DI needed with your RO system.

As to hosting photos, I use Flickr but there are lots of options out there.

Be sure to start a journal once you get going. I'm sure many would like to follow your progress, me included.

Good luck and look forward to seeing where this goes.[/quote]



Greggz:
Thank you...
The equipment I chose was to keep the plant and the fishes happy... that's how I thought when I went with them - "Home" for them. It was a little bit on a higher side of my budget but got some good deals for Thanksgiving. Brick and Mortar stores are the best...
I did save the equipment list and price list at which I got so that I can share with someone who needs it as I was not able to get some baseline for the prices when I did some research.
Also, I should thank Green Aqua and Mr. Balazs Farkas for their Youtube videos .... for helping me to think it through.
Personally, I want to develop the patience and enjoy it more than just the visual appeal it gives. Kind of art and it is complex (and not too!)...

Sure, I will start sharing my progress.
Still trying to level the stand (28 leveling screws!!!) and slowed down after measuring the top plate size (as it is slightly smaller than the tank size) where the tank sits!

Oh no you are breaking one of the first rules of a planted tank.............never ever add it all up!!

[QUOTE=Ravs;11391577]A lot of people dose ferts manually but its a heck of alot easier with a dosing pump, and you can use one head for an ATO if you buy a three head dosing pump. So one ea for macro, micros, and water make up.

With your equipment list it doesnt seem cost is an issue, so I would invest in a good quality dosing pump, which are $2-300+. There are cheap ones but they dont dose accurately in my experience. I have a Bubble Magus and an Apex Dos. I program each pump head for daily dosing and I mix my own ferts using the PPS-Pro method. Check out NilocG or GLA for a complete package. Some of us even mix our own Micro ferts. It all sounds complicated but its not.

One other note since you liked the color in my photo. That tank is lit by a four bulb T5ho fixture. The right LEDs are fine, my other tank is lit with a Twinstar S Series, but to me and others, T5s are THE answer for growth and color.

You should also read Dennis Wongs site, the 2 hour aquarist, the whole thing, twice.

+1 on T5HO.

Might be old school to some but you can't beat the color and how they grow plants.

And also +1 to the 2 hour aquarist site. Loads of valuable information there. It's the only site I have found where I agree with every single thing I read.

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/li.../light-t5vsled

There's a reason Dennis runs T5 over his display tank. He can't get quite the same colorization and growth from LED. He's been experimenting with Chihros Vivid and is sticking with T5.

Same for Tom Barr. He's currently setting up 14 x T5 over his 180G after testing the very latest in LED technology. We've discussed this quite a bit, and he was underwhelmed by what he found.

Same for Joe Harvey and dozens of other of the best in the hobby I can point out.

No one ever said you can't have a great tank with either. But 9 times out of 10 when I run across a really spectacular tank, it's T5HO. Just check out the winning entries in the AGA Dutch for the past five years or so.

Won't go into too many discussions on the above since there are way too many assumptions to really make a "statement".
One thing w/ lighting is you should choose types based on goals for one thing..


This really gives one a pretty decent idea of what I mean..
Personally all can "fit" almost any type as long as one accounts for spectrum and intensity but each (inc Metal Halide) have strengths and weaknesses.
The 2 types could be interchanged but no one light source (like no one set of tubes) is exactly identical.
O/p needs to define needs/wants really before recommending er anything really.
Really spectacular tanks take really spectacular work.

eg:

https://barrreport.com/articles/tips...quascaping.47/


Dennis Wong btw..
Photos 2 years old so if he removed his BML Led I ????
Not the point anyways really.

So on further review seems you are already parted out.
My question is why did you choose those lights?


you put 70W over a 130 gal deepish tank..


Standard waterbox lighting is 150w w/ 3 AI Pro freshwater lights.

hahaha... point noted...and thanks for sharing the wisdom...
But my home cum finance minister adds it! ...