Help with some final decisions setting up my 120g plant tank

[londonloco]

After two weeks of soaking and scraping, my 120g is clean. TEK 6x54W T5 lighting is hung. If the weatherman is correct, mineralized soil will be finished next week. Capping it off with 3M black crystals. C02 Milwaukee regulator set is sitting on my dining room table, one 5lb empty tank (given to me) sitting on the floor. Filtration is basically sump+plants, if I run into problems; I’ll add a canister. Driftwood is coming next week. I plan on keeping the tank open top; we’ll see how that goes. I’d like to keep angels, rummy nose tetras, otos , blue rams, nerita snails and maybe some corys. I have some final decisions to make:

CO2 Reactor - I’m looking at either the Aqua-Medic 1000 or AquariumPlants.com's own External Reactor 5000, both are external to be tied into my sump return. Comments on either? I’d really like to find an internal reactor I can sit in the return chamber of my sump, but have come up empty searching for one. Anyone have any DIY plans for an internal reactor that will work for a 120g tank?

UGJ – seems like a good idea to keep debris and mulm to a minimum. Easy enough to construct. But the threads I’ve read are mostly for cichlid tanks. Is an UGJ system a no no for planted tanks?

Koralia Powerheads – the footprint of my tank is 48â€

[ddavila06]

hey, i know nothing and close to nothing about reactors and such so i can not help you with that, i strongly suggest that you get at least 2 hydor koralia 3 powerheads since you won't have a filter for water movement. i have one hydo 2 in my 125 (6 feet) and i get good flow on about half the tank

lighting period looks confusing to me, but the idea is good: start easy, add some more, bust it up around noon to 4 and then decrease accordinly until is off. i do similar in my tank and around once a week i just leave it as if it was a clowdy day, only two bulbs all day

fish looks good, i would wait bedore adding a whole bunch at the time, you know. a few here, a few there...any plecos? some people say wait on the ottos until your tank is more established...

plants you will be able to grow just about anything under those conditions!

have fun messinf around with it

[londonloco]

Thanks Damian. I have a mg 9.5 driving my return. It's rated at 950gph, even with a 5' pumping height, it's still rated at 750gph, split over two returns. Not sure how that affects it, but I do have some flow into my tank. I'm leary of the K3, from what I hear, it can move some water around!

[ddavila06]

awesome, is true, the return pumps being some flow to the tank... i guess we will see about the K3 this week sometime as i ordered me one and should be coming tomorrow will let you know!

[ingg]

Macrandra isn't exactly a beginner plant, tho not super hard. Starting with an easier and faster growng one, like 'pink' or rotundifolia would help the tank - you want fast fast growth in the beginning, rip it out later if you don't like - point is get the tank established.

3's are pretty strong, one should be enough in addition to the sump return.