RE: Newbie Design Challenge

[Rex Grigg <rex at dsl-only_net>]

  Well if you have not purchased the light yet then go over to 
www.ahsupply.com and get the lights there.  You will save a bunch of money 
you can use on other things.  And the added bonus is the AH Supply 
reflectors really do put more light into the tank.  BTW, is your 120 gallon 
a 4' or 6' long tank?  If it's 4' get the AH Supply 55 watt kits as their 
22" length works much better than the 96 watt kit 33" length.

  You will want to dump the limestone rock also.  It will mess with your 
kH and pH too much to do you any good.  As for substrate with that much 
area to cover and the budget you have you are not going to be able to use 
straight Onyx or Flourite.  So you will want to go with a 50/50 mix of 
Flourite and gravel.  That would take eight bags of Flourite to give you 2" 
and then 2" of natural gravel in the 1-3 mm size.  For the gravel you want 
to check out the industrial supply houses and buy it in 100 lb bags which 
should run you around $10-$15 a bag.  You are going to need around 150-200 
lbs of gravel as I find the 50/50 mix should be based on depth other than 
weight.  I would avoid the laterlite as it can cause problems when removing 
plants.  And you will be removing plants.

  Then the next thing you want to put in the tank is plants, lots of fast 
growing stem plants to avoid as much algae as possible in the startup.  I 
would head over to some where like www.aquabotanic.com and get some algae 
buster packs.  Depending on your tank length you would want to get around 
4-6 20 packs of plants to start.  Then when those plants are going good you 
can take the clipping to the LFS and trade them in for credit and extend 
your budget.

  Algae eaters...  well you are going to need some Ottos, and some 
SAE.  If you get the smaller Ottos get as many as your budget will 
allow.  I normally keep one per 5-7 gallons.  With the SAE you want to get 
around 4-6, remember they get big quick.  Get them all at the same time and 
you will have less aggression problems among them, at least that has been 
my experience.  If you want Amano shrimp then get those, but they are 
budget killers.

  You did not mention where you live so it's hard to give recommendations 
on where to get items.

  Now you have an idea of how your budget is going to run and you should 
find that you can also get a CO2 system if you do it right.  And at the 
light levels you want to start at a CO2 system is really going to 
help.  All you really need is a cylinder, regulator, needle valve and 
reactor.  The cylinder can be found at a welding shop, home brew shop, or 
welding shop.  Call around and get prices on a 10 lb tank.  You should be 
able to get a tank for around $50 if you shop around.  The regulator can 
get gotten on-line, at a welding shop or home brew shop.    A regulator 
should not cost you more than about $50 if you shop around.  The needle 
valve is going to run you $10 if you have a Clippard Distributor close 
by.  Otherwise save yourself a lot of hassle and buy one from Aqua Botanic 
for $18 that already comes with one of the adaptors you will need to fit it 
to your regulator.  The reactor you can build out of PVC pipe and plug it 
into the output side of one of your Eheim filters.

  Feel free to ask more questions.

In Heaven We were formed...
In Hell We were trained..
On Earth We were released...
United States Marine Corps

Semper Fi  

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