New 125Gal Filtration

[Bigazfish]

Hello everyone. Im new to this forum but not so much to the aquarium hobby. I currently have a 55gal community set up. I just bought a new to me but used 125gal tank. It has been torn down for several month so im basically gonna be starting new. Here's my plans for the tank and if anyone is willing to share their opinions I'd greatly appreciate it. Here's the plan for the 125. I plan on doin a nicely planted tank with quite a bit of community fish. Im currently purchasing Flourite black for my substrate. Would this be fine as the only "gravel" flooring? Im also undecided about my filtration.

Filtration: I like the Filstar(old Rena) XP's and I was wondering which set up would be more beneficial, 1 XP XL or 2 XP L? The cost isn't an issue. What I mean is Id rather spend the money up front and only purchase the filter/filters once rather than change. I honestly prob wont start stocking the tank for several months from now. Like I mentioned above, I like alot more smaller fish rather than large fish in the tank. I think the biggest fish will end up being Congo Tetras.....LOVE THEM

Lignting: I like the sleek look of the new Marineland LED lights. Keeping in mind Id like to do planted and my 125 has only 1 brace on top in the center I was planning on using 2 36" strips and glass lids. I've been told that the Reef Capable are what I would need to support plants. Is this true? It was also suggest that I have 2 strips on each side of the tank for a total of 4 36" LED light strips.

So far these are what I have to work on. Im taking it slow since I already have my 55 set up and im enjoying it. This gives me the oppurtunity to set up this 125 properly the very first time. Again, Id love to hear everyones opinions and experiences with my ideas. Pros and Cons are totally welcome. Thanks everyone.........

 

[Bigazfish]

.........not everyone at all once guys....lol

 

[Noahs ark6]

The substrate depends on whether or not your going to be keeping heavy root feeders (eg amazon sword) or not. If not, then the fluorite gravel will be fine on it's own. However, if you want to keep one or two heavy root feeders, you could place some root tabs under them. The substrate is also dependant on what fish you might keep. For example, corydoras prefer sand to gravel, because large gravel can damage their underside. Sorry, i've not heard of or had any experience with the filter and lights you've mentioned

 

[MBOU]

Take it easy its barely 5pm in the UK and most people are still at work!

If you have specific questions, you are better off creating seperate posts in the relevant forums (so either the planted chit chat forum for plant lighting and hardware for the question on filters etc).

You might find you get more and faster answers that way...

 

[Bigazfish]

Thanks for the info Noah. Thank you too MBOU. Im new to this site and will need a little guidance as to the different forums. Thanks for the heads up guys......

 

[onidrase]

LED's IME fail at growing plants. I've seen some pretty sleek t5 light fixtures that have LED's built in to them as well which would be much better. There are lots of "reef capable" fixtures which I could not imagine people using on a salt water reef tank, tbh.

Don't know much about rena's filters, though I'd go for either eheim filters of a fluval fx5 for that tank. If you want to put it in a nerdy computer fanbase kind of way, fluval and eheim would be like mac vs pc, and rena would be the small fanbase of linux users in the sidelines, from what I've researched on canister filters.

I have a fluval on my 75 gallon and an eheim on my 50, and I have to say, I'm an eheim man now.

 

[Moby-Krib]

LED's IME fail at growing plants. I've seen some pretty sleek t5 light fixtures that have LED's built in to them as well which would be much better. There are lots of "reef capable" fixtures which I could not imagine people using on a salt water reef tank, tbh.

Don't know much about rena's filters, though I'd go for either eheim filters of a fluval fx5 for that tank. If you want to put it in a nerdy computer fanbase kind of way, fluval and eheim would be like mac vs pc, and rena would be the small fanbase of linux users in the sidelines, from what I've researched on canister filters.

I have a fluval on my 75 gallon and an eheim on my 50, and I have to say, I'm an eheim man now.

Id have to agree, If plan on plants you need to exclude LED for now till they catch up. T5+ or better with proper bulbs.
Your filtration however.. rena I have never used and wont/can't comment, but as onidrase states,, I HAVE used fluval and eheim both.. And I WILL buy a Eheim over the other every time, spend more if I have too, this is normally not the case, and be happy that I got the right filter.
I'm into the "classics" 22xx series.. they just plain work, and work well. the newer have issues IMO.
Those with trays are simpler to maintain but DO NOT provide the same lvl of filtration IMO.

 

[Aquascaper]

I'm into the "classics" 22xx series.. they just plain work, and work well.

 

[Bigazfish]

Ok, so my Fluval FX5 is in the mail. I figured if this isnt enough I'll add another one to the mix. Thanks again