# New To a 120 Gal. Tank



## threefingers2 (Jan 4, 2009)

_ Hello to everyone.. I currently have a 55 Gal. had it for 2 years now. I recently bought a 120 gallon with just the stand and hood with no bulbs. I have been reading reviews on canister filter since i only have a hang on the back one on my 55. It looks like i'm leaning towards the Rena XP3 or the XP4 which size do u guys recomend? Also what kind of bulbs would light up my 120 Gal. nice? Seams my local petsmart handles all the SunGlo ans MarineGlo, ProGlo and i can't remember all of them. I would need 2-48 inchers.
_ Any help with this 120 gal. tank would be welcomed. Thanks alot. Craig


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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

Welcome to Fish Forums. Hope your tank comes out the you want it to


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

i recommend the xp4, but it all depends on what you plan to stock it with. on tanks that big I usually use 2 canister filters because if one craps out, theres always the backup.


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## threefingers2 (Jan 4, 2009)

*If i can only afford one you would recomend the xp4? even though the xp3 says its for up to 175 gal.? Any ideas on what light ulbs to get? Should they both be the same or one of one brightness and one of a lower or differnt light?*


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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

Are you planning on a having real plants or fake. Real plants need a certain type of lighting where as fake ones can handle any type your fish can handle


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## threefingers2 (Jan 4, 2009)

Well i guess maby a little of both. Right now in my 55 Gal. i planted a couple to see how they would do and so far there doin great but i have the plant ligts FloraGlo in there but i would like it a bit brighter then my 55.


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

id still go with the xp4. the more filtration that you can have, the healthier and better the fish will be


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## threefingers2 (Jan 4, 2009)

What kind of bulbs do you guys recomend? Sorry i have so many questions, but would a rena xp4 have to much water movement rather then a xp3 ?


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

depending on what you want to keep, but there are ways of lowering the water movement, either via spraybar, placement of the output head, etc


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## ewolfe315 (Jan 3, 2009)

Thought I may be a little help to you since I also have a 120 gallon. Now mine is 5 feet long and 26 inches deep(heck of a time reaching the bottom of this tank). 

As for the filter.. I have 2 xp3's on it, 1 at each end of the tank with the spray bar. Definetly get 2 canister filters as I found out that they are doing a great job with clean up especially in a newly(3 months)planted tank. Now if your 120 is the 4 footer I'd listen to someone else who has knowledge of this type of tank.

Now for your lights,see I'm in this predicament with having a 5 ft. tank . Now the tank came with a 5 ft. long hood but the light inside is only 4 ft.(40 watt). So I invested in another light set which yields 216 watts. Grand total of 256 watts and my plants are doing fine. Just over 2 WPG along with the DIY CO2 and plant tabs and Flourish Iron.

The 216 watt light set consists of 4 T6 HO 54 watt bulbs 6400 K each. Figured I had to get the HO bulbs due to the depth of the tank. I will soon be changing everything over to T5's since it's pretty hard finding T6's.Plus I want to get the 6700 k bulbs.. Hope that helps.


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

not to hijack a thread, but is there much of a difference between 6400k and 6700k?

im looking at lighting my 125G and not sure which spectrum to go with


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## threefingers2 (Jan 4, 2009)

Does anyone have PowerGlo or LifeGlo bulbs in there aquarium ?


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## OldMan (Dec 30, 2008)

I have had an XP3 running on my 6 foot long 120 for 4 years now. It does a fine job keeping the fish's water chemistry in balance. When I bought it the XP4 was not being made yet. I have a spray bar at one end of the tank and the suction at the other end so that I get good flow across the whole tank with no large dead spots. It is not strong enough to prevent things reaching the tank bottom but that is the purpose of my gravel vac, not my filter.


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## threefingers2 (Jan 4, 2009)

Thankyou for the reply i'm glad your happy with the XP3. I just got mine all hooked up now and filling my tank today. What filter media do u use othe than what come with it? I went and got a couple of boxes of the stars to put in one of the middle trays, i see in the owners manual that they also use Rena Crystal in the top tray do i also need that or can that be added when and if needed.


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

justintrask said:


> not to hijack a thread, but is there much of a difference between 6400k and 6700k?
> 
> im looking at lighting my 125G and not sure which spectrum to go with


Justin: There is not but unless you have seen the light emitted from either I believe that you will be very disappointed as I was.

These lamps emit a very yellowish tinted light which does not really illuminate the tank to our eyes.

I have MH and PC lighting.

Via my many experiments I now employ one 7000K lamp and three 10000K lamps in the PC fixtures.

tf: I believe that this post answers your question also.

TR


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