Planted Tanks And Substrates

[oscar52]

I will soon be setting up my first planted tank (although i hav ekept fish for quite some time) I have been reading around, read about various subsrtaes and plants and all else. The most recent was of a soil based substrate and i was thinking of going with this model. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations to avoid any pitfalls? - I do already have some plant 'fertilizer' stuff from my LFS by sera (cant remember what it is offhand) and some fine gravel for the top.

Also, would anyone care to recommend some plants for a community tank.

Just for information, my tank is jewel vision 180 (approx 39 UK galls) with the standard lighting (around 1.3 wpg) and i have no CO2 system, and cant afford one, though I am aware I can do a DIY fermentation jobbie with a pop bottle (i would assume, without looking into it (for which I will probably get looks of horror ) that I would then just need an airline and airstone?

 

[three-fingers]

airline and airstone

Airstones dont really work that well, from the little reasearch ive done this morning.

 

[oscar52]

airline and airstone

Airstones dont really work that well, from the little reasearch ive done this morning.

Didnt think so - that was my UNeducated guess, given there is no regulation

 

[voo]

Airstones don't work for CO2 as they let off big bubbles which isnt good for CO2. You need small bubbles so that it disolves into the water before it reaches the surface. Remember any CO2 that reaches the surface just escapes and is wasted.

 

[BigIan]

you can use an internal filter to diffuse the co2. or you could buy just the diffuser, for 10 or so pounds (try ebay )

that would work