What I've done so far.

[PADogman]

Not much input on the lighting suggestions, so I buzzed into the shop yesterday afternoon and bought one on his suggestion.
What bugger to set up. Probably couldn't sell it. And it's still not really set up, but there was light.

I'm sure I'll fiddle with it before my plants get here, but I think I've allowed myself proper spacing to insert some plants amongst the hard stuff. And have some grasses up in the front corner. Where I sit in the LR I can view both the front and the left side, so I built my scape diagonally.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

What's the light? That's a nice start to the tank.

 

[PADogman]

What's the light? That's a nice start to the tank.

Thanks.
The light is a Finnex 247 Planted. Probably a little too high tech for me.
Right now I'm trying the normal 24/7 mode, but I set the time 3 hours behind.
I've read guys putting them on timers, and that's what the shop owner told me he does, but when I simulated a timer by unplugging it and plugging back in an hour later, it did not come back on without pressing the power button.
We'll see...

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Thanks.
The light is a Finnex 247 Planted. Probably a little too high tech for me.
Right now I'm trying the normal 24/7 mode, but I set the time 3 hours behind.
I've read guys putting them on timers, and that's what the shop owner told me he does, but when I simulated a timer by unplugging it and plugging back in an hour later, it did not come back on without pressing the power button.
We'll see...

Interesting. If you can’t figure out, maybe look on YouTube for a solution. If that doesn’t work, I would contact Finnex.

Timers for lights are awesome. Hope you get it figured out.

 

[PADogman]

I was going back and forth with Howard at Finnex yesterday.
When I first plugged the light in the two lights started flashing and I could not get it to do anything I wanted. Everything I tried did nothing to stop the flashing, even though I knew it was asking me for a custom program. It turns out I had to hit the "custom" 24/7 button to stop the flashing, even though I was not entering a custom program. Who knew?

Anyway, I finished up the conversation by asking about the timer and he kept prodding me to enter a custom program if that is what I wanted to do with 8 hours bright and the rest dark. I'll have to buy a timer and try it myself if I don't like the way it's working now. Although I don't see how a timer would be different than unplugging it like I tried... but he did mention no power to the light would lose my settings and time, but using the power button to turn it on/off would not.

It was a confusing conversation to say the least. I do better with actually speaking with a person.

 

[PADogman]

The water is in, the filter hanging and the heater on.
And I turned the one piece of driftwood to give me more room at the front of the tank. I think it looks better from where I am sitting, too.

Lots of floaties.

I did not realize that the size filter I ordered, a Seachem Tidal 35, did not have an intake tube that extended down. And you can see the floaties are in the upper half of the tank, so I ordered a 15 gal powerhead. I'm hoping to give the bottom just a small current to move things around.

I'll put it right below the arrow, which is actually pointing at something...

You can barely see it above the waterline...
It's a label. I didn't even notice it when I cleaned the tank and put the background on, but I'm glad it ended up on the back of the tank. It is in-between the frame and the glass. No way to remove it. It says my tank was made May of this year

BTW, the light is not on full bright yet. Certainly bright enough to see what's going on. Especially when the water clears. I'm hoping it kicks in at 2-3:00. That will give me a nice viewing time until I hit the sack at 9-10PM.

 

[PADogman]

My view from the couch
Except it's not that crooked

I think I'll move that heater over a little. Then I won't even see it.

 

[PADogman]

The powerhead came in today. It's a little bigger than I thought it would be.
And while you can't really feel the current when you get more than six inches from it, it is definitely moving loose stuff that was laying on the substrate. Hopefully it's not too much current. I'll know more when I get the plants in.

The tank might be a little clearer. Maybe.

 

[PADogman]

I moved some stuff around again

Got rid of a large-ish rock and opened up the small hill in the back to accept plants easier, moved the large rock on the left to the right, creating a larger "lowlands" area, moved the driftwood together (which I think looks more natural).

Still not happy with the slow job this filter is doing. You can see into the tank, but by the time your eyes reach the back it's clear it's cloudy (see what I did there )
It seems the 55 would be too large, but I could probably get rid of the powerhead then. And the heater could clip onto it. Then I would still have the 35 for a smaller tank. I'm going to check dimensions.

 

[Anonymous Fox]

it must be expensive! At an estimated guess, around (in USD) $20 for the filter, 20 for the heater, 100+ for the tank, 12 for the substate, 20-50 for the driftwood, and 30-60 for the rocks... Wow

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

For lights with timers...
In The Real, the sun takes its time to come up and go down and there's a range of light intensity whilst that happens.
Normally, in most of our houses, the light comes on and off, at the flick of a switch. This used to be also true for aquarium lights.
A good modern light, (like what I've got ), will slowly increase the light to mimic sunrise and then decrease it at the end of the day. Mine also has a period of just blue 'moonlight', so I can get a glimpse of some afterdark activity, before I go to my pit and then it goes completely off, until 'sunrise' the next day.
I don't have to worry about switching lights on or off and, when I was about to get an algae problem, it was a cinch to reduce the lighting hours, whilst maintaining a steady rhythm for the fish.
(I've also got the gimmicky opportunity to schedule in thunderstorms, dull days and other weathers associated with The Great British Summer, but that's bye the bye).

I wouldn't worry too much about the filter flow at the moment. Adding plants will provide some 'quiet' spots and more can be created by adding bogwood, or somesuch. As for the lack of clarity, that's normal for this stage of the game. That said, I have cheated before now and added a clearing agent, 'Aquaclear'. This clumps the really, really fine particles together, which then makes them easier for your filter to pull them out of the water. I'd leave things as they are for now. (Did you rinse your substrate beforehand?)

Still, the tank's looking promising.

 

[PADogman]

it must be expensive! At an estimated guess, around (in USD) $20 for the filter, 20 for the heater, 100+ for the tank, 12 for the substate, 20-50 for the driftwood, and 30-60 for the rocks... Wow

That's why it's not a 100 gallon tank

 

[PADogman]

For lights with timers...
In The Real, the sun takes its time to come up and go down and there's a range of light intensity whilst that happens.
Normally, in most of our houses, the light comes on and off, at the flick of a switch. This used to be also true for aquarium lights.
A good modern light, (like what I've got ), will slowly increase the light to mimic sunrise and then decrease it at the end of the day. Mine also has a period of just blue 'moonlight', so I can get a glimpse of some afterdark activity, before I go to my pit and then it goes completely off, until 'sunrise' the next day.
I don't have to worry about switching lights on or off and, when I was about to get an algae problem, it was a cinch to reduce the lighting hours, whilst maintaining a steady rhythm for the fish.
(I've also got the gimmicky opportunity to schedule in thunderstorms, dull days and other weathers associated with The Great British Summer, but that's bye the bye).

I wouldn't worry too much about the filter flow at the moment. Adding plants will provide some 'quiet' spots and more can be created by adding bogwood, or somesuch. As for the lack of clarity, that's normal for this stage of the game. That said, I have cheated before now and added a clearing agent, 'Aquaclear'. This clumps the really, really fine particles together, which then makes them easier for your filter to pull them out of the water. I'd leave things as they are for now. (Did you rinse your substrate beforehand?)

Still, the tank's looking promising.

Thanks for all the input.

I'm kind of getting used to this Finnex 247. It is certainly odd having some kind of lighting on 20 hours or so... I'm not really sure how long it stays dark. They should give you a chart.
I guess I like it, but there are times I'd just as soon see it sitting in the dark instead of teasing me with low lighting. Plus it has me wondering when I look at the tank, like now, is it max? But I'm pretty sure I have another hour to go before everything is full on.
When I hit the Max button on the remote I can't always get it back to the current time and have to start from scratch and re-enter the time. I think the remote is not as responsive as it should be and I'm hitting buttons twice.

I'm browsing YT watching reviews and one guy said the Fluval C3 cleared his tank in 24 hours, whereas the Tidal 35 took 5x as long.
I'm thinking of doing a good water change before my plants get here to help things along.

I rinsed the rocks and the driftwood, but then I saw someone say you should soak the wood for a few days to release the tannins. The water has a yellowish hue, so that has me leaning towards either the wood, or the potting soil underneath the gravel. The gravel was supposed to be pre-rinsed and there was actually water in the bag and everything wet, so I added it straight in. I figured there was something beneficial going on with it to sell it that way.

I honestly don't remember the water having this tint to it as I was filling the tank. And I made sure not to sir things up.
I have also seen folks talking about "bacterial blooms", but wouldn't know one if I saw it.

And thanks. I'm really looking forward to planting time

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

...It is certainly odd having some kind of lighting on 20 hours or so...

Say what!?!
That duration of light will be good for your plants and outstanding for algae! You must've missed something in the sequencing or programming. Certainly, that duration of light will be unhealthy for fish, which need a period of darkness in their days.

I rinsed the rocks and the driftwood, but then I saw someone say you should soak the wood for a few days to release the tannins.

Always...unless you're aiming for a blackwater Amazon tank, perhaps for Neon or Cardinal Tetras and Discus.

I have also seen folks talking about "bacterial blooms", but wouldn't know one if I saw it.

This would look like a milky suspension in the water and should dissipate of its own accord.

 

[PADogman]

A good modern light, (like what I've got ), will slowly increase the light to mimic sunrise and then decrease it at the end of the day. Mine also has a period of just blue 'moonlight', so I can get a glimpse of some afterdark activity,...

That's exactly what mine does. Why is mine potentially harmful for fish but yours isn't?