New tank advise please

[fishkeeper]

with me shutting down my marine tank, i am looking to start up a new planted tank for my bedroom. I am thinking of getting a 2ft tank so about 55-70l What filter would be recommended? Im looking for an affordable external filter, maybe the tetra tec ex600?

From my marine setup i have an arcadia 4x24watt t5 HO luminaire, im looking at keeping this and having these tubes:
2x 840 Osram
2x 880 osram skywhite

will these be alright?

For co2, as i cant afford pressurised, i will be having DIY. On my juwel rio 125, i have one DIY setup and its fine. Will this be ample? All the ones ive actually made have failed miserably so ill be buying what looks like 2 nutrafin canisters, alright with this high lighting?

Now it comes to stocking, i wouldnt mind a shoal of galaxy rasboras, some cories and a pair of rams...

What substrate will i be able to have that doesnt require any sand/gravel on top of it?

lastly, what plants would be good for this type of setup? Im looking to follow http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3660&start=40 <<<< that journal to get that tank look. What plants would be good in there? ive seen the plant list for that tank but are there any others? and what numbers would be good? with high lighting and good co2, im guessing that plants will grow quickly right?

Does this sound alright? Anything else i should know in addition, i think i know the basics of planted tanks so im in between newbie and intermediate

Thanks

Will

 

[Mark Evans]

2x 880 osram skywhite

will these be alright?

yep fine, there what i use with great growth. maybe get all the same sort of light?

 

[aaronnorth]

Buy a filter that will give you around 10-20x turnover. If you cannot afford it, then buy a smaller filter, and a powerhead to make up for it.

using only 2 of the 24w tubes will be plenty for your tank, it might be worth only running one if possible? seen as you wont be having pressurized.

which leads me onto CO2, 2 nutrafin cannisters = £40! It would be worth waiting and saving up to buy a pressurized kit (£80)

I was going to suggest the tropica substrate and cap it as it is cheap, but there is eco complete, seachem onyx sand (or gravel).Alternatively you could have an inert substrate which would be stricter on relying on you for dosing nutrients in the water column.

You want to cover as much as the substrate as possible with plants.

 

[beeky]

I was going to suggest the tropica substrate and cap it as it is cheap, but there is eco complete, seachem onyx sand (or gravel).Alternatively you could have an inert substrate which would be stricter on relying on you for dosing nutrients in the water column.

You want to cover as much as the substrate as possible with plants.

...or aquasoil of course. Personally, I've gone off tropica substrate because of the mess it leaves behind when you uproot anything.

 

[aaronnorth]

I was going to suggest the tropica substrate and cap it as it is cheap, but there is eco complete, seachem onyx sand (or gravel).Alternatively you could have an inert substrate which would be stricter on relying on you for dosing nutrients in the water column.

You want to cover as much as the substrate as possible with plants.

...or aquasoil of course.

I missed that out as it was the most expensive though

 

[Wilis]

Hi Fishkeeper,
Yes I agree with aaron, although aquasoil is (allegedly )the best it is expensive & you can get some good deals if you can shop around, I managed to get the last lot of ecocomplete for £17 a bag reduced from £23! Tropica substrate is good stuff as I've used it on a couple of setups but as beeky says is can be a little messy when maintaining your plants. There's also a very active & informative akadama thread on the site should you decide to go the diy substrate route.
As for the diy co2 I used to use wine bottles with one of those plasticy corks drilled straight through for an airline jointer in the top to fit the tube to, with a couple of t-pieces you can run 4 bottles if you need to,I had 2 on a 70l, & then to your diffuser or ladder-a supermarket has all the ingredients in the baking section too so there's no need to buy expensive nutrafin packs. You can then buy some bits of c02 kit as & when you can afford to add to the setup at a later date.
Regards
Will