Starting up a planted tank

[DaiandGems]

Hiya been playing round in my head for a while about starting a planted tank so ive decided to strip my 90L down and plant it up. So im after some advice on which plants to use to start with eg easy to grow maintain and which substrate to use as i dont want to buy co2 kit jus yet. Been thinking of a soil substrate with a layer of fine gravel over the top then some seriya stone on like a mound maybe some mopani wood then like a carpet of plants with maybe one or two taller ones but noything certain so open to ideas and advice thanks Dai.

 

[AverageWhiteBloke]

Starting with a low tech set up until you gain more planted knowledge is a good start. A lot of people jump straight in with co2 and massive lighting thinking they are all they need and spend most of the time in the algae section of the board
Gravel is up to your personal choice I guess. Having a specially made under gravel nutrient base would be ideal as the nutrients in there will give your plants the best start in life and reduce any fertilising errors when/if you need to dose the water. Some people in here use Osmocote which can be got from gardening stores and a substrate of cat litter. The Osmocote goes underneath.

As for plants Most Crypts, Vallis, Hygrophilia, Polysperma and Amazon swords will do ok in Low/Medium lighting conditions.

Keep the light down in watts and time until your comfortable with what your doing, increasing lighting could force you into that CO2 set quicker than you thought