i plan to put sand in my new tank which is a 260lt, i plan to add some real plants of some sort, will these be ok in the tank on there own or will they need feeding of some sort before i add the fish? i want to get every thing all set up before i get the fish. i think i'm looking a few weeks before i even think of plants but i don't think i'll have the filter running on this tank just yet. (will be running the filter on the other tank to build up the 'goodness' inside the filter, which will be swap over the day i get the fish) will this also caurse me a problem?

If you get east care plants (there is a pinned list, link in my sig ) then they should do fine in the tank with little special attention.

Not running the filter shouldn't be a problem for the plants really, in fact plants prefer ammonia and nitrite over nitrate for food so they should do just fine until the filter is up and running. You might want to have something just move the water around the tank though, small filter head or power head would be suitable.

Sam

thanks for that very helpful. i do plan on getting an Hydor Ario Turbo Air Pump so that should move the water a round a little.

one other quick question, i plan to stick a lump of bog wood in the tank with the tannis (brown coloured stuff) still coming out to give the tank some colour will the plants benifit from this too? i have been told the fish can?

As I understand it the tannins are good for the fish, well certainly kinds of fish anyway. I've not heard of them doing anything for the plants though, good or bad. My only thought would be that very heavily tannined water will reduce light penetration, but thats just a guess.

Sam