I would agree with ChrisP, decide what you want re substrate lighting and CO2. Planting and the rest will prob have to wait until you've worked out those.
Here are my thoughts on those three.
Substrate - flourite, laterite, eco-complete, and the ADA one (not sure of its name) are all good, vary in cost quite a bit. I've only got one planted tank (and its small at that!) so cant comment specifically on all three or which would be best for such a big tank, but if it were me I would use laterite, it'll probably work out cheaper in the long run as you mix it with gravel, so it goes further. That said if money is no object and I mean NO object get the ADA soil (you can get it
here) there are different types depending on the fish you'll keep.
Lighting - first read the pinned lighting article, that'll give you a good basis for what you'll need. But for a tank of this size, 2WPG should be the goal, haven't the first clue how you'll get that thou, you'll prob need to cram as many bulbs as poss under the hood! Obviously get reflectors for each and decent plant light bulbs.
CO2 - unless you like mixing up DIY yeast stuff twice a day I would get pressurised. Either a kit from ebay or get a new regulator and a pub type cylinder (also from ebay) as you'll probably need to pump in quite a lot, i.e. have a high bubble rate so the normal 500g cylinders probably wont last you very long!
Hope that helps
would you mind if I asked what your budget is for this project? We can then tailor our advice to meet your needs and wallet. No point recommending the ADA glass beetle diffuser if you've only got 200quid to play with!
Sam
