Help With First Planted Tank Please!

[melh1979]

Hello all
We have decided to try our first planted tank. We have had a 70l tank with plastic plants since Christmas but have now bought a 240l tank!
We were sort of talked into buying Red Sea Flora Base as substrate but then came to our senses when we realised it cost us £96 for 4 bags - so we were thinking of taking that back and getting some Tropica Plant Substate instead. What we were thinking of doing is covering this with gravel and then having a section of just sand which will be a kind of sand pit for the cories!! We could cover the whole thing with sand but we were worried about the two sections mixing and are not sure if it is best to cover with gravel and how to prevent it all mixing too much?
We probably won't use CO2 just yet but obviously have the option to add it in the future. Can we get decent plant growth without CO2? The tank came with two 40W T8 lights.
I have had a look at some possible plants we could have such as Java Fern, Hygrophilia, and some species of Echinodorus but does anyone have any other suggestions of some plants which could cope with these conditions?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ShoC]

http/www.plantedtank.net/

hope that site helps,

I have read you can get decent growth without Co2,
with the addition of adding liquid fert and root taps

amazon Swords are nice looking plants (require root tap) at their base
Java Fern
Java Moss
Anubias
Hornwrot (grows RAPID)

if you want a form of Carpet in the Tank you can get,
Dwarf Hair grass

Sadly I cant think of more, there was a nice one thats longer and not so fine.
if some one knows it please say as I have forgoten

 

[melh1979]

Thanks for the suggestions I will look them up and look at the link you gave me.

 

[garuf]

another good tip is to get everything before you start itll avoid problems later
and when you plant, dont skimp on plants fully stock with as many plants as you can afford at the time
two peices of advice i wish id had before i started