New plants plus questions

[tttnjfttt]

Yesterday, I decided to take a big jump and go ahead and plant my tank. I bought some lights that are meant to be used for beneath cabinets, and made a DIY hood by dismantling my old one. There is supposedly 100 Wats for my 20 gal tank, but I have a feeling some of the light is aimed out of the tank. For substrate, I went to a gardening center and bought some underwater potting soil that says it is safe for all fish, and put about 1.5" on the bottom. I also have about 1" of sand over this, however from adding my plants, they are definately mixing together. I have some "Leaf Zone" plant fertalizer that is added into the water weekly from my last poorly planed planting attempt. I will be setting up a DIY CO2 thing later today.

My questions are, Should I stop using carbon in my filters?

One of my plants actually has some roots (sorry, I don't know the name of it). Will the liquid fertalizer work, or do I need to get the fertalizer sticks for it?

Can I add salt when my fish are looking stressed or if I have a disease that is attacking the entire tank? (just planing ahead) What about medication?

Anything that I have left out that you think I need to know or am doing wrong?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[zig]

Your lights might not be suitable for growing plants, have a look at gf225s pinned article on lighting at the top of this section.

You also need a Ph and a Kh test kit if you plan to use co2 in the tank, these will allow you to measure how much co2 you are putting in the water, 25-30 ppm is recommended for plants and anything above this may be harmful to your fish, do a google for co2 charts and then you can measure your co2 with your test kits.

Carbon filters are not usually used in planted tanks.

Certain types of plants are fed through the roots and others through the water column.

Hospital tanks are always a good idea, and if small enough but sufficient for your fish, are cheaper to dose as well.

Good luck with it