Newbie wanting to plant

[dmariann19]

Hi , i’m rather new to fish keeping and i’m going to downsize my tank from 125l fluval to an 80L super fish tank but in my current tank (125) i haven’t got many live plants but in my new 80L i’m getting i want to have more live plants.
So my question is how do i go about this?
What soil do i get?
i’ve seen people saying to use sand instead of gravel on top of it because gravel sinks into the soil , what sand should i get ? normal sand ?
Don’t feel as if you’re being patronising in the comments , as much detail or as little as you want , all advice is massively appreciated.
I keep betta fish and plecs and 2 hoplo catfish (babies)
So i guess my main questions are
What soil do i use?
What sand do i use?
do i need to put anything in to make the plants grow faster along side the soil?
Do i need to let the tank settle (the soil) before i add my fish. As i asked on a facebook group if i have to cycle it still and i was advised to just take my old filter media and put it in my new one and then its already cycled ?
Is a soil tank harder than just a plain gravel tank?
Thank you in advance

 

[Essjay]

You don't need soil unless you are intending a high tech water garden with 'difficult' plants, added CO2 and a couple of fish for added interest. Sand only or gravel only is fine for a fish tank with plants. All you need is liquid fertiliser and/or root tablets depending on what plants.
Some soils leach ammonia for months and with these you have to wait until no more ammonia leaches before fish can be put in the tank. Others run out of nutrients after a year or so and become the same as plain sand or gravel. Many of us don't bother with these soils and just use plain substrate with added fertiliser.


As for cycling, bear in mind that the bacteria live on every surface in the tank not just in the filter so the more you can move over - filter, decor, substrate etc - the better. The plants you have now will be using some of the ammonia made by the fish so there will be fewer bacteria than in the same tank with no live plants. With a lot of live plants in the 80 litre, they'll take up a lot of ammonia which will help cope with any bacteria lost during the move.

Will the 80 litre be going in the same place as the 125?