Planting Up An Existing Tank

[Craster]

Hello folks. I have had a good read through the pinned topics, and I think I have a pretty good handle on the basic principles, but am hoping for some specific suggestions to fit my situation.

I have an existing 180l bow-front tropical community tank with a gravel substrate. I keep it at 24C and it has twin T5 fluval 24W lamps - I work that out to be around 1WPG.

I want to plant this tank to around 30% coverage, as I want to provide plenty of low cover for my more shy fish and shrimp, whilst leaving plenty of swimming room for my Dwarf Rainbows, as they seem to love having a lot of space to move around in. I also want to take advantage of the plants as an algae control as much as possible.

I am comfortable with pruning as part of a regular maintenance, as well as dosing with ferts, but I would rather avoid CO2 injecting if I can.

Can anyone advise on changes to lighting, specific plant suggestions, or any other factors I should be considering here?

Many thanks.

 

[aaronnorth]

it has twin T5 fluval 24W lamps - I work that out to be around 1WPG.

T5 more or less double the wpg rule so you will be at 2wpg - which means CO2

Also 30% coverage is quite low, you want at least 50%, preferably 75% this will help with algae, you can buy stem plants and keep them trimmed low so your rainbows still have enough room to swim.