What Plants?

[stang1]

I'm shortly going to be setting up a 45g tank, 39"L x 15"W x 18"H. I've been looking at some of the planted tanks and would love to create one of my own. What I'd really like to know is what is the best substrate to use for the plants and what are the best plants to use?
I will have a few varieties of fish tetras, harlequins, minnows, pentazona barbs etc. Also a couple of BN's and perhaps a Queen Arabesque.
Any help will be much appreciated.

 

[BigIan]

Its more a question of what you want to spend, I suggest you read through the pinned articles to give you a better idea of how much tecnology and effort you want to put into the tank

for substrate you could get away with plain sand with some root tabs, or even something like the Tropica substrate.
Also water column fertilisation there are many off the shelf products that are great Seachem Flourish is a good one.
And co2 would also benifit your plats, Try looking through the products at AQUA ESSENTIALS

And as for plant choice i use THIS as a good refrence

 

[Captain Neon]

The substrate I used was more experimental than anything, but it works a treat. The bottom layer is about 3cm thick, and comprises of Roman gravel (Inert silicate that won't affect water chemistry) mixed with Laterite, which feeds the plant roots. Over this, I have about 5cm sand, which is nice and soft, and easy for the plants to work their roots into. Plant-wise, I've had the most success with Elodea Densa, and green varieties of Cryptocoryne Wendtii- the red variety just seems to die and fall apart. I've also managed to grow Hydrocotyle Leucocephala (Brazillian Pennywort) and Amazon Swords quite successfully, too. Some plants, although they look spectacular, are not particularly well-suited to tanks with greenery-loving fish, as I've discovered to my dismay! Plants like Green Umbrella Fern and Hygrophilia Difformis (Water Wisteria) look stunning, but the fern's leaves are brittle, and break apart whenever they are roughly treated by bigger fish, and the Wisteria's fragile leaves are too tempting for some fish, like Gouramis, who love shredding them. The good thing about Elodea is that when it reaches the top of the tank, you can take cuttings and re-plant them, filling tank space in next to no time.

 

[stang1]

Thankyou both for that information. I haven't seen that substrate before but it looks and sounds ideal.
I'm a keen gardener and grow a lot of flowers, veg, herbs and chillies, they're fairly straightforward. When it comes to tanks there seems to be so much to it but I'm looking forward to the challenge.
This is one of my tanks which I was quite pleased with until I saw other planted tanks!