planting a 30 gallon hexagon

[guppyart]

anyone have suggestions as to what would go into a 30 gallon hex that is 24" tall and the plants can curl around the top it has 3" of gravel 3 flourescent bulbs 2 15 watt whites and 1 blueish coral life bulb the fish are going to be plant friendly the ph is 7.6 and the water is pretty hard I am going to a fish auction and they have lots of plants there so I wanted to know what would thrive well in these conditions thank you for any inputs

[Damon]

For one, I cant read your post. I would also need to know how much light you have over the tank. What substrate you have specifically. Are you going to inject CO2? What kind of feel are your trying to go for? Will it be a biotype or just lots of plants? What fish will be in there?

[guppyart]

I have two 15 watt white tube flourescent bulbs and one blue coral life tube bulb
the substrate is just gravel that you buy at the LPS
I have not decided if I will have co2 if do want to what would I have to do I have co2 canisters for carbonating pop but I don't think my parents would allow me to use those so what do I do
the fish will be maybe some platies-swordtails-angelfish-fish along that line mellow and for algae I am getting otocinclus cats
I want to plant the tank with good background plants and then have foreground plants that bush and cover the bottom so the tank will be quite thick
hope you can read this

[Edward Tang]

I suggest an upgrade on the lighting just so that you can have a much nicer planted tank. You should get maybe 3 WPG of lighting on that 30 gallon which is going to be around 60 watts of lighting. You should get 6500 K light bulbs to provide the right spectrum for the plants. For the foreground, a great plant would be Riccia Fluitans. A long carpet of that along the foreground will be stunning. For the middle,you might consider some driftwood and some small crypts or anubias around it or tied to it. Something nice that could go behind the driftwood in the background might be bacopa or rotala. Or you could go with some amazon swords or corckscrew vals. It all depends on what you prefer. One important tip if you want a nice aquascape is buying less variety of plants but more quantity. You should mass on like 1 or 2 background plants, 1 or 2 middle, and 1 or 2 foreground. Keep it within several species of plants and it will make a much more realistic look.

Also, Co2 injection would be extremly helpful to your plants as well as fertilizers. Good luck.

[Damon]

Correct on the lighting. You'll have problem growing ricca on gravel. you could float it though. As for the spectrum, it really doesn't matter. Plants look better in the 6500-10000K range but grow just fine in 3000K. I can't think of any sword that will fit in a 30 gallon. You could try one as a centerpiece but will have to trim it often. The crypts and anubias are nice looking but very slow growing. You want some fast growin plants to help soak up the extra nutrients until the tank gets balanced. Remember to plant heavy at the start. It'll pay off in the long run.