[Chrisphungg]

I've always been a SW fanatic and I have had many successful reef tanks but I have always had trouble setting up a planted tank. For whatever reason it wasn't successful (Insane amount of Algae, Shrimps dying, Plants getting uprooted), I really want to set up a mid tech nano tank in my spare 6 gallon edge. I'd like some advice on planting, choice of livestock and cycling with the plants and how to set up the CO2 properly and how much CO2 should I be using?

Tank Specs:
Fluval 6G with the 12G LED fixture
Fluval 8W Aqualife and plant LED fixture on the front of the tank.
Fluval Pressurized system with a bubble counter/diffuser


Needed Recommendation for specs:
What Soil to use and additives
Powerhead? yes or no

If you had any answers to any of my questions above, your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[effox]

I'd think even a nano powerhead would take up a fair amount of space in a 6g, and wouldn't be necessary unless you were dealing with what, bba since water flow helps with that?

I'd just use gravel and root tabs, depending on what plants you choose. You may not even need root tabs with gravel, you can just dose dry ferts (ei dosing if you're down with lots of water changes). I was successful with my shrimp tank, I used ADA and had higher wattage CFL's and ei dosed, with DIY co2, and had a nice dwarf grass bed, but that would be overkill to expect out of a little edge.

What kind of plants are you wanting? If you are only having anubis or moss for example, you wouldn't require anything special for it to grow in that set up without additives, besides something to attach the anubis to.

 

[Chrisphungg]

I'd like a nice foreground carpet using an easy plant to work with. I'm not planning to dose any ferts but rather just use a small amount of CO2 in my system. I also want some needle java ferns and small anubias in the back attached to a few nice pieces of driftwood. Do you think ADA soil is necessary to achieve a carpet?