Substrates that provide nutrients are typically a non issue. Some of the plant substrates (I believe the ada among others) will leech ammonia initially. With some planning, you can avoid issue. For an example, I have a 10g tank at 4+wpg with 2-3" of high humus topsoil covered with 2-3" of pea gravel that grows anacharis, corkscrew val, and algea very quickly. I throw cuttings from both into lower light, inert substrate tanks with some success. Both types do better in a 55 with an 80watt shoplight at 6500k. The amount, and temperature of light matter quite a bit for plants (And algea. Expect to have a bit of both) Your best bet may be duckweed - Common Duckweed, Lesser Duckweed, Lemna minor(resembles tiny lily pads ~1/4" across ) . Many aquarists hate it, but supposedly goldfish/koi/omnivores love it. Odds are you can get enough to seed the tank for free (It won't take much at all, and is near impossible to get rid of - just a heads up come transfer time ;) ) It's a small floating plant that grows beyond fast with good conditions. Being on the surface allows it to utilize much more light from your fixture (PAR values drop fast as you go deeper into water). Might be worth checking into. 1 small duckweed lily is capable of reproducing, so odds are your lfs wouldn't bother charging more than a buck or two for a whole bag. (Read, I've known people to dislike it that much. They'd be scooping it out weekly because they had fish that ignored it for tastier foods - though the dangling roots are great for fry) Hope it helps. ^_^

Yes you can leave it fishless and let it cycle on it´s own, your tank already has what it needs in order to cycle, but that doesn´t mean that after cycling on it´s own you will be able to stock it full abruptly. Here´s the catch, in order for your tank to "cycle" you have to seed it with nitrifying bacteria ( from another tank or purchased in freeze dried or liquid form ), that original bacteria pupulation you added will remain dormant until the conditions allow them to become active, that is, until they have "food" ( nitrogenous compounds ) that "food" can be given in several ways, with ammonium ( fishless cycling ) or by adding fish and/or fish food, once the bacteria have something to chew on they will begin multiplying, as they begin to mutiply they will begin breaking down and transforming the ammonia into nitrites and later into nitrates, this process will go on until all the ammonia is consumed ( the levels drop to zero ), then until the nitrites are gone ( the levels drop to zero ) and the only remaining part left are the nitrates. Depending upon how much food the bacteria were supplied with the population will grow to a certain level. You have X ammount of bacteria to methabolize X ammount of fish waste. Everytime you add fish the ammount of waste increases, so new bacteria have to develop to take care of that increase in the waste levels, if you exceed the carrying capacity of the tank that balance collapses and again new tank syndrome appears ( high levels of ammonia, high levels of nitrites ). The way the system protects itself is by eliminating the cause of the unbalance ---> killing fish until the balance is restored to acceptable levels. Some fish are more resistant to increased ammonia and nitrite levels than others, those fish are the ones that survive the meleè, the others don´t. Don´t feel dissapointed, most of us fish keepers learned the lesson the hard way just like you. Did you purchase the tank in an aquarium store ? Most aquarium owners are or have been hobbyists and most offer technical advice when setting up your first tank, the mentality of them is different they in it not for the money ( few get rich selling tropical fish for exception of the dealers and breeders ), they are in it because they love the hobby and what could be better than make a decent living doing what you love ?, on the other hand chainstores and pet stores only see you as a sign of money and the people that work in them is by far well qualified. You say you have a filter with two different kinds of "filters" in it, brand & model ? more specific details are needed, "two" filters tell me nothing.

Do I increase my chances of getting root rot by using water from a planted aquarium? I grow African violets and other gesneriads in a passive hydroponics setup and have been recycling aquarium water by re-using it with my plants. Recently, I got busy and let a couple of trays of plants dry out, which set them up for trouble. Now, they've developed root rot, pythium, I presume. If I'm right, the fungus is normally present, but the weakened plant system is unable deal with it like healthy plants do. I got to wondering about the effect of the aquarium water. Thanks. Betty

Well i haven't really done much other than collect some shallow planting pans that were my pops. I figured if I need to plant around Christmas I shouldn't get going to soon ! Maybe I should buy my medium though. In my mind I am still debating weather to put the plants down in the bottom of the aquarium, and hang lights down low inside..or lift the plants up close to where the lights would normally be with an aquarium. Or even try the incandescent bulb used in the Doug green video. I laughed when I watched the video, I am only 20 miles from the Ames College, and a buddies wife took Horticulture there. I was surprised to get info from so close by. Still kicking around the idea of running a small water fall filter in a container inside the aquarium to keep the humidity up. Picked up some good ideas from watching Dougs video where he sealed the tank up tight with a plastic sheet to keep it warm and humid, I keep fighting between the urges to do it the way I should, or the way that looks best, or easiest ! hahahah Thankfully I won't need a successful crop to eat next year. Oh, by the way I am thinking of using a 125 gallon aquarium I have sitting empty ;)