hey all. im thinkin of starting a planted tank. i have a 20 or a 29 tall either one will work. hang on back filter heater regular flouresent light. the tall tank has a mirror background on it the 20 has no background. i have gravel or i have some sand i can use. ok so heres where i need help. what now? i had the 20 with a shitton of guppies in it and then one day all the plants i had turned brown and died. im sure it was cuz i had no idea what i was doing. anyhow im lookin to startoff low maintenance and fairly cheap if at all possible. i have the 135 mbuna tank and the 55 peacock to deal with also so low maintenance is kinda important. ANY and ALL suggestions are greatly appreciated. please i have no real experience with underwater plants. i keep a mean garden but underwater is all new to me so feel free to talk to me like im a dummy cu well right now i am at this thing. i eventually want to keep fish in it well right away. anyhow let me know what you think

it is better to use the regular 20 than the tall. It allows for better light penetration. Also what kind of lamp are you using? Is it just the stock hood lighting? If so, that might work short term, but if you really want to keep plants 15W is less than half of what they need to thrive in your 20g. You want to follow a rule of 2-4 Watts per gallon. If you can get close to 4 you can keep almost anything you want. I have a 20g H and I have 65W. It is a high though so I figure it is fairly close to the 3w range. Also, you are looking for a full spectrum lighting range between 5500K-7500K. Fish are a good idea, because they produce natural fertilizer, just be sure it is cycled first. Its easier that way when you are dealing with plants. Also, when picking your plants make sure they are true aquatics. A lot of the stores sell plants as aquatic that really are not true aquatics. A good rule of thumb for a beginner, with the exception of sword plants, if it is out of the water and can stand on its own it probably isn't a true aquatic. Also, my understanding is that fine gravel is better than sand for most plants. Apparently it is harder for them to extend their roots in packed sand.

Also if you have 3+ wpg you will want to use Co2. For your substrate you can use a fertilized sand like seachems Flourite sand and then top it with gravel. If you use fertilized sand you wont need to use liquid fertilizers as much as you would with out the sand.

Once you know how many watts per gallon you want to use then we can suggest plants.

ya i really want to avoid using co2. that just sounds like alot of work and well i work all the time in the summer.plus i dont like the idea of that shit in my house. i dunno ive seen those injectors and what not and they look evil.

In a tank that small you could use flourish excel for carbon in lieu of CO2.

With that size of a tank you do not need the big Co2 injection thing you can use a soda bottle, air line hose and a Co2 ladder. Fill the bottle with sugar, yeast, baking soda and water and let the yeast do its thing. I have something like that kicking around my place I'll snap a pic if you would like.

ya i remeber reading/seeing the soda bottle thing. cant remeber how it goes tho.

About a month.

after 20+ years i just cant get my plant tank,at firs they grow nice an well,next thing i know they are dieing,i dont want to spend to much money,just want something to work,do i have to have oxygen tank to make it work?

That's your problem. Plants need daylight bulbs to grow. Regular lights won't work.
For a 120 you can get cheap shop lights at a hardware store. Look for bulbs with 6500k or 10,000k. I'm using 8 T12's on my 135 gallon. It's flurishing!! I think I have about $80 in my lights. I use the 2wpg rule.
This is one of the articles I remember reading that helped me understand a little more about planted aquariums.
http://www.aquariaplants.com/

And when I get ready to upgrade my lighting this will be where I buy them from.
http://www.ahsupply.com/36-55w.htm

Oh no!!! I promise, I didn't mean that like it sounded!!!! I apologize.

I have decided to use the flourish excel since it is only a 20g. I just ordered my ferts yesterday. I would love to go with the dry and mix myself, but I just don't have time for a self chemistry lesson until later this summer. What does everyone think of the flourish products?