Mattias' 10g planted

Yeah man that'd work. I'd cycle with pure ammonia though. I'd go with tons of shrimp for a bottom dweller

 

actually, dont go with a lot, they breed pretty readily. youll be giving them away/ selling them before you know it. do you know what the color temp of your light is?

 

Yeah buy 20 and youll have 40 in a month.

 

Alright I'll just start with like 6 rcs.

My lights is 6500k I believe. I'll double check. 28 watts, what kind of plants can I keep?

 

Also, I plan to use excel instead of c02

 

that will help. i always liked flourish trace, thats all i used

 

I plan on this method of cycling. Setup the tank.
Add the hardware, filter, heater, etc.
Fill the tank and let it run for at least 24 hours to be sure things are working correctly and you have no leaks.
After this time drain the water down till the tank is 1/2 to 1/3 full (not needed on smaller tanks). Then plant your plants. It's a lot easier to plant them when the tank is not as full. Note that this applies to larger tanks more than smaller tanks.
Refill the tank.
Turn on the lights and wait a couple of days.
Then add some fish and start fertilizing.
After about 2 weeks you will need to trim the plants. If you have enough plants you will not have much of an algae problem. Don't be surprised though if you get a diatom (brown algae) bloom, I have yet to be able to bypass it.
Keep up with the fertilizing and trimming.
Do test the water for ammonia and nitrate. I have yet to see any detectable ammonia using the method but there is always first time. You may never see any nitrate levels either. This means you have enough plants in the tank and you need to dose nitrates.
Keep up with normal water changes and other maintenance and after a couple months you can start removing sections of the stem plants and replacing them with your aquascape.

 

That is interesting. Why not just fill the tank half full and plant the plants in the 1st place? You already know the tank doesn't leak, so I would forgo the 1st part. I don't believe thy will die during the "cycle" anyways. I

 

The plants wont die during the cycle.

The tank cant cycle with just plants, there has to be an ammonia source. Now, i assumed you were doing a fish-IN cycle. But after reading, it seems that you wont be doing water changes? That the plants should keep the levels stable? That is not the case. Plants help a cycle, but wont replace one

 

I want to plant the tank and slowly add fish. One at a time. The plants should keep an ammonia or nitrite spike from occurring.

I hope to one day achieve a tank where the plants and fih will support eachother(welstad method http://theaquariumwiki.com/Walstad_method), but for now i plan on regular water changes.

BUT, I don't know of it will work with my chosen substrate. http://m.petsmart.com/mt/www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11147295&lmdn=Fish