Lots of good questions

Sand is not bad, it just requires different care. For planted tanks, I really like sand--it holds plants better than gravel, and the plants benefit from the lower oxygen in the sand. I use medium grain sand over some high-iron, aquarium safe gravel. It mixes a bit, but is attractive and easy to clean.

I love plants. I have plants in all my tanks. Without getting into too much complexity, and expense, you can have a nicely planted, low light tank easily. Jave ferns, african ferns (bolbitis) anubias, and some crypts offer a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes, and will thrive in less than 1 watt/gallon of lighting. The ferns and anubias attach to rocks and wood rather than growing in the substrate, while crypts will thrive in sand.

Stocking: 7-8 blood fin tetras (my current favorites), 4-6 cories (skunks, again, my favorites), and a single gold gouramie.

Sand is good, lots of kinds are possible, but the easiest would be playsand (the kind used for sandboxes). For a 29, should't need all that much, only need 2in depth which isn't much. Personally, most of my tanks use sand taken right off of a beach, but it's hard to clean initially

For plants, need to have enough light, the right additives for iron and such, and possible a CO2 injector. I'm still trying to figure out the plant thing.

As for stock... well, what kind of activity are you looking for?


EDIT: my current plan for my 29g is 2 firemouth cichlids, 7 tiger barbs, and 4 cories. Wish the firemouths would show up at an LFS soon.

Home Depot sells playsand in 50lb bags for cheap money (like $3). The one near me had 2 different ones, Quikrete Playsand and Southdown tropical playsand. Both should work okay although I guess the Southdown stuff is coveted by those who can't find it in the western part of the US. I got a 50lb bag for my 29 which I think should be fine.

Plants are easy as long as you pick the right ones, don't over light and don't overplant. Crypts anubias, java fern, java moss will all work great in 1.5-2 watts per gallon or so. Start of with just a couple and take it from there.

The more plants or light you have the greater their need for nutrients and C02 so don't jump in with a dozen plants and a 110 watt light.

Isn't Southdown coral-based or something? I heard it raises pH, but maybe I'm thinking of another brand.

Southdown is not appropriate for all FW tanks--as Aquarius0015 indicated, it will effect your water chemistry. For African cichlids, this is good, but not good for most Asian and South American fish. It also is called Old Kastle play sand.

You know, when I saw the two brands side by side at HD I purposely grabbed the Quikrete brand because Southdown said something about coral or something and I figured it would screw with my ph but since so many people rave about it I figured it was fine. I'm glad to know my instincts were right.

The quikrete does have some limestone in it so I'm not expecting that to be completely inert either. I'm not exactly sure what it will do though

The medium grain quickcrete has not changed my water's chemistry at all. If you have extremely low pH, it may, but I haven't seen anything at a pH of 6.8.

If there is enough lime in that Quikrete sand, it will turn your water green. When we built a pond, we lined the bottom with concrete (actually Quikrete brand) and the lime in it turned the water green for about 1.5 mos. If there is a trace of lime it might do very little.