New to Plants

[pisces22]

Hey everyone,
im a newbie to the fishkeeping hobby-I currently have a 21 gallon tank set up and running with plastic plants. I was fascinated by the idea of keeping "underwater" plants in an aquarium, but I felt to inexperienced to go with live plants- i thought Iwould have enough trouble keeping the fish alive let alone plants. Anyway, I'm looking at purchasing a 10 gallon aquarium for live plants and mabe some male guppies for pretty-factor. I was wondering what kind of flourescent lights I would need, what type of substrate, and which plants are good for begginers. I really like the "natural coloured substrate with driftwood for anchor and lovely real plants look". Also; what temperature is ideal for which plants, how much aeration would be needed and I was also worried about water conditions. I have well water with a very high pH-8.4. My fish do fine but im unsure about plants. I have both hard and soft water in my house-which would be better? I just wanted to be well informed b4 I try anything-this forum is teeming with expert advice-and feel free to point me to any good websites if your sick of explaining the same things over and over to ignorant 14 year olds who try and grow plants.
Thanks!

[Seaman]

FIrst off, would you rather spend more money in the long run, or spend more now.

If you want to spend more now, I would suggest buying a compact flourescent strip light, like this one: http://a1272.g.akamai.net/7/1272/1121/20040510213528/www.drsfostersmith.com/images/bigimages/lg_16885_24698P_04.jpg
that uses compact flourescent lights, or if you want to go cheaper now, I would reccomend a normal incandescent hood (screw in lightbulb) and then buy a single compact flourescent bulb like this one: http://a1272.g.akamai.net/7/1272/1121/20030613172910/www.drsfostersmith.com/images/bigimages/lg_13992_21171D.jpg

Here's the deal, with the first one it will be cheaper to replace bulbs, but more expensive to start, with the seccond one it will be cheaper to start and a little more expensive replacing bulbs, I would say try and stay around 20-30 watts of light, once you go higher than 4ish watts per gallon, then you will need to use C02 to make it worth while. I would reccomend starting off with plants that are easy to keep like

Java fern
Java moss
Anacharis
wisteria
pennywort
anubias

I've had great success with those as "beginner" plants. Also read up on fertilizers, when you start moving into harder to keep plants, you will have to "dose" your tank with different minerals and such, and also its good for a lot of plants to use flourite or any other "eco" type substrate, so the plants can get nourishment from the substrate also.

I cant remember the really good plant website right now, that will help you with knowing what conditions are right for what plants, and what plants are easy to grow. Hope that helps, oh and also its a good idea to more heavily stock your tank with plants right away so algae doenst have a chance to get a foothold.

[Gunnie]

This plantguide is where I started looking at what could go into my tanks. I realized how much money I was spending on my hobby, and decided to go with low light plants which could grow without the expensive lighting. I assume you have just single strip lighting or a standard hood, so check out the low light plants from this plantguide.

plantguide (http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_cat.php?category=1)

And before you get another tank just for plants, have you considered putting live plants in your 21 gal. tank and getting rid of the plastic ones?

[pisces22]

Thanks for the replies-Ill probably be asking many more questions to keep on track.
ill be getting the 10 g from my couz and i still have to find out what lighting it has. Yes i definetly want to someday have live plants in my 21 gallon-it has two long flourescent lights that came with th ekit and one is apparently good for plants. I was just worried that the substrate-gravel-would not be appropriate. I donr know if I could switch the substrate without hurting the tank "balance". Should i put an airstone in the 10 g or will the hang on canister filter be enough?
Thanks

[djlen]

This site is loaded with good information on all aspects of planted tanks:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/articles.htm

I suggest you start with the article on Setting up a Planted Tank. Very informative.
Your filter will probably give you enough movement, making added aeration unnecessary.

Len