New Guy Planting Questions

Can you give us some info on your water(pH,gH,kH)? Since you have not set up your tank these would be your water measurements out of the tap. Now, what size tank are you setting up? What kind of lighting will it have? With answers to the above questions we will know a lot more about what to advise you on.
As to your questions. You can put down a layer of flourite with sand on top, but over a period of time the two substrates will end up mixing together and you'll have a mixture of the two. It's really difficult to keep them separate, especially when you have live plants that will occasionally need moving and/or pruning. IMO mixing the two would be best for the plants, but depending on how fine the sand is you can lay it in any way you want to. I say that because a really fine/dense sand is not as good a substrate for the roots. It compacts on them and they can't breath as well.
For DIY CO2 you don't use a regulator. Again, knowing the size of your tank would help here. DIY consists of a 2-liter soda bottle and an air line going into your tank to supply the CO2. It's a very simple set up. The amount of CO2(number of bottles) depends on tank size.
Many people do fishless cycling by loading up their tank with as many plants as possible. Fast growing, nutrient eating, plants are inexpensive and my suggestion would be to get as many as you can afford, to stuff in there. I use them along with floating plants(salvinia, riccia etc.). They will "cycle" the tank for you in a relatively short period of time. If you have access to an established tank(one of yours or a friend who has one, or your LFS) ask them for some substrate from their tank, put the substrate in a nylon bag and put the bag into your filter. The nutrifying bacteria in that "used" substrate will multiply and cycle your tank in a fraction of the time it will take without it.
So give us the info I asked for above and we can go from there.
Len

I agree with Len on this. I went ahead and mixed the sand and flourite 50/50 in my planted tank. IMHO it looks really good. Almost natural. Just make sure you rinse both as best as you can. It will still have some cloudiness at first, but will settle after a few days. If you do a search through the plant forum for rinsing sand and flourite you'll get some good ideas on how to do it.

For cycling I followed what LEN told you and it worked out great.

If you click on my Tank Specs link at the bottom you can go to my 20 gal to get an idea what the substate mix will look like if just mixed together.

Good luck,

Dave

Ok, now we have a somewhat better idea of what we're looking at. Yes, 2.76watt/gal is on the high side(just my thought, others will tell you it's just fine) for starters especially for the plants you describe. But it's definately workable. I can't stress enough how important it is to load it with as many plants as possible initially, and get some substrate for your filter, from another established tank. Let things settle for a few days, let the plants get somewhat established for a few more, and you can then add A FEW fish. You will need them to supply the ammonia to start the ball rolling on your cycle. By keeping your fish load down and having patience you may not even notice a cycle. The plants will eat up the ammonia and nitrites and at the same time the nutrifying bactreria will colonize itself in your filter and in your substrate. Anubias and crypts are great plants, but IMO are not terrific "nutrient eaters", so you'll need to get the fast growing stuff at the start.
You can start a bottle of yeast and sugar as soon as the water clears and the plants are in. It will help the plants establish themselves quicker.
Pick up a 5 gal. paint strainer at Home Depot...put it over the top of a 5 gal. paint bucket and put the sand in it and wash it under the hose til the water comes clean. THEN do the same with the flourite. Flourite comes out at the beginning, looking like coffee, there's so much silt, but keep washing it and it'll run "clear". Put it all into the tank and then put some newspaper or a large plate on top of it to cut down on turbulance and fill the tank with water. If you fill and then dump in the substrate it'll take longer to clear. Just my opinion, again.
Just curious......any thoughts about what kind of fish?
Len

Ok, now we have a somewhat better idea of what we're looking at. Yes, 2.76watt/gal is on the high side(just my thought, others will tell you it's just fine) for starters especially for the plants you describe. But it's definitely workable. I can't stress enough how important it is to load it with as many plants as possible initially, and get some substrate for your filter, from another established tank. Let things settle for a few days, let the plants get somewhat established for a few more, and you can then add A FEW fish. You will need them to supply the ammonia to start the ball rolling on your cycle. By keeping your fish load down and having patience you may not even notice a cycle. The plants will eat up the ammonia and nitrites and at the same time the nutrifying bacteria will colonize itself in your filter and in your substrate. Anubias and crypts are great plants, but IMO are not terrific "nutrient eaters", so you'll need to get the fast growing stuff at the start.
You can start a bottle of yeast and sugar as soon as the water clears and the plants are in. It will help the plants establish themselves quicker.
Pick up a 5 gal. paint strainer at Home Depot...put it over the top of a 5 gal. paint bucket and put the sand in it and wash it under the hose til the water comes clean. THEN do the same with the flourite. Flourite comes out at the beginning, looking like coffee, there's so much silt, but keep washing it and it'll run "clear". Put it all into the tank and then put some newspaper or a large plate on top of it to cut down on turbulence and fill the tank with water. If you fill and then dump in the substrate it'll take longer to clear. Just my opinion, again.
Just curious......any thoughts about what kind of fish?
Len

One more thing......when you do your kH test, fill the vial to 10mm of water instead of the recommended 5mm. Then when you count drops to measure, 2 drops will equal a point instead of 1 drop. So, if you count 10 drops for the color to change your kH is 5. I think the test is more accurate this way than the suggested 5mm way with 1 drop per point.
And you'll find that kH is very important when using CO2.
Len

I would wash the sand first...it'll be easier to clean and tell when it's clear. Then the flourite which will look like coffee. Be patient it'll come clean. The pillow thing sounds like it'll work.
What kind of filter are you running in the 10? You can use the filter material in that to seed the new tank as well as some of the substrate.
If you load the 29 up with plants and let them establish themselves a bit, you can put the gouramis in. Just give everything a chance to settle and get established first.
Without knowing your kH I wouldn't advise about CO2. Get that reading and we can go from there. Judging by the figures you gave on pH and gH I think you'll be fine for the one bottle of CO2 mix, but check the kH first. kH is a measure of the stability of your water. If it measures 3-4 or higher the fish will be fine. If not you can always raise it.
Len