a few more questions...

[roghib]

I have a new 90 gallon tank that I have FINALLY cycled....my plan is a very green tank with lots of schooling fish....unfortunately I told this to my lfs and he set me up with the tank I have....after much research I see he has misled me a little, but so be it (think it more his lack of knowledge more then hunger for money)...now I must work with what I have...I have an overflow wet/dry filtering system with a 600 gph sump.....I have about 100lbs of gravel with 20 lbs of flourite...my lights are 2 -65 watt 6700 and 2 65watt 10,000k bulbs...my wish is a co2 injected system (still ironing out details on this with the wet/dry thing).
Anyways...in a week I am travelling to a fish store in the "big city" ( live in the back woods of Oregon so no real trustworthy lfs) and am planning on purchasing fish and plants for tank ....my question really is am I totally screwed and should just concentrate on a cool "fish" tank or is there still hope for a decent fish and plant tank.
Do I look for low light plants or can I get away with some higher light required plants...I am sure I will bow to salespersons advice but would love some advice prior to going so I dont fall into the same trap again.
I really hate to spend a ton of money on things just to see them waste away...believe me...I have spent a ton of money on a 90 gallon tank of water already and have yet to get to see a fish in it ( last 5 weeks been doing the fishless cycle thing).
Am sure in the end I will be happy but would love to show my wife I am not the idiot she is convinced I am in spending more money on a large glass jar of water then on a new couch and dinette set!

[skeletonhand]

I don't know much about wet/dry filter systems, so I won't comment on that. On the other hand, those lights will work fine for growing plants. You could grow lots of different kinds of plants. Even "high" light plants like cabomba. Just make sure that stock pretty heavy on plants, right from the start. Trust me, it'll make life easier in the long run. Your only limiting factor may be the lack of CO2. You could use flourish Excel, but that will get expensive FAST. If your main focus is on the plants CO2 injection is a must. Yes, it is possible with out it, but you be much happier with it (so will the plants :) ).With a tank that size, a pressurized tank system would be the cheapest in the long run. I set up my C02 for under 150 bucks. 5lb cylinder, milawakee regulator and CO2 tubing plus filling of the tank $13 at linweld.

Make sure you get some fertilizers too. Macros and Micros. I've use flourish complete and had excellent results. You could order some from http://www.gregwatson.com/ I'm having excellent results with his dry fertilizers too. I have to trim my plants twice a week!

[djlen]

Gotta agree whole-heartedly with skeletonhand on stocking heavily.
He is also right about the types you will be able to grow under your lighting.
I would suggest starting with lots of fast growing stems and some floaters to shade the tank initially and let it mature a bit with a heavy load of plants.
One good feature of stem plants is that they relatively inexpensive and won't hurt your pocketbook too much, and they are fast growing and easy.
After it settles in a bit you can start experimenting with plants you see and like but the above suggestion is to get a good plant mass going, especially without the benefit of CO2. If you don't plant heavily and shade it you will have algae issues in short order.
BTW, if you'd stocked it heavily with plants you could have put a few fish in immediately and over time the would have 'cycled' the tank for you.

Len

[roghib]

thanx for replies so far it is encouraging....if it helps in answers at all I am VERY willing to purchase the co2 system when I buy stock just very concerned I am throwing away money with the wet/dry filter....but am excited to see replies encouraging plants....was starting to be concerned it was a loss!

[Mgamer20o0]

if your looking to add co2 the wet dry i think will gas off a lot of the co2 and it might be hard to keep the lvl of co2 that you will need. i would start off with some lower light and fast growing plants. make sure its something you want to do maybe only have 1 set of lights on. from there you can expand with co2 your full lighting system on ferts different kind of plants.