the substrate in bentoinite clay mixed with miracle grow organic choice capped with flora max by caribsea. Plants include dwarf hairgrass, cryptocoryne wendtii, green temple, giant hygro, baby tears, and ludwigia perensis. still wating for my light bulbs to come in the mail. they are 2 6500k compact florescent 24w from 1000 bulbs. just started fishless cycle. right now my biofilter is converting ammonia at .2 ppm over 24hrs. i plan on keeping shrimp and snails. my bio filter is bioballs and lava rock. I dont have any plans on running co2 at this point. gonna see how it turns out.