Trying To Setup A Planted Freshwater Tank.

Great site to tell you what you need for a planted tank.

http://www.rexgrigg.com/

Follow the links at the top of the page.

Seeing that you have around 2wpg, you may want to consider a CO2 system, like a DIY yeast or NUtrafin ladder system or the more expensive but reliable pressurized CO2 system. If you decide to go CO2, you'll want a canister filter because they can be set to cause less surface agitation that would gas off CO2.

The last thing you need to consider are fertilizers. Ferts are broken down into 2 groups, macros and micros. Macro nutrients are consumed in large quantities by the plants and are nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium. Micros are minerals like iron, copper, and manganese and can usually be found pre-mixed. The most cost effective way to dose ferts is to buy them in bulk in their dry state, you can buy them at www.gregwatson.com and the site has instructions on how to dose.

If you find dry dosing still a little intimidating, Seachem makes a line of products that are simple to use. You only need Seachem Flourish (for micros), Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potassium. You can use Flourish Excel as a carbon additive if you do not want to do CO2, though it's not as effective as CO2 injection.

You should test your kH if you plan to inject CO2 via DIY or nutrafin yeast method. Measuring the kH and comparing it to the pH will give you the CO2 level in the tank, a low kH may also mean that you should not inject CO2 until use raise it, or else it may lead to a pH crash with the addition of CO2. A kH of 3 and up is fine for injecting CO2.

If you use Flourish Excel instead then you don't need to worry about the kH, but it is less effective than CO2 and will cost more in the long run.

Another useful test to have is a phosphate test. You want some phosphates for your plants but a high level of phosphates will lead to algae issues.