Planning New 46g Planted Bowfront

[dewilde2]

Hello!
I have done reasonably well and fallen in love with my planted 10 gallon, so I have decided to convert my 46 gallon bowfront to planted as well. I am trying to plan it out completely before I get started.

1. Eco Complete vs Flourite vs other?? Either option is going to be quite costly for a 3-4" bed in a 46 gallon. Other suggestions or a way to find Fluorite in bigger bags?

2. Lights? Right now I just have anubias, tropica, java fern, amazon sword, and a few other misc. I want to buy new bulbs regardless, so I'd like to go with the best for a general tank.

3. CO2 options? Right now I just have a little Hagen Natural Plant System but I think that is going to be too small for the 46g. I'd like to keep it reasonable cost, and also something that can be hidden under the stand if possible.

4. Other considerations?

THANKS!!!

 

[efors]

Hi! Using your order:
1. I have 2 planted tanks. The 30 gal has as soil a mixture of Laterite and river sand (you can buy it) with around 1/2" of coarse gravel over it. The 20 gal has the Eco Complete soil. Both are doing great for 3 years, but the Eco Complete is really very good.
2. I don't know if you can find it for your 46g bowfront, but the best light system for me is the Coralife PowerCompact; using as bulb the ColorMax-6700K (50% of both).
3. Here, I don't know what to say. I have in both tanks a homemade system. Not pretty but cheap and works well.
4. I think that the ideal amount of light for any planted tank, should be around 3 watts per gallon of tank volume (around a total of 138 watts in your tank), using the type of light I mentioned or something similar.
Good luck!