specs for planted tank

Here's the update...I ended up getting a new hood w/ 1 65 W bulb at my local fish store for ~$85--not near as bad as I was expecting for a manufactured item. I'd originally bought a new bulb there yesterday with the idea of DOY'ing it into my existing hood (and keeping the existing bulb, for a total of around 50W), but ended up seeing this and going for that. Not as much light as might be needed for some plants, but sounds like it will work for me for the most part.

Btw, the guy at the store said that a 29 g tank usually holds more like 24 gallons? True or urban legend? Seems consistent with what I've felt, given the water changes and what not.

I also re-did the tank yesterday. Pull the old substrate and put the flourite down. The fishies are doing well, although pale. That flourite really was a mess though! I could barely see into the tank to do anything until this evening! I plan on planting the plants tonight...I think the fish can take it, though if they get too stressed, I can stop and wait for another day.
 
The tank volume is calculated for its dimentions, so yeah, you've got a little less than 29g of water after putting down a couple inches of substrate.

Yikes! Adding fluorite to a running tank! That would be messy! Give it a couple days to settle before planting, you'll have to be rinsing your filter media tons for the next week or so!

It's not so much the fish I'm worried about so much as how little light would actually be getting to the plants through the haze. Plus the particles will settle on the leaves which is just a pain to clean off and only prolongs the settling period.
 
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