Two questions

[jackiomy]

I bought a 40 gallon acrylic tank. I am going to build a canopy for my lights. What kind of lights do I use with an acrylic tank, and what kind of substrate do I get for a planted tank? I am not going to plant right away though. Is it okay to wait? Oops, that's three. LOL

 

[The Zigman]

I'd use compact fluorescents...6700Ks

there are several substrates on the market for planted tanks, I mixed fluorite with my gravel...

 

[Riiz]

Power Compacts or T5 HO work nicely, the latter run cooler though, but I personally am still running full PC on any tank growing plants. For a nice substrate, I like to mix sand and Flourite, but there are a million combos that work.

 

[Ozymandias]

i use T5 and like them a bit better then the PC i was running. for substrate it really matters how much you want to spend on it. there really are alot of options every thing from AS Amazonian II to play sand. and yess you can lett it wait for a time

 

[247Plants]

1. CFL 6500K -10000K
2. Flourite, eco complete, pool filter sand, soilmaster select(turface), kitty litter....
3. No not a problem at all.

 

[Draal5]

The cheapest I have found is Schultz's aquatic soil at Home depot or lowes 7.00 for a bag, has a nice look to it and is ok to wait to plant.