Well this is the plant ng so... Look at your local LFS and ask questions
there. Depending on the plants available, you will want to have adequate
lighting. 2 Watts per gallon of fluorescent lighting will get you some nice
results without having to go overboard with high light and lots of "high
tech" solutions. That means you would need 60 watts of fluorescent lighting
over your tank. However, lowlight tanks can be quite beautiful with anubius
and java fern/moss as good low light candidates. Lowlight would be a tank
with 1 WPG or less.
If you get bored with that, and If you desire higher light required plants,
then you may want to go above 2 WPG. That makes planted tank care a bit
more complicated with plant fertilizer and algae control etc.
As far as fish go... check again with your LFS. Ask them if they condition
their water for their fish. If they do, ask what they do? Can you do the
same economically? Often times the LFS will stock fish suitable for the
water conditions in your area, but beware, often times they import specialty
fish. Ask if the fish are locally bred. If they are imported, what
conditions are best for them? Can your local water meet their requirements?
What do you have to do to condition your water to meet the fish
requirements? How expensive is this conditioning?
Most beginners want a variety of community fish. Although there are many
beautiful fish available, there are many species that will not and should
not be put in the same tank. Again ask lots of questions.

Hope this helped?

DJay


"Sarah" wrote in message
m...
I would like to put together a planted 30g tank but I have no idea
where to start. I've found a lot of websites online but I don't want
to take advice from just any website.

I figure a 30g tank would be large enough to start out with but what
equipment am I going to need? How do I pick the plants and fish for
the tank?

In other words, how do I start researching all this?

Sarah