First, I'd like to set up an aquarium with some sort of pump-driven
water changing system. I always found it time consuming and
disconcerting (my Tiger Barbs nipped at my arms while I was changing
water--it just felt weird!) to use a gravel vacuum and go through all
the trouble of starting the siphon, etc., and then pouring in a bucket
of water which invariably disturbs the fish or plants or gravel.

I'm thinking it shouldn't be too hard to buy a pump somewhere, put an
intake tube in the aquarium, and outtake tube in an empty bucket, and
start the pump. Then when the bucket is full, empty it and replace it
with clean water and reverse the pump, putting the water from the
bucket into the aquarium.

Unfortunately every article I find on it just seems so
complicated--people have systems to automatically turn on once a week,
etc.--I don't want something totally automated (I'll be there to turn
the pump on and off), just something that's a little less work! Can
you point me to any articles that show how to build (or where to buy)
a simple system that even the mechanically challenged can put
together?

Also, if a piece of glass covers the top of the aquarium, and the
lights are placed on top of the glass, how do you lift the glass +
lights to feed the fish?

I read an article (http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/kelly-intro.html)
that recommended using an inch of sand as the top layer of substrate.
Do you plant the roots of the plant in the sand, or do you have to
plant them all the way in the bottom layer of vermiculite/loam? If the
plants don't have roots yet, he said you can hold them down with a
piece of bent wire. Won't the wire start to rust, and if so, will that
harm the fish? What would I do with the wire in order to make sure the
plant is firmly held down?

When fish die but you can't find them, the plants will absorb the
products of the decaying fish so that it doesn't harm those fish that
are living, right?

I read some places that too much CO2 will kill your fish--how are you
able to make sure that a DIY yeast system won't "spike" and produce
too much CO2?

When you fertilize the plants with the tablets, do you push them into
the sand (top layer of substrate) or all the way into the
vermiculite/loam (bottom layer of substrate) layer?

Thank you so much for your help!

David