I have this empty 54g tank on my display floor which I have been
planning to fill with water, but I just hadn't decided on a theme yet.
It's a very wide tank which seemed a little odd for the usual display
tanks coming out of the manufacturers. Your post has helped me decide to
go 100% planted and install three CO2 canisters (Hagen makes a
yeast/sugar model). There is also a new internal bio-filter from
Fluval(?) that I want to try (should be good to keep the CO2 levels from
dissipating too fast. The wide tank width will help with planting area
and with room for extra lights (some Oceanic CFs). *Amano, eat your
heart out... well maybe some day ;o)*. For fish, perhaps something
simple & elegant, like a school of 30 Harlequin Rasboras. I'd been
meaning to set up a display to show off these fish ) Thanks for the
idea redled!!

Thanks to all who contributed plant ideas.

ps: I have already posted in the store, most of my book-marks, including
a variety of DIY sites for building tanks, stands, light canopies and CO2
injection systems. I was a little nervous about how it would be received
by management *gulp*, but they loved it. They like the idea that we are
becoming an authoritive site for anything related to the hobby, and have
no problem with mentioning DIY or products we don't carry, (though if the
products are worth carrying, they wanted to know why I am not making
arrangements to buy them *where is Seachem's phone number? ;o)*

NetMax

"redled" wrote in message
...
Foreground plants! IME these are the hardest to find. If I could just
find
some riccia fluitans and some glossostigma I would be happy. If you
have the
resources to outfit one tank with CO2 and high lighting, I think you
could get
a lot of people into plants. I find that the average person has never
seen a
"real" planted tank and expects most plants to die. Seeing a wide
variety of
plants THRIVE is what got me into this hobby. Also an experience:
when I was
looking to setup a planted tank, I knew about CO2 and lighting
solutions, but
was intimidated by the high cost. One LFS picked up on this, and told
me
about DIY CO2, shop lights, and the krib. They gave me lots of
options,
instead of just trying to sell me flourite and carbo plus. Now I try
to do
all my shopping there, when possible. Without this experience, I would
still
have but a lonely 10gallon aquarium with bright blue gravel, dreaming
about
they day when I could afford the commercial systems. If I had the good
fortune of running an LFS, I think I would display a high-tech planted
tank,
but also inform people of the DIY solutions. I would hope that those
successful in DIY endevours would come back for fish, food, etc.

In article , "NetMax"
wrote:
I manage a tropical fish dept, and I have a supplier who can provide
me
with over a thousand types of plants, all identified by their
scientific
names. I am not a specialty store, but I encourage the use of natural
plants and I want my customer's first experience with plants to be a
good
one. Our water originates from the river, it's soft (2-3dgH, 2-3dkH),
slightly alkaline (7.5pH) and they typically have 0.8 to 1.4w/g of
fluorescent lighting available in tanks which are 16 to 18" deep.

snip
__
"Insert witty comment here."
-John