I have a sword and anachris in my 55g tank, have had them almost since
setup, along with some cabomba. The anachris did terribly until the pleco
ate the cabomba (which was doing wonderfully) one day. Now the anachris is
doing wonderfully. The sword is holding its own.

3-4 months back I did a LOT of research on the proper methods of good plant
health, with the intent of heavily planting. Things then drew me away from
this for a while. Now I have the All-Glass 110w PC (not on the tank yet), I
have PMDD consisting of K2SO4, KNO3, and MgSO4 (separately). I have read
and printed out the pages on thekrib on PMDD. I have Tropica Master Grow
and Flourish (so far I've only been using Flourish) and 1/3 Flourite
substrate (along with 2/3 pea-sized gravel).

I have ordered a variety of plants from Phyl at TAP, she is truly nice and
helpful. I would recommend her for mail-order plants to anyone. They
should arrive Friday.

I should add that I'm now using RO/DI water, due to contaminated well-water
and getting tired of "importing" water from 5 miles away in a trash can.
I'm using RO Right, a touch of baking soda, and Kent Essentials.

Now the questions. This is all boggling my mind. Does the TMG replace the
Flourish, or should I use both? The PMDD chemicals I have... I don't
understand how to dose with them (what amounts/ratios). I don't have any
way to test for iron, which is I believe what thekrib suggests. I'd
APPRECIATE suggestions on a starting dosage of these chemicals. I do know
how to watch the nitrates.

On the subject of CO2, I plan to use DIY. Where is a good mail-order store
to pick up CO2 airline tubing, or can I use regular tubing for a while? I
also need yeast, brewers yeast or Phyl at one point suggested champagne
yeast. I contacted a mail-order home-brewer supplier and he said "sure",
the price was very good, then he never sent me his phone number so I could
give him my CC number. Phyl suggests using a regular airstone with no
reactor. I think I will put an airstone next to the intake of my power
filter.

I'm not shooting for the "planted-tank award", I just don't want any
disasters.

Please don't suggest local businesses for acquiring the tubing, yeast, etc.
I have personal reasons for wanting to mail-order, along with the fact that
it is 70 miles or more to a home-brewing store, places like that.

to anyone who helps me out, thank you for reading my long post, and thank
you for your help!

bob allred
north carolina