The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I would suggest that the coconut mats not be used. They have a chemical anti-fungal compound that will harm the fish. I tried this once and the result was an epic fish plague.
You should be able to modify it any way you want to fit your needs. I plan to get some for my HC to grow it both submerged and emersed. I will be cutting them up and modifying them to fit my needs including ceramic pots.