I have been posting several threads as I have been setting up my new tank trying to figure out what I want and am about to fill it and start cycling it this week. So far I have a 50 gallon tank (36x18x19), an Eheim 2217 filter, a hydor 200 watt inline heater, and I have 4 bags of flourite black on their way. Anyways, I have been trying to figure out the lighting I need now, as I mentioned in another post. This tank was orginally going to be in the basement or somewhere less frequented, but my wife now agrees to have it in the living room which I am excited about, but now I am going to have to make sure it looks even nicer! So I am definitely building a canopy for it, so was looking at the lights from AH supply, probably the 96 watt as I mentioned in another thread. I really wanted to stay away from CO2 mainly because I don't know anything about it, and figure it will be too costly, but I am curious about it now. If it makes it easier to grow plants, and I don't have to worry about algae, then I may consider it. I want to have lots of nice looking plants and a nice piece of driftwood, but I don't want the tank totally packed full with plants so you can't see the fish. I do want to have a good combination of fish that will look good with the black substrate, such as a couple schools of tetras, and maybe a few larger fish that will stand out like gouramis, and some bottom feeders and shrimps. I suppose since my tank is so wide, that might not be a big problem as I will have lots of room for plants and for fish to swim. Again, I don't really know much about the types of plants so I don't really know what types I want, just a variety that will look nice, with different levels of tall plants, short ones, maybe a few reddish ones mixed in there. Although I have a few plants in my 10 gallon with just the stock 15w light, I didn't add ferts or anything to them, and they just kind of stay the same size. So this is the first time I am doing to be dealing with plants where I will want them to thrive and look great since this will be out in the main room. Can I have a decent looking setup without CO2 and not have to worry about algae? Does CO2 make things easier as far as maintenance? What is the true cost of it? Thanks in advance.