Planted DIY light & Co2

[Allanhep]

Not new to this but never tried plants in a sand substrate also my trigon 190's light unit was destroyed by a crazed Oscar attacking the fixtures then took his frustrations out on my t5 glo lights now have the tank setup for the kids but would like to plant it. So looking for advice on lighting I have been looking at led flood lights a 50w 6-6500k and diy co2 system after a lot of research I have found that the citric acid method works better for everyone. Any in put would be great plants, lighting, ETC.

P.s I have been looking at pearlweed would this be ok in sand?

[Coursair]

You can grow lots of things in sand.
You'll need some basic ferts depending on what you want to grow.

I use Thrive All in One currantly.


I add cheap DIY Root Caps near the Sword and Crypts.

LED fixtures are getting cheaper

Pearlweed should grow under almost any light. The "weed" part of the name is a clue.

For lowlight-med light set ups
Crypts
Chain Swords
Ludwigia repens
Bacopa monnieri
Anubias
Java Ferns
Etc...

[Tacit Blues]

I would say, just in my experience, DIY CO2 isn't really worth the fiddling. You can grow lots of plants just fine with low-medium-ish light, and the DIY CO2 is so inconsistent. Get a cheap LED light, Finnex or Beamswork I think, put it on a little timer so you can measure/regulate how much light you use, and dose some liquid fertilizer/liquid CO2.