Looking for advice for first tank with real plants

[Daven]

Hey guys, i have done research but i dont want to get too crazy into the maintenance of a heavily planted tank with CO2 and the works. So here is an intro to my tank. Ive never had real plants before. Tank is a 20 gallon long 30x12x12", and i am trying to set it up specifically for a group of 8-10 panda corries. Will have a AC50 and an AC20 for filtration. Keeping temps lower to what the corries will like. Remaining fish will be as many different colours/designs of male guppies as i can find and fit. Substrate will be pool filter sand with whatever depth you guys would recomend. Ive heard sand isnt good for plants since its harder for roots to work through, but also seen a few recommending pool filter sand for some reason and i beleive it has to do with the larger grain size over play sand/etc? It is my preferred substrate and i know corries will like it. So here are my questions!

Currently there is the stock hood with a 24" light housing that currently has a t12 bulb, but i looked at the ballast and it says it can use t8 bulbs as well so thats what ill be using. I know 6500k is optimal for plants, and i dont have much to spare with my current lighting. Would i be able to use a powerglow 18000k bulb instead and still have some plants? I find the 6700k bulb my girlfriends 29 gallon has really washes out the fish colours over her ancient 18000k aquaglow we just changed out. Although the fake plants and decor in general do look more natural :/ But considering im trying to the best colors i can from the guppies, idk what to do :/ Those LED hoods from marineland and etc arent great still, right?

 

[ImACoolguy]

You could get a Finnex plant light for the same price or less of some of those marineland lights...

A T8 should be fine for low light plants. Anubias and Java fern are pretty foolproof plants.


Caleb

 

[Daven]

You could get a Finnex plant light for the same price or less of some of those marineland lights...

A T8 should be fine for low light plants. Anubias and Java fern are pretty foolproof plants.


Caleb

im in canada and have only really found amazon.ca as an economical place to buy aquarium supplies, and they dont have finnex products that would work. i thought about making a canopy that i could mount both the current light and another t8 setup in as well, but i dont get around to actually doing too many of my building projects nowdays so i probably shouldnt lol I also heard of people using regular household dual light bulb fixtures along with CFL bulbs, but it sounds like alot more light than low-med plants. My understanding is that too much light will bring issues unless i also had co2 and whatnot

 

[Daven]

Also, considering my lower lighting needs, are the LED hoods something to look into? Do they have good colouring for fish as well?

 

[Daven]

I am thinking about upgrading lighting a bit and getting a glass top instead. Do you guys have any recommendations on what route to take, or what brands are good or bad quality? Since im not looking to get too crazy with plants, i was thinking of simply buying the glass tops and another t8 fixture and running a 6500k bulb and a powerglow as i have this combo in my mbuna cichlid tank. Or i could get a dual t5 fixture, but i dont see the same variety of bulbs in t5. I like the 18000k bulbs combines with a daylight, but dont see anything like that for t5. Im not 100% going for plant growth here, but id like to find the happy medium for a natural looking tank that still has good fish colouring