Hey guys! Sorry for the abundance of threads in the past few days. My excitement regarding setting up another tank is overflowing a bit. 
Originally, my 30 gallon I am in the process of building was supposed to be a high-flow, java moss type darter tank. Over the weeks of studying and seeing other setups, ideas have changed quite a bit. After going through around 50 pages on the planted tank picture thread (and more to come lol), the idea of planting the tank has vaulted to the top of my list. Someone, whose name I cannot remember, had a 30 gallon (?) dwarf puffer tank with a very thick grass like (dwarf sag, if I'm not mistaken) planting. Whatever it was about that tank has my jaw on the floor. I would love to do something very similar to what he had done, but with different fish. I am a bit short sticked now, as I got a bit too excited and jumped the gun and went ahead and purchased a few things for the tank when I was sure it was going to be a darter tank. I now have an inch thick covering of black sand on the bottom, and a Penguin 350 Biowheel HOB filter rated for a 75 gallon on the back. While researching the idea of heavy planting, I realized that I would indeed need high quality lighting (T5's perhaps?). The feeling of dismay hit when I realized that HOB filters were poor for planted tanks, due to the removal of CO2 in the water. My question is, how can I work around this? A sponge on the outflow, to help reduce the agitation of the water? Floating plants underneath the flow? Someone around these parts must have experience with a planted tank with HOB filtration. If there is a way to work around it, it would be fantastic. I'm a student working on a budget. Can't go buy another filter quite yet. Maybe birthday time!
Originally, my 30 gallon I am in the process of building was supposed to be a high-flow, java moss type darter tank. Over the weeks of studying and seeing other setups, ideas have changed quite a bit. After going through around 50 pages on the planted tank picture thread (and more to come lol), the idea of planting the tank has vaulted to the top of my list. Someone, whose name I cannot remember, had a 30 gallon (?) dwarf puffer tank with a very thick grass like (dwarf sag, if I'm not mistaken) planting. Whatever it was about that tank has my jaw on the floor. I would love to do something very similar to what he had done, but with different fish. I am a bit short sticked now, as I got a bit too excited and jumped the gun and went ahead and purchased a few things for the tank when I was sure it was going to be a darter tank. I now have an inch thick covering of black sand on the bottom, and a Penguin 350 Biowheel HOB filter rated for a 75 gallon on the back. While researching the idea of heavy planting, I realized that I would indeed need high quality lighting (T5's perhaps?). The feeling of dismay hit when I realized that HOB filters were poor for planted tanks, due to the removal of CO2 in the water. My question is, how can I work around this? A sponge on the outflow, to help reduce the agitation of the water? Floating plants underneath the flow? Someone around these parts must have experience with a planted tank with HOB filtration. If there is a way to work around it, it would be fantastic. I'm a student working on a budget. Can't go buy another filter quite yet. Maybe birthday time!
