I know you mentioned that you were looking to make it primarily a planted tank, but they make an air hose the looks like and anacharis chain. You could get this and use it with either live or face anacharis around it to completely hide the hose.
Just stopped at PetSmart and grabbed black tubing. We'll see how it looks.
Also just ordered a Hydor 300 inline heater since my 300w All Glass seems to not adjust temp at all anymore. Will be here tomorrow with Amazon prime. <---love A-prime!
