you mentioned that you wanted to cover the bottom with some carpeting plant, but little else. Many other factors will come into play for water current/flow management in your tank such as other decorations, the placement of the inlet/return of the filter, and what exactly is the shape of the tank.
for you, I will just assume that you have the standard 15 gallon tank which is 24"x12"x12" so it is oblong in its proportions which makes it harder to work with for current setup. being only 12 inches wide you might as well set the presumed HOB filter on one of the short sides and try to maintain a circular flow, across the top, down the other side and back to the filter on the bottom, where its picked back up by the filter intake. this will work only if the angle of the water return is adjusted to run just below the water surface, straight out with minimal angle. you can aid the circulation by having an air bubbler with an airstone right below the filter area, but since you're doing a planted tank and may want to have a CO2 system later on, you'd probably want to skip the air bubbler.
that being said. you'd do even better if you had small canister filter such as this one... HERE since you can then mount the inlet and return at the opposite ends of the tank, easily adjust the angle of the return, and keep it under the water surface to decrease the loss of CO2 if you ever plan to go that way in the future. canister filters are just more versatile and easier to maintain than other types. I hope that helps.
for you, I will just assume that you have the standard 15 gallon tank which is 24"x12"x12" so it is oblong in its proportions which makes it harder to work with for current setup. being only 12 inches wide you might as well set the presumed HOB filter on one of the short sides and try to maintain a circular flow, across the top, down the other side and back to the filter on the bottom, where its picked back up by the filter intake. this will work only if the angle of the water return is adjusted to run just below the water surface, straight out with minimal angle. you can aid the circulation by having an air bubbler with an airstone right below the filter area, but since you're doing a planted tank and may want to have a CO2 system later on, you'd probably want to skip the air bubbler.
that being said. you'd do even better if you had small canister filter such as this one... HERE since you can then mount the inlet and return at the opposite ends of the tank, easily adjust the angle of the return, and keep it under the water surface to decrease the loss of CO2 if you ever plan to go that way in the future. canister filters are just more versatile and easier to maintain than other types. I hope that helps.
