2nd attempt at planted tank

[fishdude401]

Ok so my first attempt was a 12g with like 3 plants with no lighting whatsoever and it was a failure.

So my second attempt is a 55g ( 48X13X21 ) with a single green terror with like maybe some giant danios and thats it.

I just ordered 40lbs of ecocomplete, can i put like 20-30lbs of black gravel in to compensate?

I also ordered a light bulb, a 32 watt bulb, yes i know very weak. I plan to buy a new one tomorrow and use the 32 watt as a back up when the higher wattage one dies or something, i dont know maybe ill just chuck it, it was only 12$.

I want to get a 48 in T12 10,000k Daylight Bulb 110 watt, Pacific Coast bulb for my tank, is that good for plants like:
Crypts
Valls
amazon swords
Anubias
Java fern
Java moss
Christmas moss ( climbing on the sides of the tanks or possibly on larger rocks )
Is that good?

I have flourish total and someting called 7 kugeln, very hard to find but prevents any and all nitrates, i am proud to say that i have achieved a constant rate of 0.0ppm nitrates for a total of 7 months in my 12g before i tore it down. any other ferts?

also, are C02 tablets any good?

So basically in a nutshell my tank would be a 55g with a green terror, t12 lighting, med. light plants and 2 aquaclear 110s.

Thanks

PS: im new

[bradac56]

Yes you can mix the substrates if you want but the C02 tablets are worthless don't bother with them. Even with the T12 bulbs your going to end up with a low-tech tank so don't worry about anything but dosing Excel for carbon. You could go to Home Depot/Lowes/Menards and get one of there T5 shop-lights for under $20 they work well you just need to add a diy reflector to it down the road.

Is the Kuglen big clay balls? If so that's just slow release ferts tho it's good stuff but hard to get outside of Germany.

EDIT: I'd not go with Christmas moss unless your going to up your lighting to better T5's I've never had good luck with it in low-tech tanks.

- Brad