New, lots of questions

[ShawnC]

Hi guys. I am new to the forums, though I am not a new aquarium hobbiest. I have been lurkiing and reading here ALOT, and I am a bit overwhelmed. I have kept fish for the better part of 25 years, and at one time had a fishroom with close to 50 tanks back when I was breeding Angelfish in college for extra spenging money. I also have lots of experience with Killifish from those days as well. A few years ago, my wife and I purchased a nice new home, with a fireplace that has two recessed sections on either side of it. Perfect size on either side for a 90 Gallon with custom stands and canopies, so I grabbed them. One tank will house larger fish, and I am comfortable with fish only tanks, but the one on the other side is going to house, I hope, a planted tank. I have almost no experience with Planted tanks aside from low light stuff like Javafern javamoss etc..for my killies.
1. I am looking for advice on lighting (remember it's a 90, so it's a bit deeper than a standard 75),
2. Filtration (I am thinking canister filtration, though I don't know how much water flow can help/hurt the tank.
3. Substrate choices (lots of cool threads here, but they cary so much, not sure what would wrk best in a larger tank)
4. CO2. I am lucky enough to be in a position where, honestly, buying some higher tech gear is no problem, as I'd rather do it right, than cheap and screw up. I know this is alot but, if you guys were me, what would you do?

I already have some backgrounds in mind so I am pumped, but seriously, I know more about setting up a reef tank than a planted tank so I though I'd dig first, build the tank slowly, and see what happens. The tank BTW will have mostly smaller fish...Killies and Rainbow's being the primary residents. Oh BTW water here is rather Hard, with a high PH.

Thanks,

Shawn

[LB79]

What's the budget? What you can put into the hobby rules where you can take the hobby.

[ShawnC]

Well as I said, I am in a place in my life now that I can spend some cash. I have already spent $5000 on customer cabinetry for the two tanks, I figure I will be spending at least as much on equipment and livestock.

S~