OK here's the deal.

I want to switch out my clown gravel with eco complete. I'm tired of hobbyists laughing at me . hehehe...anyway it'll help the plants I will be pulling everything out and replanting with existing as well as new plants. I'm currently fighting a round with ich and am winning...a few more days of the temp treatment and it'll be fine...i think i'll wait a week or two before switching the substrate. I'll be leaving a small porous bag of the old gravel in the tank to help with the bacteria. (10g tank).

Anyway...after finally ridding my tank of ich. how should i treat any new plants to ensure they are clean. I've heard everything from salt to water additives...i have an empty 2.5g i can use as a treatment tank Explorer II
http://www.aquariumsdirect.com/aquar..._Kit__2_Gallon
please let me know about treating and the biowheel filter in this small tank...any substrate needed in the tank?
thanks

Unless you're getting your plants from grimy sources (like maybe out of a retention pond or something), I don't think you need to worry too much about "cleaning" them. I always put my new plants right directly into the tank, as long as they came from a fish store or another hobbyist.

I suppose you could use your 2.5g as a holding tank, where you can quarantine new plants for a couple of weeks or so while waiting to see if they have diseases or something (not sure what you are concerned about, quite frankly), but then you risk the chance of the plants melting away or something if the conditions in your holding tank are sub-par.

In summary, I think you are being overly paranoid. What exactly are you concerned about new plants bringing with them? I've never had a problem with plants. Back when I first started up my planted tank, I had a problem with a bad batch of cabomba melting away and creating a mess, but it never polluted the water column. It just made a mess, and I had to remove all the stems and do a thorough gravel-vacuum/water change. The tetras I had in there at the time were perfectly fine throughout it all.