[66Tino]

For the past 2 months i've been acquiring all the equipment for a low tech tank. I've been aquascaping and setting it up and im at D-Day tomorrow when I'm going to be planting a majority of the tank.
I need quick good advice.
My tank:
29 gallon, Eheim 350 classic, ecocompletefine substrate, topfinheater, finnex planted plus light.
3 pieces of driftwood, 1 large non porous stone and about 9 smaller ones.

I'm looking at starting out with about 15 plants and some javamoss to tie on the driftwood.

What is the proper way of planting? Should i only fill up the tank half way?
Should I wait to run the filter?
Should I use root tabs?
Should I fert right away?

Any advice on plants that would be readily available?

 

[Axelrodi202]

Only have enough water to make the substrate moist. It's substantially easier to plant that way. I recommend you have most of the plants you're looking to have in the tank to start out with, as it's much easier for scaping purposes to be able to visualize what you have to work with. As for plant types, I recommend checking out your local stores (or at least calling them) and seeing what's available. Now's not the best time of year to buy plants online and have them shipped in.

Run the filter once your tank is full. Ecocomplete is inert (no inherent nutrients) but does have a high CEC so it can absorb nutrients from the water that it then releases. Whether or not you use root tabs or ferts comes down to the plant types you choose. Heavy root feeders like Cryptocoryne or swordplants (Echinodorus) would benefit greatly from root tabs, while stem plants such as Cabomba or Rotala may find water column ferts more useful.