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Hello all,
I want to do something totally different with my ten gallon tank as I am very bored with it right now. I was inspired by a southeast Asian swamp setup, and have a few questions.

As I haven't stocked my tanks in a while, I am out of practice in judging when the bioload is too much for the tank. I was thinking of putting in:
2 dwarf OR pygmy/sparking OR croaking gouramis
3 kuhli loaches
6 harlequin rasboras or pygmy rasboras

I have a feeling this is either heavily pushing the edge of being too much, or is just plain out there. In this case, I would really like to keep the gouramies and the rasboras, if possible.

As for the planted setup, I'm a little bit torn on what to use for substrate. The problem is that I love the appearance of silver sand and would love to use this as my sole substrate, with a heating cable. I've read, however, that there are some problems with just using sand as a substrate and that layering my substrate would be better. In this case, I would put silver sand over the heating cable, then flourite and laterite as a layer above this, and then a top-level pebble substrate. The problem with this is that since it's a ten gallon tank, it doesn't make sense to have many inches of gravel that would take up the tank. The other problem is that I would really prefer the silver sand as the top (and sole) layer, since I think it is so aesthetically pleasing. Any thoughts on this?

If it helps, the plants I am considering are:
Stargrass (Heteranthera zosterifolia)
Hydrocotyle spp.
Cabomba or Myriophyllum spp.
Water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes
Java fern
Anubias nana (this would probably be tied to driftwood)

I'd drop the harly rasboras... they arent going to be happy in a 10, and will fill up the biolad of that tank all by themselves.

Either get pygmy rasboras, or up the numbers of the others.

I'd plant it first, get them going while cycling the tank with whatever substrate you decide on, and then SLOWLY add the fish.

Not sure about a substrate heater, Im sure the khuli's will love the sand tho! With sand, get some MTS snails to help keep it turned, rake threw it every water change, and either raise the filter tube several inches up, or cover it with panty hose type material.

Hmmm ok, too bad, harlequins are really pretty. I'll stick with the pygmies then if I can find them. So kuhli loaches have a pretty minor bioload? All set on the pre-fish cycling.

So the plants would probably be ok substrate-wise with just sand alone? I've heard that the substrate heater basically works as a convection current that keeps water flow through the sand to prevent too much impacting. Good point about the snails... although is there a way to keep them from breeding to the point where they overrun the tank? Also, I've never substrate-vacuumed sand during water changes... is it dense enough to keep from flowing up the siphon when I siphon the surface?

Dont siphon it like you would when you gravel vac... you'lll suck up the sand.

Take the handle from the net- Or something like a chop stick, and rake it threw the sand before siphoning out water, to keep anaerobic pockets from forming in the sand.

MTS snails do multiply quickly, but they dont eat plants, will eat left over food and algea, and spend most of their time under the substrate, then come out at night and clean up.

If they begin to overpopulate- its because there are too many leftovers-if there isnt enough food, the new ones will simple no longer exist.

when siphoning- just wave it a couple inches over the sand to get the fish poop, ect out...

I love Harlies too... great fish, great schoolers.... but the 10 isnt going to work for them. My harlies are in a 40 g breeder- they consistantly use 3/4 of the tank.

Just an idea since you are doing mainly "micro/ pygmy fishies.....some fish that might work...besides what you have listed...

pygmy cories
dainty cories
least killie fish
ember tetras

I have a 10 gal with a school of pygmy cories, red cherry shrimp colony, and a trio of female guppies.

Ive got a 5.5 gal with some least killie fish and a few red cherry shrimp. The least killies arent colorful, but they make up for it with their personalities!

Great advice, thanks so much! I'm glad you said not to siphon the sand because I totally would have made that mistake. How often should I rake the sand? Just every week, when I do water changes? In your experience, as it worked relatively well as a rooting substrate for plants? Should I put additional solid fertilizer embedded underneath the plant roots or would liquid fert work just fine?

MTS snails sound great, and thank you for the advice on other possible species.

rake threw it weekly when you do the water change.

IME crypts, sags, val, hair grass, swords- most "rooted" plants do well in sand. Bunch plants not so well... and then the anubias and java's tie them to a rock or wood.

Ferts- I dont use them. Ive got hard water with lots of mineral content, dont use ferts or co2... and mine grow fine. IF you are going to use them, I think root tabs for rooted plants would be your best bet... liquid is more for the "bunch ' plants- wisteria ect.. that sends out aerial roots into the water, or floaters like salvina, hornwort or duck weed.

gonna try and post a pict of what the 10 gal looked like a couple months ago... no recent ones, sorry... its grown out, been thinned out, ect.. since..http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae142/hollyca75/10%20gal%20rcs%20tank/IMG_3792.jpg

This one isnt sand.... but Ive done very similar with sandy tanks.
theres crypts, foxtail, anertheria ( sp?) and darf sag in the back, java moss and crypt parva ( if you can even see it) and pellia in the front. No ferts, no co2, and duckweed covers the surface MOSt of the week.

Thanks for the fert recommendations! Your tank looks great. I really appreciate your help, I'll be sure to check out those plants.