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Last night I got a 90 gallon tank with stand and lights. I washed out 100 pounds of gravel and added it and put a few inches of water in. Now I need to add rocks, driftwood, and plants.

The rocks are from my backyard. What do I need to do to prepare them for the tank if they do not leech calcium into the water( I will test this.) What do i need to do to prepare the driftwood for the tank if I buy it from the store?

It only came with one 40 watt strip which each cost $80 bucks. How many more lights will I need before I can keep most plants?

Thanks for all your help.

-Daniel

EDIT: 100 pounds (had 20 lbs)


[span class="edited"][Edited by fishnewbie 2004-08-14 18:39][/span]

To keep "most plants," you probably want 3 watts per gallon, especially since a 90 gallon tank is pretty tall. That's a whole lot of normal flourescent tubes, so you're probably looking at compact flourescents to get there. Before you go much further in aquascaping, I'd suggest you plan out your plants a bit further. 20 pounds of gravel isn't very much for a tank that size and many plants prefer a much deeper substrate. There are some lower light plants that can get by with less light than that, but then that limits your options. You may want to ask a similar question in the "Planted Aqauria" section of the forums. I'm sure you can get some good advice there.

are those compact flourescent very expensive? I've got a bit of a tight budget.

They can be. It depends how much light you get and which company makes them. At one on-line store here in Canada, you can get a 260W CF strip for about $300 (that's Canadian dollars). Check some of the big on-line American retailers and see what kind of deal you can find.