Which type of Substrate and Lighting?

Hey guys and girls. If you know, i have a 14 gallon and 5 gallon. For christmas i'm setting up a 6 gallon marineland eclipse and a 5 gallon marineland hex tank. My choices are between dirt and gravel, dirt and sand, eco complete, and flourite black sand. My 5 gallon is dirted but i dont really know whats going on. The roots of the plants seem to die off and its messy because even though i used 10 pounds of gravel in a 5 gallon tank im still feeling like the cap is to small. So i might want to try something new. I wanted to get eco complete. It is pretty cheap for both my 5 and 6 and it has gotten very good reviews. I feel like it will be very easy to use and i will have lots of success. First off, should you wash this substrate or will that get rid of the nutrients and stuff and wind up screwing it up? Also i need lighting suggestions. It comes with an 8 watt flourecent t-5 full spectrum tube light, but i also have it right next to the window for natural lighting aswell. Should i upgrade or leave the lighting alone? I want to get crypts, ludwigia, tiger lotus, dwarf hairgrass, swords, rotalla, and a unch of other ones that may require higher light levels.

Thanks, Braden :D

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Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on November 23, 2011 at 8:36pm

watch this..

http://youtu.be/ij9rqeESs-A

the light that most setup comes with is t8. Fine for low lights plant. You can switch it later on if you want.

With higher light plants that you plan to get..your looking at T5HO which you find might not fit your eclipes or hex tank.

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Permalink Reply by brosaquaticuniverse on November 26, 2011 at 7:37am

id do gravel and dirt just cuz its simple, cheap and works. iv used the eco and its my fav of the plant substrates my only concern is that t can pack down on the bottom parts and wonder if hinders organic material (dead plants, waste) form replenishing the dirt below. it also comes pre-rinsed which i freaken love so don't rinse or pour out the water already in it just add the water that it comes with into the aquarium if you can it has good bacteria in it. the lighting is more than enough but i can say that the hair grass probably won't grow that stuff is a night mare without a super advanced setup but everything else seems godd. if you got any questions please let me know. its cool to see someone doing small tanks