Gravel and Live Plants

Okay guys so my tank has been cycling for about a week, with some neons and an African Brown Knife and I went to my local fish store and he told me adding some live plants would help the tank get balanced so now I've got a couple of little plants such as water wisteria (only as of now is it small), some java ferns, some Anubias and some rotala not all of it is small I guess but what I was curious about is how much light I should have the tank is 29 gallons 20" high? What I didn't consider before buying plants was substrate plant nutrition so any tips on getting started would be helpful.

On another note I'm still suffering with new tank syndrome (probably common only after a week) and I have this clear, whitish hairy nonsense all over my decorations and filter. I tried to do some reading on it but couldn't find much info so thinking it was some sort of algae, I bought some algae eaters as well. Which promptly cleaned the algae off my plants but won't touch the white nastiness.

P.S. I know that Knife fish can be aggressive but as of yet there have been no neon fatalities and or aggression of any sort really.

So I included a picture of my filter wondering if this was normal...

My tank as of right now. If the java fern doesn't work out in the gravel I'm thinking dwarf sag and maybe a jungle val for the rear of the tank. Thoughts comments much appreciated!

I hope you will be able to zoom this in because this is the whitish clear terror I've been griping about.

ANY tips at all would be very welcome

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Comment by Cole Russell on June 7, 2013 at 12:47am: I didn't want to dose liquid fertilizers because of potential algae let me know if the tabs will be a problem they are the seachem flourish tabs

Comment by Robert Jango on June 7, 2013 at 1:36pm: Did you get Water Wisteria or Water Sprite? Its hard to tell the difference. The roots from Water Sprite suck up plant nutrients in the tank if you float it. This keeps algae in check and turns your water crystal clear. Water Sprite is one of those miracle plants and in many cases does a better job than some beneficial bacteria at getting rid of ammonia and nitrogenous waste. I keep it in all my tanks.

Comment by Cole Russell on June 7, 2013 at 2:35pm: I wanted a water sprite but I'm almost positive the guy sold me water wisteria

Comment by Cole Russell on June 7, 2013 at 2:35pm: I only had a picture to go on I couldn't remember the scientific name

Comment by Cole Russell on June 7, 2013 at 8:25pm: okay guys so I have a Bio-wheel power filter penguin 150 (It's the HOB sort) for my tank and it takes carbon filters and I'm not really sure on what I should do here because I'm trying to rock a planted tank and I don't know whether or not to replace it and what to replace it with. I'm asking because I've heard carbon removes important plant nutrients from the water and I'd rather that not happen considering the plants and all.

Comment by Peter on June 7, 2013 at 8:31pm: U can replace it with pillow stuffing aka filter floss, or sponges or some clean socks or some biomedia. Pillow stuffing is cheap but will need replacement every week or 2 a sponge will last till the sponge falls apart

Comment by Cole Russell on June 7, 2013 at 8:32pm: do I just cut it to the size I want? Or can you buy them fitted to your filter?

Comment by Peter on June 7, 2013 at 8:41pm: Theirs all diff sizes. I like buying big sponge and cut it to fit

Comment by Cole Russell on June 7, 2013 at 9:07pm: I just took the current filter cut out all the blue and cut it all off get the carbon out and put a yellow cut to size in behind just the plastic shell of the filter (of course I rinsed the sponge before butting it in the filter) I'm guessing this will probably start my nitrogen cycle partially over or cause some problems but in the long run I think this is the right move.

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