"Sean" wrote in
:

Another good thing to do would be to purchase some thin peat blocks.
...

That's a neat idea, and it sounds like it would work very well, but keep in
mind that peat will leach humic acids and tannins into your water which can
lower the pH and stain the water a tea colour. Personally I love black
water, but some people can't see the beauty in it.

I like using a thick substrate base made up of a mix of fairly fine grade
nutrient rich material. I've used a mix of fluorite red and eco-complete
substrate in a few of my tanks to amazing success. The roots of healthy
plants will literally explode through this stuff.

Probably the best setup is a think 1/2" or so layer of very fine base sand
covering plant root heating cables, which is then covered by a thick 2 -
3" layer of fine grade nutrient rich material, which is then mixed with a
thin layer of coarser top material for aesthetics and to aid in holding
everything in place. I set-up my girlfriend's 29 gallon community tank
this way... six months later she has more plant material in her tank now
than water.