Starting off a planted tank -- starting one (or maybe) two strikes down....

Many years ago my wife and I had a fish-only 75 gallon (or so) tank with
dimensions 36x15x30. We really liked the way the large front glass acted
almost like a window with our aquatic critters behind. When we moved across
country, that tank went away -- but the stand is still with us. After
having a small 30 gallon tank for a while (again, fish only) my wife and I
discussed that we'd like to go larger -- and since we still had the stand,
we got another tank to fit it. Then I got to thinking about how plants
would be a nice thing to have -- searched the web, as usual -- and saw
pictures of the many gorgeous tanks people had entered into competitions.
Well, I don't have much interest in a competition tank, but they did show
some neat things that could be done.

Of course, I now have the almost exact wrong tank for plants, and my wife
still loves the tank shape -- so I need to do the best I can with what I've
got. The tank is the first strike against me....

The second concerns lighting. I read and researched via the net, and some
references I saw said PC lights would have difficulty penetrating that deep
a tank, and that MH would be the best bet. Yet the PC lights still seemed
to me like they should work okay. So I compromised and bought a 36" Current
US Outer Orbit and a couple 6700K bulbs (since it comes with actinics).
This gives me 192W PC and a 150W MH I can run independently (should that be
too much light or for other effects). I should have asked here first for
opinions rather than trying to synthesize my own solution (since,
unsurprisingly, I didn't find much about deep planted tanks on the net) but
there it is. That was my "(or maybe) two strikes" since I don't know if
that was a good decision or not.

From my reading (and since I do have a lot of light) I figure CO2 is a must,
and plan on going with a Milwaukee PH controller and probably the Milwaukee
regulator/solenoid/bubble counter. My current tank has an Ehiem canister
filter on it, so I planned to move that to the new tank and inject the CO2
into the filter input. I figured if the CO2 hasn't dissolved by the time it
goes through three baskets of filter material it probably isn't going to.

I'm thinking of trying to make a ledge 8-10", maybe a foot long, above the
bottom of the tank in the back, both for added relief and to make a darker
'cave' for lower light plants if that is needed. I'm hoping to grow some
really tall plants in back (so I don't just have a foot of empty water above
all the plants, some medium in the foreground and some ground cover. Sounds
good to me anyway -- I've never done this so I'm just going by what I've
seen in pictures. I'm figuring flourite or onyx for the substrate.

I will have some fish, but probably not too heavy a load. Currently I have
a lot of neons and other tetras, two silver dollars, and a pleco. I
realize the last three fish may not be good plant neighbors, but I may try
them first -- if they just nibble it might not be too bad, but if they act
like lawnmowers they are history! Some of the shrimp I've seen look neat,
as do crabs.

Anyway, if anyone has had a tall tank like this and can make suggestions as
to how I could best attack this problem I'd surely appreciate it. Nothing
is set up right now, and I have only the tank and the lights (the lights are
still in transit, actually) so I've got pretty much a clean slate.

thanks much,

Geoff Sherwood