i miss my plants

i miss my live plants and was at a LFS and saw some live plants and i was like man ima start a planted tank. I just want a garden i want to do a 10 gallon now here are my questions slash wants, i dont wanna go into Co2 and stuff but i want some cool ground cover and some thing that is a redish. What substrate should i use? What would be a good light for a 10? i deff want to go T 5s of course and i want it to be where its just self filtering and all i gotta keep water in it and trim the dead leaves

Derek, it's so good to hear from you! You've been MIA for too long.

I'll be watching this for answers as well.

Nice to see you back D! Any new shots from the 360?

I'm not sure about the no-filter tank. I have a couple of small HOB on my 20 gallon.
The plants that grow best for me are Crypts and Anubias, Aponogetans, and the reddish
Ludwigia but you have to prune it back pretty often. Swords do OK, but get too big for a
little tank.
I would spend the money and get a bag of Flora-max or other type of substrate, and mix it with regular fine gravel or sand to make it go farther.
I replaced the standard bulbs in the fixtures with FloraSun bulbs.
Good luck with your project, D!

thanks guys yea now im like a real adult got a well paying adult job not in the movies lol but i install office furniture so i build cubicles and office stuff been busy long boarding as well allot but J thanks what kinda light you think? i was gonna go just dual bulb i was happy with the one i had before and yea true no filter is stretching it

Derek,
welcome back, I have been researching the live plants a lot more for my filtration needs in the sump. I came across a web site called aquariumplants.com, they had plants and substrate looked like a good place, haven't ordered from there yet though..

I just got some plants from that site. Everything came in good shape.
I'm not sure how some of them will do in the hard water here, but we will see.