Limitations of a 2ft Planted Tank

[Mez]

Hi guys.
i have been wanting to setup a small planted tank for apistogramma for a while now, and have bought a 2ftx1ftx18 (Legnth, width, height) tank, which was going to be a marine tank although now i am tempted to try my hand at planted tanks.
I currently only keep marine fish, but have kept tropical fish for over 5 years, mainly cichlids of south and central america, and then later focus on lake tanganyikan specific cichlids, but never plants to any real extent. at one time i had trouble keeping java moss alive!
The hood that is build into the tank contains 2 standard light fittings - these are for normal aquarium lighting tubes, like these, with 1" diameter.
If possible, i would like to not have to switch to T5 lighting, certainly not MH.
With two bulbs what sort of plants am i able to keep? ideally i would like to have a "matt" of moss or something similar, but the availabily of tropical aquarium plants in the uk is minimal to say the least.. they probably have 5 true aquatic species in most lfs.
The type of aquarium i would like to replicate would be something along the lines of an amazon-type setup, with the main focus being on the pair of apistogramma i will hopefully attain - again, the number of species are minimal, with only cacatouides being available on a regular basis, although i did happen to see A. ninjesni (sp?) recently. I did formely keep a pair of A. borelli in a sparse planted tank, and also a pair of Cacatouides, but this time i would like to acheive a fully planted tank, and ideally able to grow some sort of moss in the aquarium that "creeps" along the substrate and up wood..would this be possible with the lighting i have on my tank? the only moss i have actually seen for sale is "kyrto" moss or something similar, but that is mainly used in vivariums for species such as Dendrobates.
The other thing i would like to ask is about substrate - i would ideally use sand in my aquarium. Is this possible with plants? as i read about "base fertilisers" etc. Most nice planted tanks i see have gravel as a substrate, or so it appears.
Also, what sort of livestock should i be looking at to complement my planted tank? As previously mentioned the main emphasis would be on a pair of Apistogramma, but i wouldnt mind some free swimming inhabitants, i have been thinking of Cardinal Tetras but not so sure.
Any information, advice or help is much appreciated.
thanks again,
James

[jacian]

It depends on what kind of plants do you intend to have， low-light or high-light. You did not mention anything on the CO2, do I assume it will be a non-CO2 tank. In that case, I will suggest to go for a low-tech tank. Ferns, nana, moss and crypto will be good for such a tank. You may want to check the wattage of your light sets, this should give you an idea of the level of lights you have.

Sand may not be a good idea for planted tank especially you intend to have rooted plants. The sand is too fine to hold the plants down.

As for the fish, Cardinal Tetras does go well with Apisto.

[Mez]

Hi jacian, thanks for your imput,
I plan to use the DIY C02 method with yeast/sugar and replace every 2 or 3 weeks when the output level drops.
I think the tubes are 15w each..making 30w of lighting.