Old to fish keeping new to community planted

[Zalawala]

hi everyone, I have around a 300l corner aquarium height 600, depth 770, side lengths 770, currently set up with mbunas.

i am thinking I want to set it up as a planted community tank but have never kept community fish or real plants, so don't know what I need to set it up ready for plants (want a relatively low tech system) or I don't know what plants are out there. what sort of substrate do I need?

fish wise I'm also not too sure what are compatible  I would love angels but would also like some Rams, and lots of schooling fish that are active or semi active.  Definetly want some fish that are colourful as I'm finding it hard to think about giving up on my cichlids

my my tap water sits at around 6.8

[Caryl]

Planted tanks are not really difficult and do not need to be high tech. My own tank is chokka full of plant and only has basic gravel substrate and 4 x daylight fluorescent light tubes. No added fertiliser, apart from fish poo, and no other additives.

We have quite a range of plants available. If you want red ones, you need a stronger light than green ones require. Easy starters are Java fern, rotala, Anubias, watersprite, bacopa (baby tears), cabomba and ambulia. All readily available from pet shops.

Angels would look nice and I think the rams are compatible (someone who has kept both would be better to advise on this). Have a look at rainbowfishes. There are a few bright ones among that lot. Killifish are also bright but hard to get hold of these days.