Help needed with live plants

I will be starting to plant my 120L tank next week
im sick of those plastic plants, only thing is my tank has been running for the past 18 months and i don’t want to start from fresh so I intend to use 4 small square flower pot trays and clear quarter of the tank at a time then plant the trays and lower the trays in and recover with gravel this should make things easier for cleaning too as the trays can be lifted out.
I intend to use clay as my substrate 5.8 KG bucket of it from my lfs is 33euro and I plan on using the aerosol style c02 costing 24euro for the start up pack and 11 euro a can after that also a new light will be going in and I will have my fingers crossed after that so dose anyone think my tray idea is a bit crazy? Will it work? This is my first time trying this so all advice and suggestions very welcome

Regards
Donal

Personally myself I think you would be better off starting from scratch, empty the tank water into some sort of containers to refil most of the tank at least 75% full then top up the rest as per normal de chloronator etc, get your water nice and fresh before you empty it do a few 30% water changes maybe day 1 and 3 then days 4,5,6 do 25% water changes before you empty it. Hold the water in some sort of containers to put back into the tank when you drain it off and store your fish in a bucket maybe with the filter running and the heater in it if possible? If its a jewel tank you have just keep the filter sponges moist as per usual in some water or a plastic bag and try get a small 25 watt heater for the fish and an air stone. Before you drain your tank make sure you have everything ready to put into the tank substrate and plants snipped and seperated for planting have some de chloronated water in a bucket ready to wash the gravel when you remove it , I would use some sand(normal silver sand that you get in your LFS) as a base layer about 1/4 of an inch deep then some latrite on top of the sand about 1/2Kg of latrite should be sufficent on top then you could add your planting soil you have if you have it already , and then finally your washed or rinsed gravel in the De chloronated water, then simply plant down into the substrate , go for some fast growing plants first off that are not too demanding Hydrophyillia polysperma,Bacopa caroliana , Ludwiga Repens , have all grown well for me in every set up i tried just remember to seperat and plant each stem seperatly dont clump them straight in as they come out of the pot. Plant when you have about 6 inchs of water in the tank try not to disturb the substrat too much when all planted fill the tank back up with the water you took out and then top off with fresh de chloronated water if needs be. get the filter and the heater back on running for a while hopefully it clears quickly the cloudiness if you were careful then when temp is back up re introduce your fish . Try to keep the filter outflow below the surface at least an inch 2 if possible start your co2 running about 1 bubble every 2 second should be enough for 120ltr tank to start off then increase as needs be till you get it to the plants liking when you see the o2 bubbles been released from the plants there is co2 testers you can put into the tank to help you with this and they aint too expensive. Just be careful with your co2 watch your pH especially if you are using ro water also i find bogwood helps in your set up. It helps soften the water,the plants apreciate it more they wont do as well if not at all in harder water and like the temp around 25. Put your lights on for 10 hrs a day on a timer 5hrs then a break for 2 then back on for 5 also remove all dead leaves etc they play havoc with the nitrate and also remove any carbon from the filter. Best of luck

Howdy, I recently set up almost exactly the same as you Rekord 120 with Tetra complete substrate and Tetra Optimat. I also converted my Elite 60 to planted using the same stuff.
I have encountered a few probs: A good brown algae bloom although as predicted by the experts here, it has subsided as the tanks have matured, The pH dropped dramatically from 7.6 to 6.6 and I lost a few tetra. The LFS told me to infuse the CO2 night and day but I only do it daytime for obvious reasons. This means I am not getting a steady flow of CO2 and according to my trusty advisers on the forum this is not the ideal regime. I'm considering converting to a DIY unit and I'm researching the easiest way, I have increased surface agitation to improve O2 levels too.

I have had probs with identifying plants cause the LFS's don't always know every type. I bought some lovely ones which turned out to be non-aquatic! The plants I do know of, Amazon Swords, Cryptocoryne, Vallisneria, Elodea and Baby Tears are growing very well. My Dwarf Hair grass was a disaster and I pulled it up... I am trying to add more broad leaf plants but they are hard to come by in Limerick, so I may try on the net then I'll be sure to know what I'm getting.
Right now I have Tiger barbs, bronze corys, a bala shark, an upside down catfish and ammano shrimp in the 120 and Black Widow Tetra, Albino Corys and shrimp in the 60. All doing really well I'm glad to say.

Just on the conversion I was lucky to be able to cycle my new tank and put the fish in there while I changed over the substrate etc in the 60. However before this I also changed substrate in the 60 and put the fish in a bucket with heater and pump and they all survived. I hope you figure it out and let us know how you doin

Thanks for that Zoom but as I said I don’t want to start from fresh
This is why im thinking of using trays and my substrate will be clay.
Dose anyone see any problems with this idea?
Also how important is the c02? the clay i plan on using is ment to have everything the plants need?