New tank questions

[Mostlydave]

I'm starting to set up a new tank I found on craigslist and I have a few questions.

I'm setting up this new tank for German Blue Rams or EBR,

The tank is 36L by 12W and 20H, 38-40 gallon I believe

I'd like to set up the tank natural looking, with a sand substrate and lots of plants. I'd love to have black or dark sand, is there anyway to do that cheaply? I don't want to pay more for substrate than I did for the tank! I do see a lot of people using play sand which I can get locally really cheap.

How much sand should I use I know you see 2lb per gallon for gravel but does that also apply to sand?

The plants I'm looking at now are java fern, water sprite and java moss, I'd like low tech low light plants.

Any advice on the sand/substrate would be welcome, thats the first thing I'll be looking for this tank!

 

[Christople]

Play sand from your local home depot of hardware store works fine, and in my experiance two in sand beds work well with the plants.