Slowly doing my research and I am at the stage where I can start getting the tank loaded.

My tank is 110 (80x40x35), it's a Fish Pod.

It came with a Fluval U4 filter (I'm hoping the fact the filter has been used already will help with the cycling), and Aqadvisor says my filter capacity is 143%, so I'm happy with that.

Water hardness is 283 ccpm, which I believe is 16 degrees on the German scale.

I have fish selection sorted -

6 cherry barbs
1 pearl gourami
1 black swordtail
1 marble molly
1 balloon molly
1 sailfin molly
1 flame guppy
2 nerite snails

Aqadvisor says capacity is 86% without the snails, as it doesn't include those.

A few questions -
I would like to have some real plants - is there a specific substrate I should look for, and is there a calculator to determine how much I need?
Will the snails be enough to control algae in the tank? Should I add an algae eating fish? Especially to get the algae at the top of the tank, seeing as the snails tend to stay on the bottom.
What should I use to clean the tank and filter etc with? I don't want to introduce chemicals that will upset the fish.

Any other comments or advise gratefully received.

Thanks,

I would probably have several guppies, not just one as they're pretty small fish to be on their own in a reasonably large tank. Skip the swordtail as these really need a 4ft to do well.

Easy-care plants don't need a specific substrate - you can just pop a root tablet underneath the plants to feed them. Special plant substrates are only needed for heavily planted tanks with plants that are more demanding, and they tend to need extra lighting and CO2 injection in addition.

The best way to deal with algae is to clean it off yourself - an algae-eating fish will create more waste and thus encourage more algae growth, and most don't really eat much algae as they prefer (and need) fish food.

You can clean the tank with a weak bleach solution - dilute about 1:20, and if you have any stubborn limescale marks, white vinegar will deal with them. Rinse well and allow to dry thoroughly before setting up the tank.

Thanks fishlady - can I mix different types of guppies, as I've done with the mollys? My daughter wants to be able to name each of them!!

Yes very much so - they're all the same species just different colours so will mix together with no problems.