Please note that every single one of the stem plants you see in this picture will be removed once the tank is established. The ultimate plan for this tank revolves around plains grasses. I like to start a new tank with hardy stem plants like those pictured. Ultimately, I'll remove them to other tanks to make room for the final design.

Now 12 days old, the 20g is doing fine. Two days ago, I noticed a small breakout of slime algae on the lower of two Christmas Moss clumps on the driftwood. To combat this, I did four things:

• I did a 50% water change yesterday and then a 10% water change today. I will do a 20% water change every other day until I see an abatement in the slime.
• Using long pincers, I manually removed larger clumps of the slime algae. During the water changes, I used suction from the hose to gently dislodge and suck away the remaining algae. Luckily, slime algea, although opportunistic, is very easy to remove.
• I stopped adding Kent Freshwater Plant, which contains Potassium, a nutrient largely unecessary in an immature tank. In a moment, I'll talk about what I plan to use instead.
• I added a large clump of fast-growing Rotala indica. Although I have nearly three dozen individual stem plants in the tank to assist with its establishment, I figure it can't hurt to add even more. The more stem plants available to suck up nutrients, the fewer nutrients available for opportunistic algae.

The Rotala indica I mention above I bought from Aqua Forest Aquarium. Steven recommended that instead of the Kent liquid nutrients, I try ADA's Green Brighty Step 1, which provides only specific nutrients required for plants to "get started."

When I reach the two week mark, I'll post more pictures.