Forty-four days into the tank's life, it's stable enough for me to introduce fish. Today, I stopped by Justin's place (Ocean Aquarium) and George and Steven's place (Aqua Forest Aquarium) to lightly populate the tank with an algae squad. My early algae problems abated, but I have lingering hair algae that, while not a threat, is simply unsightly. Here are the fish I bought:

• Siamese Algae Eaters (Siamensis): quantity 2: I had abysmal luck with these fish two years ago when I had them in Assgard (my 6g). I've learned a lot since then and feel comfortable having them around to gobble up annoying hair algae.
• Otocinclus affinis (dwarf otocinclus): quantity 3: I also had terrible luck with these fish a few years ago. They're so interesting and great scavengers, so I'm happy to have them around in a much healthier tank.
• Monotetrus travancoricus (dwarf freshwater puffer): quantity 1: I fell in love with these little guys when I first saw them at AFA. They stay very small and can live in a community tank with other fish who aren't too small. Although they may nip fins, they're not terribly aggressive in the absence of other puffers. Until I add my final school of color fish, he's the top dog in the tank.
• Cherry shrimp (indeterminate species): quantity 3: It's been a couple of years since I had beautiful cherry shrimp. Right now, they're incredibly small, so I've wrapped cheesecloth around the inflow pipe so they don't get sucked into the canister filter.
• Caridina japonica (Amano shrimp): quantity 2: As much of a fan of Amano as I am, I've never actually had Amano shrimp. Cherry, Tiger, Crystal Red, sure, but never Amano. I thought it was about time.

One of the young Siamenses followed closely by another.

One of my favorite types of shrimp. This specimen--quite young--is only a few millimeters in length.

Upper left corner, you can see my new puffer hovering over the Siamensis. He's a plucky one!

Tomorrow, I'll post new pics of the whole tank with my new Christmas present, an Olympus digital camera specially designed for zooms as close as 3 centimeters.

It's hard to believe that yesterday the tank turned 1 month old. Over the span of about three hours, I removed all of the starter stem plants, leaving behind only moss on the driftwood, and planted my new crop of grasses and accent plants from Aqua Forest Aquarium.

YESTERDAY: I was beginning to get used to the density of color and stem plants, but this layout was never meant to be permanent: only to establish the tank.

TODAY: This is the new layout. It's a step in the direction of my original sketches for the design.

I had fun working with Steven and George at AFA to determine the right mix of foreground and background grasses. As you can see from the "today" photo above, the new layout is not about height, but about opposing triangles, one pointing down on the left, one pointing up on the right. Info about the new plants I bought:

• Blyxa japonica, or Japanese rush. This is commonly used in the foreground or midground. I decided to use it as a midground, rear corner accent because it allows for great visibility to the back of the tank and works well behind my single large rock, creating a sense of height up the gentle slope in that corner.
• Eleocharis acicularis, or hairgrass, in both dwarf and tall forms. The rear left corner of the tank belongs to a bed of tall hairgrass. I snipped more than a dozen budding runners off the tips of the mature grass and planted them at the bases of the plants from which they came. I'm hoping that in about a month, that corner will be thick with grass from the substrate to the water's surface.
• Polygonum, or knotweed. This lovely and unusual red/pink leaf plant, considered invasive by ecological standards, is going to act as a mid-height accent plant that ties together the left side, the base of the driftwood, and the tall hairgrass behind it. I cut the stems as short as I could and planted them fairly close together to facilitate a dense bushy growth down the road. We'll see how well that plan works.
• Eriocaulaceae "australia". This very expensive and attractive plant is the heart of the foreground grasses. As much as I paid for it, I hope I don't kill it!

Reddish brown leaves of Red Flame Sword in front of the driftwood, red/pink Polygonum on the far left, tall grasses in the background, short grasses in the foreground.

Red flame sword, a small show plant for the foreground.

Right side of the tank features Japanese rush, dwarf hairgrass and the bright green cluster of Eriocaulaceae "australia" nestled between and around Amano-style rocks.

Other routines I'm changing now that the tank is a month old:

• I've started buffering the water with GH/KH Up, approximately 1ml per 5g of water during a water change. My KH regularly registers at 2...I'd like to shoot for 4, with 3 being an acceptable improvement.
• Now that the algae outbreak has abated, I'm dosing with ADA Green Brighty at regular strength, approximately 1ml per 20 litres of water per day. Since I no longer have an abundance of fast-growing plants in the tank, I'll have to monitor and adjust this carefully to thwart opportunistic algae.

What's next? When I get back from Christmas with the family, I'll introduce a few shrimp and some Siamese Algae Eaters. In a few weeks, I think I'll be ready for the centerpiece fish: a large school of very small brightly colored fish. Stay tuned!

Closeup of the healthy new moss growth on the driftwood's upper section. The moss now clings to the wood on its own--I've removed netting and threads that held it down.

Hallelujia, or however you spell that. Two days ago, my ammonia levels collapsed dramatically to zero. It's a wonderful sign of progress for a new tank when the ammonia is at last under control. Notes on the tank's progress:

• I'm staving off an algae incursion mostly by changing 20% of my water every two days, cutting away leaves infested with soft hair algae, vacuuming out green algae, and trimming stem plants to stimulate new growth. I don't think the water is stable enough to introduce Otocinclus or SAEs. I'd also like to wait at least two weeks before adding algae shrimp. In the meantime, I've got a handful of snails who are doing their best to clear algae.
• My KH is unacceptably low (ranging from 1 to 2), so I'm going to start buffering the water this weekend.
• I've started dosing more heavily with ADA's Green Brighty to encourage aggressive plant growth as a competitive defense against algae. Have to monitor this closely so I don't also give the algae what it wants to flourish.