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So after having a horrible first experience with shrimp, plecos and planaria. I decided to start up a new tank late Dec 15. So heres the setup. Tank: 3 Foot Komoda 90x45x45 Filter: Aqua one Ocellaris 850 (in box media) + Large single bio sponge filter Lighting: Up aqua Pro Z 90cm Substrate: Mr aqua soil 8L x2 + Up aqua shrimp sand 5L (had it leftover so i just chucked it in) Co2: Yes. Inline atomiser. Heater: None (will get one as soon as winter comes) Cycling process - Just used water straight from the tap and added some Api stress zyme and squeezed wool from an established tank into the cannister. After a week Ph 6.6 Nitrate 0 Nitrite 0 Ammo 0. TDS = didnt check Gh/kh = didnt check. So after about a week i added some neons to speed up the process. Could not wait any longer so i took my chances and added some pandas and CRS within the fortnight. No deaths thankfully ? Since then i have added Oebt + MBB + BB + SW + GB and ottos. Issue #1 Micro organisms. Had a mini outbreak of planaria first week within cycling. Probably due to plants added. Solved with manual removal. Battling limpets daily. Solved by giving up squashing them. Lol. Last week saw a hydra killed it. Solved, none since. Nematodes, copecods (cyclops) and possibly seed shrimps starting to appear after introduction of new driftwood last week. Harmless so mostly ignored. Lesson learnt = WASH YOUR PLANTS AND WOODS BEFORE ENTRY. Issue #2 Algae. Had an outbreak of string/hair, green spot and BGA within the first fortnight. Most likely due to excessive lighting periods and poor circulation from the Aqua one cannister. BGA fixed with less light time and manual removal. Currently on 2nd dose of Algaefix. Seems to be working on most of the string/hair algae. Not so on the green spot. Issue #3 Ph rising. Not sure why it has gone up to 7.2 in the last fortnight. Possibly excessive seiryu stones. Left 1 in there only now. Could also be from poor substrate. Also treating with IAL and mulberry. Alder cones on the way aswell. Deaths: 1 MBB and 1 Otto ? Here a some recent pics. Can anyone recommend some nice background plants for my set up ? And should i use fulvic grains to try and reduce Ph ? And should i just buy a new cannister filter to increase water circulation or just buy a wavemaker ?