I had read up about cycling the tank so I installed the under-gravel filter system (I was a fan at the time), filled it with ~54 liters of tap water and some tap water conditioner, put some plants in and left it for a week. Then in went 10 Glowlight Tetra. Next morning nine had made it (even though I acclimatized them slowly to the tank water) and were milling about. I was adding a product called "filter start " which is supposed to encourage the establishment of a population of the good bacteria that remove ammonia and nitrites (nitrifying bacteria). Even so it took four weeks until my nitrite levels dropped to zero. As far as I can make out this is about what you'd expect naturally. Nitrite levels peaked at 0.5 mg L.
During this time the Amazon Swords and Ellodea were growing nicely, but the Cabomba just sat and this red leaved plant I can't remember the name of died quickly. I was using a 24W CFL light rated at 6700K for 12 hours a day and the tank's in a well lit room with skylights. But it seems I had a 'low light' tank as (according to the forums) Cabomba requires more light than Ellodea and red leaved plants are 'high light'. The Ellodea would grow 2-3" in a week so it seemed to me there were plenty of nutrients and the water must be healthy. I decided to grow Ellodea and Java Moss and other low light plants.
In week five I added five Black Phantom Tetra and eight X-ray Tetra. I was doing 10 liter (18%) water changes every three weeks and vacuuming the gravel every week with an Algarde aquarium cleaner. It works by connecting it to an air pump. The rising column of bubbles provides suction, drawing waste up the tube and into the collecting bag. I was impressed by the Algarde, it was powerful and easy to use and the little bag would get clogged with fish s**t (fs) so it was definitely working. However by week nine the water went green, you couldn't see through the tank lengthways it was so bad, something had to be done.
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