Please excuse the bad picture quality and the long text.

Almost three weeks ago, we finally started our tank: Juwel lido 200 (71x51x65cm, 200l=52ga)

There is only filter floss and sponges in the filter. Temperature is at 23°C. We planned for a low maintenance tank with LOTS of greenery.

Stupidly, we didn't wash our gravel, so I had to kinda blindly put the plants in.

After an intense bacterial bloom about a week in, the water is finally clear.

It is still yellowy from - I assume - the tannins in the potting soil I put under the gravel. Gravel and soil are about an inch thick each. There is a sand patch in front of the wood piece where no soil is under it. No plants should grow there. It is my meager attempt at aqua scaping.

There is new growth on almost all plants, while most are also melting in various degrees.

C. demersum and P. fluitans already needed a pruning because they almost covered the surface. They continue with their crazy growth, which is awesome!

M. pinnatum is almost dead. P. deccanensis melted completely.

P. Octopus, M. mattogrossense, H. difformis and L. repens have rotted mostly but still show fresh green growth.

V. spiralis, B. caroliniana, S. subulata, R. rotundifolia and C. thalictroides are growing wonderfully. C. wendtii, M. pteropus and Lomariopsis cf. lineata are looking healthy and growing slowly but steady.

We did a few partial water changes in the beginning to reduce the murkiness. Since the last one a week ago, I just monitored pH, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium etc.

Our water has medium hardness and I have to supplement iron after water changes. Ammonium is already almost at 0, while nitrites are also going down slightly and nitrates are rising. pH is relatively stable at 7,7.

In the first ten days, there was some green water algae and light algal growth on the glass. This went almost away. Some dark plaque is on the leaves of some plants. But I am not sure if this is just debris.

There is some decaying plant matter lying around that. A growing number of bladder snails and (I think) ramshorn snails are taking excellent care of that. Both came into the tank as hitchhikers.

This is my first tank and I am very unsure of everything going on. So ask you knowledgeable folks out there a few things, if I may:

In the last few days, there were occasional gas bubbles emerging from under the gravel. Is this toxic stuff going on? The snails seem unimpressed, but they are some hardy mfers.

Will the plants that melt but still show growth be fine?

I planned on dosing fish food to get the cycle going, but I assume there was some ammonia already in the soil. Should I dose now that ammonia is going down? Or later, to "test" if the cycle is stable before I put in any other living beings?

In a few weeks, when the cycle is completed, we plan on adding shrimps. Which do you recommend? My LFS has both Neocaridina and a Caridina species.

In the farther future, I set my eyes on adding small Ancistrus species and a swarm of Endler Guppies. Is this a good choice? If not, which species would be better for this setup? How much can I stock anyways?

Thank you to all who read this far. I essentially have no one in person I can really talk about this stuff. So I am glad this community exists! Have a good one!

200l new tank