I finally went to the local aquarium club meeting last month, and last week they had one of their big semi annual auctions. I missed on some nice cories and kuhli loaches, although those probably would uproot all the plants every day... and I got a few good bunches of plants for the big tank. added more sand to it, and planted them all there.
i gave up on the timed light I had on it and switched back to the "original" one that came with the covers, and kept the lights off for a few days. that disgusting greenish film has finally stopped, and now I'm putting these lights on for a couple of hours a day, so far so good. I know these plants need more hours of light, I'm taking small steps, because that green film was a plant killer and a pita to clean.
i've been tracking a couple of sellers on ebay and amazon that posted loaches, and still undecided as to what other fish to put there: rummy nose, cherry barbs, red phantoms... and more plants.
