First worries

Uups, NO3 at 200 mg/l today. No wonder, given that I start with a tap water around 50...

I did a water change of 48 l (about 30%), using unconditioned water: my chlorine readings are about 0 at the tap, so why adding chemicals which woul kill the needed ammonium?  

First evidences

Yesss!
Cycle now started: today I finally record a sudden drop of NH3+NH4, down to 0.5 mg/l. Nitrites recorded yesterday to about 2 mg/l. Cool.

I added about 9 liters of conditioned water, since the level has decreased a lot from the beginning, so hopefully I'm back to about 150 l. Added 8.4 ml of NH4OH, and tomorrow new measurement of all parameters.

Still awaiting the plants: the plan is to have some Ceratophyllum demersum stems emerging from the holes in the corner stone, and cover the flat surface with Java moss. Ceratophyllum won't last long if planted in the substrate, so I'm trying something different here: the stone has lots of holes inside, so I'll have some stems go through two of them, hopefully "fixing" it without strangling the stem itself, and letting both ends go upwards. Let's see what happens (apparently both ends grow). Another option, depending on how much room will be left on the stone, is to fix (not tightly) a single stem horizontally along the stone with nylon line, since apparently it will then develop side stems which will again grow towards the surface.

Perhaps a bit more Java moss will cover some points on the "mangrove" roots. Haven't decided yet.

If this will be enough to host a bunch of Caridina Multidentata, together with the protection offered by the roots, only they can say...

Starting cycle

Started filter and heater. The latter might be oversized, since it's rated at 200 to 300 l, whereas the tank eventually is at 150 l. Let's hope for the best...
Initiated fishless cycling: added 9.4 ml of ammonium hydroxide, after about an hour I measured >3 mg/l of NH3+NH4 (the scale ends at 3...), corresponding roughly to 0.06 mg/l of NH4. Ain't it too low??

Start-up

Here we go. Day 1. Substrate rinsed (enough??) and settled. Just for the picture, I added the polyresin mangrove roots, and the corner stone to be soon covered with Java moss and Ceratophyllum demersum (they should be here in a week or so).

Compared to the tank volume (240 l), the water content adds to 150 l. The plan is to leave an aerial part of some 12 cm, to allow the archer fishes to perform. I'm not sure this clearance will be enough to have them spit, but there's only a way to find out... :-)

Water parameters measured:

GH 14 dH, KH 8 dH, pH 7.4, NO2 0 mg/l, NO3 >20 mg/l

(yeah, that's my tap water; I'm still unsure about the NO3 values, it's impossible to discriminate within that narrow color scale. I'm using Tropic Marin tests (I like all other tests in the box, though).