Well, Initially I wanted a tank that looked like an Amano tank. A wonderful
natural underwater landscape that looked nice, absorbed all the unwanted
end-of-line nutrients and required little or no maintenance because all the
Nitrate and Phosphate was gone!!!!! - into the plants.....that is.

I also wanted a South American only theme for plants and fish. Hence a SA
Cichlid environment (not Discus).

It did not turn out the way I wanted despite all the high-tech CO2 injection
etc. The plants refused to grow despite the 100% flourite substrate -
probably due to the lack of light which I cannot change with my setup (3
bulbs max hence 90W over 250L), the algae took over. I reduced the algae
only by purchasing plants that would grow. Now I have a planted tank with
plants that are not all South American. Some have too much air roots for my
liking...It looks a bit scragly with the Hydrocotyl but otherwise its OK. I
now have developing a blue green slime on the leaves - suspect its BG algae.
The surface also fills up with Blue Green Slime and requires skimming every
week or so.

So all in all - not the experience I planned for or wanted.