Really long, wordy posts (and I'm guilty of this too) are just as tiring to read as studying about pumps and/or lighting. It's possible that every question on this subject has been answered somewhere on this forum.

I have found out the critters we put in our tanks can be very forgiving as most of us don't spend many, many dollars on really special, touchy amphibs. I found out that I did better when I just jumped in, set up a simple tank and then studied how to make it better or change procedure on the next one.

It is difficult to follow one's train of thought when each person's descriptive vocabulary is different.

I am still working on a tank after a year that was going to really creative.