[Jacob]

Hmm, now I have this over sized tank set up. Maybe a pair or small group of sphaerichthys may be better, if I am cautious with their social behavior. I just was keeping freshwater pipefish, so I have experience with inundating a tank with live food, but it did get tiresome. Then again they probably had drastically bigger appetites than licorice gouramis.
I used a Mardel test strip and all the water values were at the lowest the test strip could register (pH and two kinds of hardness) and there was no nitrite but some nitrate.
I wonder if that is a good sign, that the sponge filter, other organic matter, and water sprite are combining to make this a normally functioning, cycled aquarium.
I have yet to put in the almond leaves as substrate. Products like melafix, would that be a good additive to new water, in addition to peat filtration? And speaking of peat filtration, the Sera product you mentioned that is designed to lower the pH, this is a safe and consistent way to get the proper water values? Couldn’t I combine that product with some blackwater extract for the humic substances? That sounds like a faster and more consistent way to prepare the water.
There is a little too much decaying matter in the tank for me to believe the tank is close enough to blackwater levels of cleanliness, and the nitrate readings are not perfect, so I will have to get it cleaner before I can think about introducing fish. There will have to be a breaking in period, maybe there will be a spike and then things will normalize like most tanks that are new. Thanks for the in depth responses, there are obstacles when you don’t know how to go about things but it’s rewarding once it starts to come together