Originally Posted by belly

You mentioned the start up chemicals. If the place that you purchased everything from was any good, they would have included a type of bacteria. Its basically the kind that is produced when your system has been running for a while & it has "balanced" for lack of a better word. Even though you are using the chemicals, you will still need to watch the water quality by not adding too many fish at a time. Did they sell you a NO2 or NO3 test kit? It helps to make sure of the water quality.

A few things ppl forget to mention - always keep in mind how big the fish will get, plecos will get very large unless you get an albino bristle nose as they stay about 4 to 5 inches in length.