[jyl]

My son's tank - which I appear to have to house and provide daily care for, the major work gets done when he comes back from school - doing fine. Fish seem happy.

Water keeps testing fine (both on test strips and testing at aquarium shop).

The floating plants need to be culled every few weeks, as they start to monopolize the light; my son takes about half out and uses for his aquarium at school. I'm thinking of putting a light strip on the lower side of the tank, to get light to plants otherwise shaded by the floaters - would it dazzle the fish?

There is a build-up of detritus on the bottom, which doesn't seem to bother the fish but is unattractive. Every now and then I vacuum some of it up, which also results in a partial (1/4?) water change. I'm wondering if adding a normal water filter (the kind that hang off the side of the tank) will reduce the detritus buildup.