Plant list:
foreground: Eleocharis acicularis, Lilaeopsis novozalindae,
midground: Hygrophila sp., Bolbitis
background: Limnophilia aromatica, “giant” stellata (I forget the name of that main one in the middle), Rotala rotundifolia, Rotala sp. “colorata”, Ludwigia arcuata, Micranthemum umbrosum

How old is this setup?
The tank is about 4 months old.

How long did it take to stabilize? / What algae issues did the tank had initially (if it had any) and how you remedy them?
Very minor algae issues– just some BBA that was dealt with using SeaChem EXCEL, high dose (about 3 times recommended amount for 5 days), and water change every other day-40%.

Do you use RO water or just tap (is your water hard?)?
Just tap water used– Houston city supply which is quite hard indeed. We never use RO, and never have before. Every tank we have done is regular (hard) tap water.

Do you find that adding more from some of the ADA ferts helps to remedy any problems you may have and what are this problems and the additional ADA ferts if any?
We simply use the ADA liquid ferts on out planted tanks. Mike dosed GREEN GAIN and ECA very heavily on this tank– ECA was dosed almost daily whenever stemmed plants were sufficiently grown back from trimming. GREEN GAIN was dosed heavily after trimming (after initial water change and for 3-4 days following). New growth was always established in 5-7 days and health was superb/fewer strees symptoms noticed.
There was aperiod when Lilaeopsis was not growing so well and green spot algae was present. I noted this and had Mike add higher doses of Green Brighty SPECIAL LIGHTS (ADA’s N and P and additional K), and the problem was quickly remedied. With so much light and so many hungry, fast-growing stemmed plants, these nutrients were being quickly absorbed, and slower matabolism of Lilaeopsis was not able to get its fair share!

Do you plant heavily from the beggining (as much as we see grown now)?
This tank was planted heavily from the beginning because of the style desired for the finished layout. We don’t necessarily plant heavily though. If we are doing say a simplt iwagumi/rock style tank with just a foreground plant, then we just try to cover as much of the substrate as is practical. We never add temporary stemmed plants or anything like that.

Is there a chance to measure and give us some nutrient readings (NO3, PO4, K e.t.c)?
Not much chance of testing water parameters. We do not own those test kits. Maybe Luis or someone would want to stop by and do that.

Is this tank supposed to be long lasting or for demonstration purposes only and sort lived?
This tank was not intended to be long lasting (for us anyway). While it could be kept going longer, indeed, we are always anxious to try new layout styles with this particular tank. We do long-term layouts often in other tanks.

Diligence of maintenance– frequent water change, good dosing regimen, frequent trimming of stemmed plants.

Mike and I have not been able to produce these high level results until we started understanding and using ADA products. Can you achieve this health with other products/methods? I am sure you can. Does ADA make it easier? In my opinion, yes. The combination of a rich, active substrate with precise daily dosing of nutrients + following the guidelines of Mr. Amano (creator of the style in the first place) = greater success, simple as that.

Source : Aquatic Plant Central