Thanks for the comments everyone.
jrpsaros;4620123; said:
How do the loaches look in the tank?
The loaches look great when they're out. They're usually out and about in the morning when they're hungry, but as soon as the lights go on they disappear into the background and hide all day. Unfortunately the tank looks pretty much empty for most of the day. The little guys that I got from you are the most outgoing of the lot. I also really like the medium-sized one with the thin bars.
I'm looking for some floating plants and dither fish to coax them out more.
@sashimimaster and Youglin: I agree and am on the hunt for some archers.
@matt.shanahan: To attach the broms I wrapped their stolons in moss and used cloth staples pushed into the roots. Some of the java fern rhizomes are attached the same way. Since the branches are foam it's pretty easy to just push pins or wire into it to attach plants. To attach plants to the ecoweb I cut a slit into it with a knife and just push the plant into the hole. Seems to stay in place ok. For the riccia I just took a handful and smeared it all over the ecoweb. The ecoweb is rough so it attaches pretty well.
@fishkeepingnoob: I think it's important to plan things out well with a paludarium, but you inevitably run into issues you didn't anticipate and learn a lot from the process. With a 20g I'd say just get started and see what happens. Feel free to ask if you have specific questions.
So far the tank is doing ok. A lot of the emersed plants aren't doing that well - they don't seem to like the constant flow of water on the background. I'm slowly acquiring more plants that will hopefully deal better with the wet conditions. The riccia seems to really like the clay areas and has started to green-up on the clay. It still doesn't seem to be doing that well on the ecoweb but I think it's still early. I'll add some more pics when things start looking noticeably different.