Great interview, good advices and succinct summary of your hobby philosophy. I read your journal when I started my first planted tank 4 year ago, and reread it from time to time. Now I have two, 75g and 125g high tech show tanks.
Your journey matches mine best. Decades of rainbow fish keeping before getting into plants, and equally passionate about fish and plants. As for me, substitute cichlid with rainbow. We demonstrate that dual passion is possible, and heavy bio load and plants can harmoniously coexist.