I seem to say this a lot but sorry to the Op for going off topic.
On the surface I think this is a brilliant idea but we have to have a degree of acceptance that there are different ways in which to cycle/mature aquariums.
In terms of planted tanks the holy grail would be to start with a high plant mass and ideally some fast growing stem plants, then after maybe six weeks livestock would be slowly added.
At the opposite end of the spectrum would be a tank set up from day one, overly stocked with fish and a single anubias nana petite, which technically for the sake of this example is a planted tank.
We should also consider the elephant in the room that is TESTING! We all know these kits aren't accurate but lots of us do it in secrecy, fearing ridicule if the secret ever gets out. When starting a tank how do we know when its safe to add fish if we don't at some point test for ammonia?
So yes a guide would be useful, but I think it should be approached with "Harm reduction" in the back of our minds and not a preached sermon of A is right and B is wrong.
Cheers.
Oh goodness I hope I haven't opened a can of worms I didn't mean to!! It doesn't have to be for UKAPs, I was just thinking of writing on my own as a side thing during corona and seeing if it could help people. Obviously UKAPs is full of people with experience who love their hobby, so it's not really the target audience, but we do get beginners who do need some help. A big emphasis would be on researching more (like during those 6 weeks working out what fish would actually be right for people's tanks), and looking at journals here and things.
My plan for a guide was because people (including me) kill their fish when they start completely accidentally, they've got dodgy info from their LFS which they trusted (my LFS is great but not all are), or they did loads of research online and found conflicting information so just picked one (often the wrong one). I never found a how-to guide that comprehensively explained things to a complete beginner, I did everything I thought was correct, but it wasn't. It wasn't until I came here that I started to understand things better, and see the aquarium as a whole system. So my thought was to write a guide for me when I started basically lol
It would explain basic concepts in a clear way, with examples for how people can do things, with links for extra reading on different topics, but always being clear what is essential an what is optional, and what is something for a complete beginner vs someone who has experience. Obviously there are many different ways of doing things, but I think picking one way (6 weeks maturation with heavy planting from the start & substantial regular water changes) is the best way for beginners to set them up to have a beautiful and enjoyable aquarium which they can build from. My angle is that if a guide can be created that people can follow and help reduce the number of fish killed through mistakes then that's a good thing. I know that people should just go and buy + read more books, but lbr people avoid doing that now with the internet.
When I mentioned testing, I mentioned it because I was fully obsessed with testing when I started, testing every day to see the levels change. If you go onto reddit (which I do sometimes), you will see LOADS of people doing things, convinced that their tank with 6 stems in it is cycled after 2 weeks, and when their fish die they are confused. Test kits are useful, but they aren't tools to make things go faster, they aren't better indicators when beginning that things are ready than time and plant growth is. New people can't read an aquarium as an experienced person can, so they rely on test kits, but they also don't tell the whole story.