thanks for your post. I definitely enjoy the full look of a heavily planted tank like yours. It is something I was looking forward to...unfortunately during my cycling thats still going my plants arn't doing too well. I've done a little research and it could possibly be the plants not living up to the ammonia? although its only at .25 ppm.. or I heard it could be the lighting? and I havnt bought a timer yet but usually It's on for 10 hours. the plants that arnt holding up well are basically turning "see through" quite frustrating I cant figure out what it is, but my plan is to just wait till the cyclings all finished to add more plants.
I feel like the cycling process is taking forever as well...but i think i will try buying another bottle of good bacteria, what was the brands that you have used?
Also seems you have great success in keeping your tank occupied with many fish. I think its working out with the heavily planted tank you have. I also was interested in possibly getting some shrimp as well a school of Harlequin rasboras. I thought a betta would enjoy the 12g but I wasnt sure since I've read up alot on the fluvals having small openings and bettas enjoying a larger opening for air..hows your betta in the tank? do you leave some space for it to get air or have it filled completely to the top?
oh and thanks for the stocking tips
The bright LED lights seem to provide all the light my plants need. But they are on a timer, and they get 14 hours of light a day. When I had a 50 gallon several years ago, I found the timer to be the very best friend my plants could have. I never used Co2--didn't even know anything about it, and my plants grew so well and so fast I had to trim very often, and I would still wake up some mornings to find blooms inches out of the water. I think the consistent lighting is crucial, and the timer keeps you honest--you don't have to remember to turn the light on and off. I have also been using a liquid plant food by API called "Leaf Zone" which contains iron and potassium. That may be helping my plants, too. I continue to do 25% (sometimes 50%) water changes once a week. That's supposed to be crucial to providing necessary nutrients for your plants, as well.
I did a fish-in cycle, and my plants were in the whole time, and they didn't seem to suffer at all.
The bacteria solutions I used were Nutrafin and Seachem. I don't know which worked best, or if either actually contributed to the faster cycling. However, I think the Seachem may have been better. I was reading about another product by Microbe-Lift that sounds very good. I read a chat-room excerpt from one of the company reps, and the experienced chatroom guys drilled him pretty hard about the product, and he seemed to have all the right answers. I dunno. Some people don't think they work at all; some swear by them. All I know is that my cycle only took two weeks, but I did seed the tank, too.
As far as having a betta in a Fluval Edge, some folks were worried he wouldn't be able to find the surface opening for air. So when I put him in, I made sure to watch him really well for an hour or more. If he couldn't find the opening, I was going to lower the water level an inch or so to provide more surface area (but also ruining the whole effect of the Fluval). However, he had NO problem at all figuring out where to go for air, so I keep it filled all the way up. It's the same place he gets his food, so unless you get a betta that's just a total ding-bat, I don't think you'll have a problem, either. Bettas are very smart fish! And, of course, even though the Fluval opening seems small to US, it's still way bigger than most of the crappy bowls/cups, etc. that so many folks torture their bettas in.
The only problem I've had with my Fluval is getting everything IN it because the opening is so small. But I don't mind a few hours of frustration to get things set up when I get hours of enjoyment looking at my nice tank. The aesthetics outweigh the hassle for me. Although I did end up with huge bruises under my arms the day after I first set it up because I was having to stretch my arms so far in while pressing down on the lip. I'm a big guy with big arms, but it wasn't impossible, just tedious. I ended up getting that Fluval planting too--looks like a pair of long tweezers. It helps a little, but I usually just end up shoving my arm in. I made a mistake using the gravel, I think, because I've had some plants float back up--that's not a Fluval problem but a gravel problem. If I had it to do over again, I'd just use sand. But I'm not changing anything now! Once the roots got going, though, I haven't had any more problems.
Good luck! Keep us posted how the tank is coming. And I totally vote for getting a betta!
but i also did use seachem prime with those water changes. that about sums up everything for my cycling process.
