Okay so here is what I need to buy, livestock, and what I have.
Planted Tank stuff to buy
- Seachem Flourish Excel
- T8 or T12 lights
- Sponge for filter intake
- Thrive Liquid Fertilizer
- CaribSea Eco Complete Black Planted Substrate
Go with T8's, 3000K-10,000K, you do not need a sponge for the intake unless you are planning on having shrimp in the tank, Thrive is good, excel is good, I would seriously consider a cheaper substrate, eco is tough to plant in, even tougher to use in smaller tanks, is inert and has low CEC, almost as low as sand but, it can grow plants. For me, I won't use it again, if you are using thrive you can get away with standard sand or gravel with no issue.
Plants/Livestock
- Java Fern
- Java Moss
- Male Betta
looks good, if you are only getting these plants you dont even need a substrate, so why spend the money on a brand name substrate that isn't much better than regular gravel??
Stuff I have
- Penguin Filter
- Heater
- Test Kit
- Prime, Solution etc.
This is good, set the temp to 80 degrees F for cycling (helps speed up bacterial growth)