On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 23:32:41 -0700, Liz McGuire wrote:

Regarding fish that tear up plants - sounds fun, but probably isn't G
Fortunately, the betta is pretty entertaining, so I won't go looking!

Next time you set up a tank from scratch, try some EcoComplete for a
substrate. It's not cheap, but plants love it. You can mix it (I did)
up to half and half with some fine gravel or coarse sand to make it go
further.

And dosing with Flourish Excel is almost as good as CO2 injection and a
lot easier and cheaper.

Also, give the plants a few weeks to get settled in before you add any
fish. If you add fish slowly, you'll never see any ammonia or nitrite -
the plants gobble it up.

For a 10 gallon tank (or a 18 gallon tall) you can get either a
fluorescent or an incndescent hood. Get the incandescent and use two of
the screwin 6500K fluorescents in it. That'll give you plenty of light.
The bulbs are available at Walmart for less than the pet stores charge.

And speaking of the 18 gallon, tall tanks do give you the opportunity to
grow some plants that won't fit in a low tank.

I'm not trying to come off as an expert, just reporting what's worked for
me. One of these days I'll get some pictures that don't have reflected
glare and I'll post them on my web site.

Good luck.