LED won't grow plants. But there is a sticky somewhere on the plants and their maintenance. I have a florescent light and a desk lamp for my 2 tanks and my marimo moss (known affectionately [often named] as nano and moss balls) is flourishing. VERY green!! My java moss is suffering but I think it's my water quality so I'm going to change that with fertilizers. There are some plants which don't require crazy lights. :)
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Originally Posted by Mo
Nope maybe your are thinking of incandescent lights?
even incandesscent can grow the plant well if you have enough of it......
I think he means that some LED have high kelvin rating, which is good for marine but bad for fresh water, as zoothanlae and fresh water plants have a different light spectrum for photosynthesis.
Some LED can even be more intense than metal halides :D
Jase, I'm curious as to where you got that info on Kelvin and freshwater...
Several members with years of plant experience say it's all about Kelvin on here. Posted via Mobile Device
As a recent return to the world of water myself, I can agree with others who say it's addictive! Betas are like the crack of the fish world. Good luck, it sounds like you are preparing well!
For me, it started with my kids. I thought it would be cool to get them something different for Christmas, so they each got a 2.5 gallon tank and frogs. Apparently between myself, hubby, and the kids, we were terrible frog keepers. One frog returned to his tiny cube after that disaster, and I thought...BETAS! I had one growing up, he was my favorite. So a short while later, their tanks now each contained one beta (Lavatail and Indigo), who have been doing MUCH better than the poor frogs.
But then I wanted one. So I now have a 2.5 gallon tank on my desk at work. It contains Ghost, he of my icon.
But then I wanted one at home. So I now have a 3 gallon tank at home, which contains Chicory.
@Kim
Good to know, thank you! I think I will go with the ammonia method as well. Sounds like the best preparation.
You guys are all so helpful! It is greatly appreciated!!
Good Luck with your new hobby!!! I am also new and have learned from reading and research and so far so good. I have a 20H gallon planted tank. My LFS helped me with the lighting of the tank and I have a Co2 system for the plants. The filter that I have was baffled because the current was too strong for my Betta (Benny). I'm hoping that once the plants grow out they will naturally baffle the filter. I did get the baffling idea from a sticky on this site (awesome...all you really need is a water bottle and something to weigh it down). Cycling your tank if very important and since you have the kit you can keep checking your water. I've learned that to balance my Ph I use conditioned tap water with RO water. I also noticed that Benny loves the Tiger Lotus plant because of the big leaves. I feed him pellets, frozen bloodworms, flightless bugs(from my LFS used for Bettas), and live brine shrimp and I starve him once a week so he can clean out his system. Water changes have been great since I purchased a Coralife Aqueon Aquarium Water Changer - 25 feet from Amazon. I usually do 40% water changes a week. The only other thing that I've learned is that once your tank start to establish itself it will do funky things. I'm always taking pictures and showing the people at the LFS and they tell me its normal. I also purchased two nerite snails to eat the algae.
Hope this helps :o)
Jase, I'm curious as to where you got that info on Kelvin and freshwater...
Several members with years of plant experience say it's all about Kelvin on here. Posted via Mobile Device
well, fresh water keepers always use low kelvin bulb and marine keepers always use high kelvin bulbs.
The higer the spectrum the least it is absorbed by water, and vis versa with low spectrum.
In general corals live in a depth where most of the light are between 2000k to 9000 K, and the rest are absorbed. "white and blue light" so the zoothanlae in corals are adapted to high kelvin lights.
and for fresh water, the plants lives in a shallow depth where most of the light are in the lower end of the spectrum. "Red and yellow" light. so they are adapted to lower kelvin light.
You can only edit within 20 minutes of posting.
I know the average is 6500k for freshwater. I didn't know Kelvin went that high. I've heard of people having trouble with LEDs in freshwater before, a lot of people say only low light plants do well.
Anyways this is getting kind of off topic so we should stop there.
Topheredward, any more questions, feel free to ask!
I love it when people ask all these questions and buy everything they need BEFORE buying the betta. :)
I use a brine shrimp net and I never have any problems. As per a tip I read somewhere, I let the net soak in the tank for like five to ten minutes to soften up the mesh. Just be gentle and don't cram him against a wall with the net and things like that, and he'll be fine. I've always had trouble with the cup. It seems to freak out my fish even more than the net, but that's probably because I don't have good cupping technique. ;) Mr. Fish used to let me grab him with my hands, lol.
Since you have the API master test kit, I wouldn't worry about cycling fish-in. Just check the ammonia and nitrite once a day and change water accordingly. You might start having to change water three or four, or sometimes five, times a week (50% change). If you don't think you'll have time, cycle without the fish in there. :)
For water changes, I like using airline tubing because it's nice and cheap and most gravel vacuums I've found at stores were too big, or the small ones didn't have a long enough siphon tube to reach a bucket. In an 8 gallon, you might be best off using 2 air line tubes, and vacuuming the substrate with one while the other one just takes out water. If you have plants and depending on your substrate and the number of plants, however, you won't have to vacuum much if at all.
I just looked up the tank you bought and it's so cool looking. It would look awesome as a fully planted NPT. Watch your filter current flow to see if it's too strong, of course. If you need help figuring out how to baffle it, just ask on here and we'll come up with something.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
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