Tropical Fish Forums

[Deano37]

Hi all this is my first post in a while been wanting a large Fluval tank like a studio or something similar but I don't have the funds yet so I have purchased a lovely little fluval spec 7.6l tank, I liked the smart look of the tank and I have also purchased a small heater for it , I am planning of growing plants and maybe having a betta fish in there as I have seen many people with this set up, I am new to this hobby so this will be my first aquarium, I have bought some fluval stratum substrate for the plants, anyway I have a few questions I am going to lay the substrate after rinsing it and put some wood in there and need advice on some plants to put in there, don't think light is very good so low light plants would be better most likely ? also I am going to buy a water test kit but around how long should it take to cycle ?

anyother ideas or idvice would be great
Thanks Dean

[KhiaraFish]

Welcome to the forum! First of all, I would check out these articles on cycling -

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ciclo.php

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_fishless.php

So thats all about how to cycle a tank, and then I would also go and read the other articles in the "Introductory Fishkeeping" section of the articles page to the left.
_________________
Please, oh Please can someone help me!?

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[freshigal]

For plants you have some nice low-light options. A smaller Anubias would go well. I have an Anubias nana in my 5 gallon that has looked good for years with minimal lighting.

You mentioned putting in wood. Another option is Java moss. You can attach it to the wood with black thread and then eventually it will attach itself. Sometimes algae can show up, but if you don't have a lot of sunlight hitting the tank it will not be as big a problem.

A final recommendation would be Java fern. It also does well in low-light situations and can serve as a background plant. It's also very tough. Usually you need to attach it to something like wood for it to develop roots, but mine has also rooted in the Flourite substrate.

[Deano37]

thanks a lot for help, any idea were to purchase a 2nd light the same as I have seen lots of people that have this tank have 2 lights ? also any stocking ideas maybe a betta tank or what

thanks Dean