my daughter got this betta as a present alittle over a month ago. After jumping down the rabbit hole, He just got his tank upgraded to a fully planted set up.
Hardscape, sponge, plants and a bunch of bio media have all been cycled previously so there shouldn't be any cycle from this redesign, unless this soil has some ammonia in it. (This is possible) Currently still at zero. I will stop adding thrive s fertilizer for a week or 2 as it has ammonia in it. I have also been dosing microbacter 7 daily to help out. ( this bacteria is sleeped on in freshwater tanks and is way more effective than stability and other products people mention all the time. I come from reefing so while tanks may have different salinities it is all the same basic idea.
https://i.redd.it/x7qccyp1qnbg1.jpeg
Posted by Millerbr310