Forgive me but has the betta died allready? I thought it was hanging by a thread. A 25 watt heater will keep the water a consistant temperature. If you go with a heater, do not get the type that is "factory preset" usually a kinda small box looking thing that claims it is good for bowls and aquariums up to 5 gallons. They have been known to fry fish, while some have had success with them, I wouldn't trust it. When it comes time that your bio-bag (I think thats what Whisper calls them)is tatered and shreded, just replace the bag, dont discard the old one, but cut it into pieces small enough to fit in with the carbon, don't replace the carbon for that change but maybe remove some to make room for the cut bio-bag.This will allow the bacteria that has grown on the old one to "seed" the new.-However, what I'm still unsure of is what the "biological" part of the filter is... ---- The biological part of the filter is where the beneficial bacteria grows. Because the bacteria is alive it is called biological.One of the bacterias feeds off the ammonia in the water collumn (from fish crap and decayed food, etc), it. This produces nitrITE,another bacteria that is growing on the filter uses the nitrITE and turns it into nitrATE. This is good, because ammonia and nitITE are toxic to fish, nitrATE isn't toxic as long as its kept at a low level. That is why we do PWCs, to remove the nitrATE that is produced, allong with other dissolved organics in your little ecosystem. Since your aquariumis small needs to be done more frequently, as a rule of thumb. After a while you can determine what amount of water and how often it needs to be changed. One aid in this determination is a complete water test set. In the case of your filter the best place to let it grow is the white bag with the clip. The carbon also hosts the bacteria, but since the carbon exhausts after a while (or gets less effective at its job) it needs to be replaced. Rather then removeing both hosts to the bacteria and leaving no biological filtration, you just discard the old carbon and replace and keep the bag that has bacteria on it allready. As far as aging water, if you are only doing small water changes, frequently the small amount of water you are replacing should not affect the water too drastically. This is not allways the case though some well water(and city) has a high concentration of CO2 in it. This causes the water to be very acidic. When the CO2 escapes'the pH can rise rapidly to a base. This can stress fish, especially delicate ones. I have this situation and I just use an airstone in a bucket of water to "gas it out" if I amdoing a large water change. Aging over night or for a few days will also do the trick. You do however need a good water conditioner, like Prime or Amquel, that removes chlorine/chloramine and ammonia, if you have treated water from a water co----Alagae, with all the nutrients that may have built in the water + ones that are allready there + light 24/7 will give you an algae bloom, no doubt. If you do the PWC's and limit the light the algae will starve and go away. For a quicker results, use no light, or very little for a week or 2. This includes sunlight from a window. Some people have even covered the glass with a paper bag or something for a complete blackout.Read the original link I gave you, its long but no more longwinded then me. Oh yeah, the food varied diet is good, some have had great success with just a quality betta pellet like hikari. If you want to try something else you can even get live brine shrimp from a good LFS or start a hatchery of your own one day, its pretty interesting. My betta is a typical betta, a pig, he'll eat anything.

DeviGardener I grow all my brugmansias in big planters I use miracle potting mix that feeds upto 6 months it's the best solid I've used for my brugs and they thrive in it. some are as big as 8 ft tall or 9. I feed them every 2 weeks with miracle grow plant food. Looking at your pictures it seems that your brugs still need to grow but they usually very fast growers. Untill your plants grow they y's they will then start to flower. And when they start to flower and you feed them every 2 weeks you will have blooms most of the year. I live in california and this year my brugs have blooms almost all year long. You might consider taking them out and removing some solid from the rootball and add miracle grow potting mix that feeds upto 6 months and they should grow faster with that new dirt. And don't worry about hurting the plant brugs are very hardy I've done that tons of times removing a lot of the soil and adding new and they will rejuvenate. If you would like you can upgrade to bigger planters aswell. Well good luck on your brugs. Hope you have some blooms soon.

Oh. That was simpler than I thought ;) Thank you!

Are you growing this plant outside? I have one which I've had for two years. I grow it outside on the lanai in partial shade although it gets much more sun than recommended. It flowers and has gotten so big I repotted it a few months ago in a larger pot. I do not have photos to show. I'm using an old laptop and can't get it to upload photos I have on my phone. I let it go dry before watering. I do not water on any schedule. Your plant appears too wet and under-lit. I would try putting it outside in a shady area so it can adjust to higher light and slowly move it into more light after it adjusts. Make sure it is in a good draining mix. I used potting soil with a lot of perlite and small wood chips mixed in ...I grow orchids and have lots of wood chips. Make sure the soil drains well. Jane