Fishless Cycling Problem

The test kits should be OK to the end provided they are still within the expiry date or have been opened less than a year. (We used to have a member on here who worked for API and she said that an opened bottle should be thrown away once it reached a year after opening. Just because the oxygen in the air that gets into the bottle reacts with the ingredients).

Interesting about the phantoms. A though occurs - could they see their refection with the background in place so they thought there were more phantoms in that place and tried to shoal with them 

My hengels rasboras are like that. If I sit quietly at the other side of the room they go all over the tank but as soon as they see movement they dash into the back corner behind a tall plant. I think it must be just the way some fish are.

On the other hand, the rice fish ignore all movement and I have to be careful not to suck them up while cleaning the tank because they fuss around the siphon tube.

I know you don't want live plants but floating live plants really are the best thing for reducing light in the tank. I got some water sprite off Ebay and it is doing so well I have to throw handfuls in the compost on a regular basis.

Other than that I don't know if changing the tubes would work. They are usually made bright enough to grow plants. The warm yellow lights I've had just made the tank look as though someone had used it as a urinal 

I stared with 1 pack of a few plants, can't remember how many were in it  But this plant grows.
I have Ceratopteris cornuta rather than Ceratopteris thalictroides, and mine has plants with leaves radiating from a centre which are about 8 inches across. There are also lots of baby plants about half an inch across and every size in between. The seller I got mine from doesn't have it listed at the moment, but I can tell you I got mine in August last year.
Here are two links on the difference between the two types (though some people reckon they arethe same species)
https://www.flowgrow.de/db/aquaticplants/ceratopteris-cornuta
https://www.flowgrow.de/db/aquaticplants/ceratopteris-thalictroides

I find the water flow keeps the plants in just half the tank. But if it grows too much, just pull some out (checking there are no fish in it) and throw it away. Or even sell it 

This sounds similar to my experience - take a read of this thread https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/general-fishkeeping-advice/possible-changes-to-the-tank-thoughts-welcome/

My x-ray tetras hated lighting too but, after 18 months without it, I decided to try again and persevere with it - for the past ten months or so, they've been fine, particularly in conjunction with live plants. The Aqua-Glo light seems to be more subtle for them / their eyes but enhances the fishes' body and fin colours much more than the Sun-Glo light which is brighter but enhances plant colour better (in my opinion).

I haven't updated the thread with the plants I've had recently but, generally, the alternanthera plants and the hygrophila polysperma are a big "hit" as the fish seem to enjoy playing among these plants and also resting and observing tankmates/me from their various positions between the leaves where they must feel comfortable/safe - in essence, they serve the purpose of being somewhere they can play/relax/observe/hide as they desire and simultaneously build up their confidence but without being too hidden as they would be if behind a rock/decor. So hopefully you'll find the plants you've ordered serve a similar purpose.

Hope that helps.

If the fish are coming out more while the leaves are floating, that is a good sign.

They sounds like indian almond leaves or cattapa leaves. They are actually a good thing in a tank, so when they sink leave them there till they start to fall apart.

2 weeks sounds about right. They do tend to break down after that time and go all horrible. Once you don't need them to screen the light try using one every week, that way there will always be one newish one and one older one in the tank at the same time.

Warning though, they'll turn the water brownish. If it gets too brown, just use a smaller piece of leaf each time.

I only have experience with black neon tetra. I have a group of 10 sharing a tank with lemon tetras, gold stripe cories, Harri & Bertie (BNs). Apparently the black neons are hardier than the neon tetras. I don't know about the flame tetras either, although they do also look like very pretty little fish.
I bought some of the same plants yesterday, as I thought that the dwarf puffers might like them. I haven't planted them yet, and I don't have any previous experience with them. They are in my plant storage tank, waiting for me to decide what to do in the puffer tank. 

Here's a strange thing. Decided to get some glowlight tetras but could only get them from my local garden centre which supposedly uses ro water along with tap water. Garden centre supposedly on same water as me, did a gh and kh test on water fish were in and turns out exactly same as pets at home. Not sure what's going on!!!

Each water company will have multiple sources of water with varying degrees (literally!!) of hardness but by putting the postcode of each into the relevant water companies website you should be able to find out about their tap water hardness.  I can't imagine either using RO routinely except for certain species due to cost... but I'm not sure on the running of fish shops (often thought they should do guided tours for a small fee, I'm sure there would be lots of people who would love to see it).