New to gardening (both indoor and outdoor LOL!)

Hi all! I am new to gardening, both indoor plants and outdoor plants. Currently, since it is almost December already and I live in the state of Pennsylvania, I am trying my hand at indoor planting for the first time in my life! LOL! I have done *some* outdoor planting, but, indoor is a new playing field for me. I have LOTS of questions, though, I wont ask them all in this thread lol. Anyway, here we go.. lol..

1) I have read much about "heat mats", including what is mentioned on this site that I had stumbled across last night. I am trying my hand right now at growing an amaryllis from a bulb I bought at American Meadow website. It says to put bottom heat on it, and that most people just set it on a radiator in front of a window. Well, I dont have a radiator lol. Right now, I have it sitting on my windowsill, which is a few feet above our heater. Our windows can be pretty drafty, especially our living room window because it is so big, but it is the only window sill that was wide enough for me to set the pot on. Overall, it seems to be doing ok, but I am wondering if there is something more I could do for it to provide it some bottom heat other than what it is getting currently. Any tips on how I can try to apply bottom heat to it, without purchasing a heat mat? I have attached a picture of the amaryllis. This is how much it has grown so far. I planted the bulb roughly 2 weeks ago. I know there is a forum here for amaryllis plants, but, since I am not a paid subscriber (yet!!), I am not able to really benefit from that forum just yet I dont think.

2) I have seen some pictures on here of other peoples plants sitting inside a large fish tank. What exactly does this do to help the plants, other than the lighting?

Thats all the questions I'll ask for now (mainly cuz its all I can think of off the top of my head at 3:30 in the morning LOL!)

Thank you all for any help/advice you can lend me!!!

I have grown these several times just fine in the past without any bottom heat, whatsoever, so yours should be fine too. After the plant blooms and the flowers die back, treat as house plant rest of winter, put outside in summer, (feed & water etc) around August or so stop watering and let it die back. Don't cut off the leaves until they turn completely brown, they help the bulb with the next seasons flowers. Let the bulb rest awhile, Around November or so Repot, water and grow again. If you keep this up, the bulb will get bigger every year and you will get more flower stalks. The pot should not be very much larger around than the bulb

ok awesome, thanks! So putting it near a drafty window without any bottom heat wont harm it then? Wow. :) I was worried about the draft that came in from the window lol. Thank you for your suggestions!!!

I don't think it'll hurt anything, but I am pretty relaxed and casual about these things so maybe a person that is pickier may have a different opinion. Also as it grows taller, it will bend toward the light so you might want to turn the pot occasionally.

yeah i have been turning it about every day or every other day because even though its still small right now, im noticing a slight bend. It seems to be doing fairly well so far, even if its sitting on a drafty window ledge, though, i'm wondering if the draft may be slowing its growth some. It says its supposed to take 6-8 weeks to bloom. I've had it in the pot for about 3 weeks now. I guess at the very least, it just wont have flowers on it by xmas like I hoped lol. It does however have some new leaves emerging! So cant wait till it blooms! Its going to be so pretty!