Hi Kara,
I think since it's the holidays and everyone is so busy this time of year it may be a few days before you get any response or tips regarding growing African Violets but hopefully someone will pop in soon.
I used to grow AV's and other Gesneriads and I grew a few in the self watering pots and others in small plastic pots; with some I used wicks and others I didn't. It's been awhile so I can't really say if one method worked better for my conditions than another. While the more professional folks who grow African Violets for show invest in the large plant stands with lights, some folks just will just grow in bright windowsills or perhaps only have one grow light for a couple of plants. I didn't want to invest a lot of money in lights/equipment since my attention span is that of a gnat anymore so I purchased two of those metal shelves from Wal-Mart and also bought lights at the same time and just rigged them to the stands which worked well for me. These aren't the greatest photos and they are from about 7 or 8 years ago when I grew Gesneriads but you can see one of the plant stands I rigged with lights. Some plants I'd have in plastic pots with wicks out the drainage hole and then I'd sit the pot into another container with a little water.
