betta tank

Larry Blanchard wrote:

while I might not need the filtering ability, I would need
something to circulate the water, and a filter was as good
a way as any.

There are a couple makes of small, submersible filters that you could
probably hide in a tank pretty well. I'm using a Duetto DJ50 in my 10
gallon betta tank, and I think Fluval makes something similar as well.

The same person informed me I'd have to get a CO2 generator or my
plants would die.

As Billy noted, that's quite incorrect. A planted tank can do quite
well without supplemental CO2. My heavily planted 20 gallon used to
have CO2 injection, and it grew like mad. However, I got tired of
replacing yeast bottles, and so I haven't had CO2 running since
January. While not quite as fast growing, the tank is still doing
*very* well. Yesterday I removed a couple of armloads of plant
trimmings.

Much more important than CO2, in my opinion, is light. A standard
lighted hood for a ten gallon may not provide enough light - consider a
custom hood (if you're handy, you can build one yourself for about $50)
or using two regular light strips on the tank.

Of course, he also told me the plants I wanted wouldn't grow in our
7.0-7.8 PH water, but the atlas I've got gives allowable PH range and
all but one plant (Java Fern) would tolerate at least up to 7.5.

My water here is about 7.6 pH, and I've grown a wide variety of plants
with considerable success.

--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com