[evan]

I was thinking about getting my own planted betta dual hex and use like a 30 watt fluorescent daylight bulb in a desk lamp. should i use aquatic soil or laterite? i don't have fluorite and i don't plan on buy a bag for such a small aquarium. i still have some laterite lying around the house. will i get better/quicker plant growth with soil or laterite? plus... what are some really tiny plants i can put in it? i want it "heavily" planted. hehe. this will be cool. :twisted:

 

[Pooky125]

LOL, you really have become a paltned tank fiend. A dual betta hex is 1/6 of a gallon. Which, would be very difficult to control. Laterite and sand I think would work well. Plants include glosso, rotala wallichi, rotala indica, rotala macranda, ludwigia arcuata, riccia, didplis diandra. Good luck with it, its not as easy as it sounds, even if you do have everything it takes.

 

[brandon429]

Lest it can be done!

<---isnt that picture sick, a saltwater betta hex>


The nice thing about the Lee's dual Betta Hex is how one can utilize the divided sides of the tank, alternating a light cycle to achieve pH control in the display side. If I were you, Id use glossostigma, an anubias cutting and some riccia in the front portion and counterlight a hornwort refugium from the rear with a $12 Azoo Palm light from www.aquaticeco.com

 

[brandon429]

here is the setup showing the use of alternating photosynthesis to control pH. The palm light comes on at night, the long blue galaxy lights the corals in the day. The thing about these tiny pico tanks is one can easily overdrive the organisms with lighting. A standard daylight 13watt PC bulb will cause both corals and plants to go into 'high' metabolic mode and suck up everything the can from the water. Lack of success with a planted pico betta hex would most likely be attributed to nutrient exhaustion, so I say stay on those Fe and Mg drops. Oh, and add a guppy or dwarf frog for constant nitrogen.