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hello. i'm new to plants and i've learned lots about lighting but i don't know what to do about air. I have a newt/betta tank with 5 gallons of water. the water is filtered with an underwater sting-ray filter.
there is no air pump and i do not want to get a co2 system. I have two plants already in quarantine. do i need to have an air stone?
I also have a 5 gallon fish tank with air and major filtration. are my plants better in there?
another quick question I have is: how long do I need to quarantine my plants to guard against snails?

I do not know that filter, how does it work. The tank/plants would benifit from air and the water movement.
You would have to be very selective and limited to the plants you can grow in a small tank. If you were an experienced plant grower it would be a lot easer.
Not knowing what plants you can get it would be hard to suggest any for you.

I would post another topic asking for any photos of a 5gal planted tank

Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
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[link=Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tanks]http://photobucket.com/albums/b209/keithgh/Betta%20desktop%20tank/" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

Keith

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Airstones are usually detrimental to planted tanks or at least not helpful. Plants need co2 to grow and airstones lower co2 along with adding more oxygen. If you don't run an airstone there will be more co2 in the water for the plants to use. Light would be more of a deciding factor on where the plants would survive best but you didn't say how much light you have. You will have to watch the size your plants get since many will outgrow your tanks very quickly and check what light level your plants need.
Plants don't really need quarantined. You could wait several weeks watching for snails but you still might not notice them if they came in as eggs and just hatched and in the meantime your plants might suffer since most people don't run a quarantine tank with tons of light or co2 like their main tanks. Usually just rinsing the plants and removing any dead leaves is enough but if you want to take more precautions against snails some people dip them in very diluted bleach, alum, or potassium permanganate to kill any snails and eggs.

Where do you have the filter positioned? Is it at the top of the tank so that the flow ripples the surface? A little water movement will help a bit, and an airstone isn't really necessary. (and Keithgh, this is the filter: http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW/F28/Class/Fish+Supplies+Power+Filters/T1/F26CA+0171+1350/EDP/47755/Itemdy00.aspx, just a small submersible power filter with a cool looking housing. It uses sponges on the intake, and has 2 little carbon/zeolite cartriges. I just started one on my own 5 gal., and it seems to work well.)
As for quarrantining the plants, I usually do for up to a month, simply because I absolutely hate snails. The plants probably aren't going to carry any diseases, but they may carry snail eggs, and once you have snails, it's very difficult to get rid of them. Rinse each plant under running water when you get them, and again before you put them in their final home, and check each leaf for little clear jelly-like masses of snail eggs. You can scrape them off with a fingernail.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Actually illustrae, plants can carry pests, parasites, and diseases into your aquarium, so it is always a good idea to QT anything you bring home from the store. Here is a pretty good article that covers most every thing I can think of on the topic of introducing aquatic plants... [link=http://www.fishinthe.net/html/section-viewarticle-16.html]http://www.fishinthe.net/html/section-viewarticle-16.html" style="COLOR: #9B30FF[/link]

marsha_mush, it's not a good idea to go with an airstone in any tank that a Betta lives in, they need calm water surfaces for their surface breathing. In a small tank you need to first make sure you have the light requirements met for the plants you've chosen, find a decent fertilizer that's not gonna kill your Betta (or newt), and give your plants a good substrate to grab into. Depending on the plants you've chosen, once they are established you may find you don't need to worry about adding extra CO2, or that you won't need to worry about it for a long time.

Happy reading and good luck!
L.

An airstone definitely won't create enough current to upset a betta. Bettas can learn to swim. I have one in a 29g with probably 8times the tanks volume per hour in water movement and he swims all over the place. Maybe not as fast as my yoyos but he keeps up with everyone. At first all he did was wiggle is pectoral fins and couldn't get anywhere but he got the hang of it and now uses his whole tail and body. Bettas are just kept in such small containers they never learn how to swim but more how to hover about in one spot and move 1 or 2" at the most. It took him a week to stop hiding and learn how to move around. Now he'd probably never be happy in a little container again. You'd be surprised how fast they can swim and how much current he can handle when he wants to get right up next to the filters.

thank guys, wow what a great help everyones been.
I guess I don't need an airstone, it does make sense that it'll lower the co2. and i'm with you illustrae, pesty pond snails suck. that's the only real reason i'm quarantining them. however it is curious how disease can be introduced as well. a quick note here: I actually rinsed them is a weak bleach solution before quarantining them and two weeks later guess what...snails!. so i did it again with a much stronger solution. no snails yet but some weak lookin' plants for a few days I also agree with sham 'bout an airstone bothering a betta, betta's can swim just fine. I noticed however if my betta gets too close to the filter output the current will tilt him over, with his tall fins and all; which is probably why they don't like current. although my silly betta keeps returning and even cirles it. I swear he's playing with it. though my little guy is quite the character