Is a filter needed?

[etanico]

I'm planning on buying this tank from Walmart: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...ct_id=12177653

It comes with a filter, but many of the reviews say that the current is too strong for a Betta. My Betta would be living on his own in this tank (no other fish, at all), so do I really need a filter?

[BettaxFishxCrazy]

I don't use any of my filters because I have smaller tanks (2.5Gs). If you want to do 100% water changes once a week than you don't need the filter. If you used the filter and cycled it (there's a thread on how to cycle on here) than you wouldn't have to do any 100% water changes, just 30% or 50% every so often. If you're a really busy person and you don't have time to do the 100%, I would use the filter and cycle the tank. Cycling takes a couple weeks, but there are things that you can put in the tank to hurry it along. You can put pantyhose or a sponge to fit over the filter to calm the current down.

[1fish2fish]

you can easily buffer that filter, unless your going to do 100% waterchanges every week i highly suggest you cycle

[Kestra]

I have decided to use filtered tanks for the reasons you stated - I'm very busy and only have time to do water changes once a week. So, I got a 5g "corner" Eclipse for my betta. It's fully cycled and Bobby is doing fine, but the water current created by the filter return is too strong in places. Any ideas how I could deflect it?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Kes

[BettaxFishxCrazy]

You can put pantyhose or a sponge to fit over it to calm the current down.

[AaronCombs]

I use sponges... I've used some decor that suctioned cupped to the wall and took the impact of the current before, but I didn't leave it up long, didn't like the look.

[Kestra]

I've already got a sponge on the intake to keep the baby shrimp and snails from being sucked in, but it doesn't really seem to make much difference - other than it looks a lot better than the hose knee-hi that I had on there before. However, I am concerned about damaging the pump by restricting the water flow that way. I was thinking more in terms of something to deflect the flow.

I have to admit, however, that Bobby seems to be getting around just fine today. He is happily playing the Mighty Hunter and sneaking through the plants to terrorize the smaller red cherry shrimp. It seems the only place he runs into trouble is directly under the "waterfall" out of the filter, so maybe this is a non-issue.

I was just hoping to maybe deflect the current against a wall or something and decrease the surface ripple without giving up the benefits of good filtration.

Kes

[etanico]

What does it mean to "cycle?"