Betta In Planted 10 Gallon Without Filter? Increase In Maintenance?

[DWC]

I currently house four male bettas each in their own 10 gallon tank which are heavily planted with Java Ferns, Java Moss, a centerpiece Anubias and floating duckweed. The tanks are kept at 78-80F, have LED lighting on a 14hr timer and are filtered with air driven sponge filters. Only tank mates are pond snails that arrived as stowaways with the plants. My current maintenance routine is a weekly 30% water change and a twice monthly "squeezing" out of the filter sponges in the removed water bucket. Water parameters are pH 7.0. Ammonia and Nitrite 0 and end of week nitrate below 5. Minimal gravel and sand substrate and significant driftwood also in tanks.

Recently I lost power for a very short time during the day that made me realize how nice and quiet the den was without the air pump's hum (one Deepwater Tetra runs all the tanks) and all the filters' bubbling. Didn't notice the level of ambient noise until it was gone.

My question is how much more maintenance would I need, i.e. size or frequency of water changes, if I remove the filters? Obviously I could experiment with a tank or two and monitor water parameters but I hoped your experience would negate the need for that.

Thanks for your thoughts.
David

 

[betta fish]

Your tanks sound lovely and so does your maintenance schedule ( would love to see a pic of said tanks and bettas 

) but personally I would leave things as they are, the heaters within the tanks need circulation in order to work efficiently and the plants probably appreciate some too that would be my only thought if you were to remove them, your maintenance could probably just remain the same as you are doing now owing to the amout of live plants taking over the filtration should you remove them.

 

[Akasha72]

I'm inclined to agree. You have the perfect set up and it's not broken so don't try to 'fix' it. If the hum of the air pump bothered you that much you would have noticed long before now. I personally have my air pump running at them moment as I have some baby cories and it's only when I switch it off to do maintenance that I notice it. Once it's been running again for 10 minutes I stop noticing the 'hum'. I actually find that gentle hum relaxing.
 
There are a new breed of air pumps coming out now and from the write ups they are getting quieter so you could possibly do some research and find one with less 'hum'
 
How ever you look at this, the fish need a filter to filter out ammonia and nitrite. The sponge filters work fine for this - I use them myself with my babies and they do a good job. I think you would be treading a fine line with ammonia/nitrite poisoning by switching them off - even if you did a 50% water change daily

 

[Seanthebusdriver]

I purchased the quietest kit I could find and it still drove me mad. In the end I drilled a hole in the wall and put the filtration and air pump in a cupboard in the next room. Bliss, now I just get the sound of bubbles popping on the surface of the water.

 

[NickAu]

Personally I think 14 hours of light is way too much.

 

[HarpyFishLover]

I usually turn mine off of the nightlight at 7:30 AM, and keep it off, since it is next to a window, and then turn it on at about 8:30 AM. Then I turn it onto the nightlight at about 5:30 PM. It seems to work fine.

 

[Byron]

I generally agree with what other members have suggested concerning the filters/removal, though for slightly different reasons perhaps.  I did run a 10g planted tank, with "nano" type fish, without a filter for over a year.  I had no problems, but I must say that when I decided to move the tank and insert a single sponge filter, the water clarity seemed to improve--though admittedly that may have been either psychological thinking on my part, or more likely somewhat due to the fact that I moved this "experimental" tank away from the window (which had been the only light source, another aspect of this experiment) and the water tends to look less clear in front of a bright window.  Anyway, the point is that as far as the tank's biology goes, you can easily do without a filter with live plants and few fish, and one Betta in a 10g is a very low bioload.
 
Having said that, there is one advantage to a sponge filter, and that is some water movement.  And the heater aspect factors into this, plus the fact that one sedate Betta will tend to create much less water movement that would the 25-30 fish in my experimental 10g tank.  So with the idea that you retain the sponge filters, i may have some help with respect to a quiet air pump.
 
I have a fish room, dedicated to my seven tanks, and three (a 10g, 20g and 29g) have sponge filters connected to a single air pump.  My former pump was quite noticeable, and after several years it became much moreso which told me it was likely not long for this world so I bought another.  This was about a year ago, and I purchased a Fusion Model 400.  This is without question the most silent air pump that I have ever had, in over 25 years.  Here's a link to an American source, Fosters&Smith.  These pumps are very inexpensive and so far mine has worked without hitch.
http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=19779
 
Byron.

 

[DWC]

Thank you all for your input. I will probably keep the sponge filters under the rule that if it isn't broken, don't fix it. It isn't the annoyance of the ambient back ground noise that caused my question but rather the serenity of the silence when the power went off. True silence is such a rarity in today's mechanical world that when the power went off, the quiet was dramatic, similar to the utter blackness of night in the deep woods, away from the lights of suburbia and the city.

Concerning my lights, they are Marineland LED's that sit on glass covers and don't seem especially bright. Since I am liable to view the tanks at anytime from 8am to 10pm, that is what I have the timer set for. The absence of algae in the water column and little on the back glass which I don't scrape either speaks to the effectiveness of my plants to compete for the low bioload from my Betta, or to the effectiveness of the pond snails which share the tanks, or maybe my lack of over feeding, or perhaps all three. The Java ferns are lush and when they ned to be thinned it is reason for another tank, or two. The Java Moss I thin and discard, it can grow rampant over the ferns and Anubias, and duckweed is harvested nearly weekly, excessive growth seemingly it's role in life.

Thanks again,
David