

Last but not least comes chemical filtration! The vast majority of fish tank and bowl filters use activated carbon (charcoal), which can bind to dissolved organic matter, preventing it from decaying into ammonia. Plants will also consume nitrate as fertilizer! So you eventually need to remove nitrate in a timely manner through water changes. That said, it’s still not great for their health at high levels. Nitrate is the safest form of nitrogenous waste and is well tolerated by fish up to around 20-40 parts per million. And a second set of bacteria eats that nitrite and converts it into nitrate. See all of those miniature pores in your sponge? Billions of bacteria set up shop there, consuming ammonia and releasing nitrite.

Sponge filters also provide biological filtration by providing a home for beneficial nitrifying bacteria. Mechanical filters are the simplest form since they can’t act on free-floating problem molecules, but they are still essential! Sponge filters provide ample mechanical filtration by physically screening out small particles in the water column. In a larger power filter, the cotton floss would normally keep the water clear. Or keep your fish in a larger aquarium where the extra volume prevents things from getting too foul too quickly. But if you’re missing one of these links, you can always perform water changes more often to compensate. To polish aquarium water, you need to provide mechanical, biological, and chemical water filtration. What’s most important when choosing a sponge filter for most people is selecting one that hits as many of the aquarium filter types as possible. These places are where their favorite food lives: insect larvae. In the wild, bettas can be found in puddles, stagnant ponds, and other bodies of water where the conditions are poor: low dissolved oxygen and high levels of pollutants. In that case, you might try keeping a betta fish ( Betta splendens). These range from increased oxygenation thanks to surface agitation to their ability to break down waste and uneaten food.īut maybe your pet fish are subjected to power outages at times. Small filters are very inexpensive in most cases and provide a ton of benefits. I don’t really recommend keeping fish trapped in a bowl with no filter. Yuck! What Fish Can Live Without a Filter? The water may even begin to stink and grow a thin sheen of decay-causing bacteria. Ammonia, leftover food, and fish waste aren’t being properly processed in a filterless bowl. Without a filter, you’ll see your water quality begin to fall within days after each water change. These models can simultaneously filter the water for impurities and oxygenate the bowl at the same time! Many of the filtration system designs for fish bowls are actually run using an air pump. Absolutely! A good filter adds air to the system as well through increased circulation.
