*What’s your favorite way to baffle a filter?* Comment below to share your experiences, and subscribe if you want to see more this videos like this! goo.gl/4q2idY
I put a small canister filter on a 7 gallon cube. I was only able to use half the spray bar and the current was extreme. I took a dremel tool and tripled the size of the spray holes, then pointed it towards the glass as you suggested. Making the holes bigger really helped.
The water bottle method just helped me in a pinch. My guppy just gave birth to 15 fry and they were all in one corner because they couldn’t swim around and now they’re exploring the tank. Thanks so much ! :)
Thank you sooooo much for explaining the “flow” switch. My husband and I both searched and searched and could not find any answers. You were my second video to try. You sure helped. Thank you.
Actually we have a small ten gallon tank. We have tetra fish. We have been dealing with murky water. So we cleaned it several times this last time I left out the cave and fake plants, low water pressure and used purified water. So far so good. Just wondered why it got murky so quick the first four times with rocks in.
@@jeaninegleija9756 Hmm, could be sediment from the rocks, could be a bacterial bloom if it's a brand new tank... Check out this video for some ideas (I think you only have to listen to the first 20 minutes to get all the best tips): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KfRyEyTvqco.html
Oh.my.goodness!! Thank you so much for making this video. I’ve been totally overwhelmed with how much there is to know about setting up a tank- and couldn’t figure out why my betta wasn’t coming up to the top of my new tank until watching your video. I had a hunch it was the flow of the filter that was stressing him out, so just like your video suggested, I cut a sponge and attached it to where the water was coming out (whatever the name of that is 🤓) and TaDa(!!) little betta came right up to the top of the tank to explore! Thank you, thank you again for making this awesome video, I’m subscribing!! ♥️
OMG....The soap dish with suction cups is brillant......I am modifying my Imagitarium 6.8 gallon tank by removing the back filtration system (just did it on a new one for my tetras, wish I could add pics) for my new Betta and I love this idea. I want a really clean tank, but don't want to stress out my new baby. I am now a new follower go girl.
This was SUPER helpful, thanks for making this! My Betta was getting completely blown around by my hang-on-back filter, so I've had to resort to turning off the filter for a little while just to keep my poor baby from getting too stressed out (don't worry he's in a 7 gallon tank and he's got it all to himself, plus I'm doing plenty of water changes, so he was fine just while I was sorting out the filter.) The sponge is working great so far, although I think the soap dish is a fantastic idea for the future!
Hi! Thanks so much for all of your videos. Sorry this is a bit long...I recently took over caring for my landlady’s betta when I saw how terrible the tank conditions were. I had some experience w fish, but never w bettas. I’ve gone through two tanks and now have her in a great one (1.5 gallon) with a filter and a decent heater. I took over the care when the poor baby had “popeye.” I followed several of your steps and she seemed to recover completely. Water parameters are good, heat is stable but now fin rot has set in. It’s killing me seeing her deteriorate after she’s come such a long way. I’m treating w aquarium salt, as it’s just hit her fins, not her body but realizing the filter flow is too strong. Hoping that will help when I can either hack this or look for an filter sponge. You’re a lifesaver! I just hope this little baby makes it! 😢🥰
These are all some great options. I’ve personally used the pre filter sponge as well as the output sponge. Just depends on what exactly you’re trying to accomplish. If you’re baffling both then you might as well just get a sponge filter and ditch the HOB in that case.
Do you have any recs for affordable ones? I have a 20g community tank that came with a 30g HOB filter. It was fine for my swordtails but I had to put them in fish jail (15g) since they bullied everyone else, and my ram cichlids don't like the high flow. I've been wrapping the input with filter floss, but I need something a little better lol
Fantastic as always!!! TRA-LA-LA!!! This is a common issue for lots of people, myself included. Great tips, especially the soapdish idea! Congrats on the 1K, it looks great on you :)
Thank you! I had to replace the filter unexpectedly and this new filter was way too strong. Until i can get a sponge, i MacGyver'd a water bottle, and it works! 👍
Thanks for the tips!! I did the sponge idea and stuck some in my outflow and it worked perfectly!! I dunno why I never thought of that! I can tell my betta became much more comfortable very quickly! Before he would stay in that one dead flow zone and now since the current is much kinder, he swims all over happily again! Thank you!!!!!
Thank you so much! People like you in the #fishtube community have been so encouraging and supportive. Hope I can pay it forward to other new creators. :)
I ended up doing the water bottle method since I’m still tweaking my tank anyways. Helped a ton and now my betta isn’t being pushed to the bottom by the strong current. It was funny watching him flair up at the water bottle at first inspection as well.
So i decided to start a cherry shrimp tank and see if im lucky enough to witness their incredible breeding cycle and.. at first, things were.. normal, unitl i realized the filter was not even making ripples or any bubbles or anything, it was like i didnt even have one. So i opened it up and i found a little human hair, a long one, clogging the motor! I was very surprised. I cleaned it up and then the filter became so much faster, it blew my difforma plant away and cut a baby plant that was growing on it. The shrimps had to hide under some rocks and grab onto them so they werent swooshed away by the current. My baby guppies and shrimp were shocked inside the floating breeder box, battling the waves. I clogged it,its perfect now. You just saved my cherry shrimp tank! Thank you so much!
Meeran Khan i used an aquarium sponge for my filter it works like a dream don’t use dish sponges as sometimes they cary soaps and detergents as they can be super toxic.
Our Top Fin 10 power filter was too strong for our Betta and shrimp in our little 5 gal tank. My husband and I used a plastic mesh soap saver (the ones you buy to put your bar of soap on). We replaced the metal hooks on 2 small suction cups with stainless 1/16" wire that extended out 2 1/2 " after wrapping it around the suction cup end . With the 2 1/2 " extended wire, we poked it through the middle of the soap saver to support it like a shelf. Stuck suction cups to back glass wall of tank. Works soooo great. Diverted water and no crazy current anymore. Happy tank!
Omg!!! This was so helpful!!! I just got two female bettas (they do get along so far) but they were staying really low to the floor and hiding. I know my filter flow is pretty high, but this video saved me!!!
Oh my goodness I’m trying this tomorrow!!! U have a new subscriber now. My poor beta couldn’t handle it and I was so worried and was getting ready to buy a new filter!! Thank u so much.
Your video helped. I have an Aqueon Quiet Flow 10 for my betta tank. The current was too much (although I did wonder if he liked it). I got a pre-filter sponge, cut it along the long side so it opens up. I then "clamped" it over the top of the bio media sponge and the bottom of the filter. No ties or strings. It looks good too. It redirected the current to the back wall of the aquarium. It did push one of my silk plants forward, but it's much better than having his food spin around everywhere. Thanks for the ideas!
Thank you so much for this! I have a 29 gallon tank and my filter is not adjustable and is super high flow, and now I will try these thank you so much!!!
Just finding this and I'm so glad I did. I used the water bottle method on my 5.5 gallon Betta tank I had tried EVERYTHING, I was about to switch to a sponge filter or at least something with lower flow even the lowest setting was making it hard for him to swim. The water current now disperses the water to the sides of the tank and he can just sit in the middle of the tank completely still thank you so much!!!!!!
Thank you SO much! Our Axolotl is arriving in a few days and I have been worried about the current in the tank. Plus the water output is a little loud. These are fantastic tips and so easy to try. I definitely plan to check out your other videos!
OMG u might have just saved my gf Xmas presents life! I bought her 3 glofish and I haven’t had a tank since I was a kid. I haven’t been changing the water much and last time I did I didn’t put the bacterial liquid in. The yellow one “Sunny” got stuck behind the filter and I rescued him. My girl researched it and it’s cuz he’s sick and has no strength. It happened again so I turned everything off, took everything out, pumped half the tank and refilled w water that has bacterial stuff in it. I also gave them a couple hours with the filter off. There’s no adjusting flow. He seemed to be doing better but seemed to be swimming away from filter too much. I googled a solution and your video popped up and my solution was to put a hospital face mask around the back and bottom because you said some ppl clog the filter with panty hose and stuff. It’s almost 4:30 in the morning and I’m watching and hoping the filter doesn’t burn out cuz then I gotta rush to the store in the morning. I hope this works and he recovers cuz I’m the one feeding them and am attached, especially after saving his life. Thank you 🙏 please pray for our fish 🐠 Sunny, Blueberry (I call him blue balls an she hates it) and Sprinkles. 🥺
My kids are just getting into fishkeeping and Captain Underpants! We're into nano-fish and I'm just cycling my tank before the fish arrive (by post) in about a week. I may have to delay the delivery as the tank isn't ready yet. Just watched one of you videos on cycling but I don't have the benefit of friends with old filters - so it may take a while. I can't decide if the cloudy water is because of bacteria bloom or an ammonia spike. When we measured it two days ago (API test kit) then we had 0.25ppm ammonia but no nitrites or nitrates. Will test it again in a day or so. I'm learning about plants but we only have a nano-tank (5 G) for starters. We're gonna need a bigger tank! We've got seven fish on order - one of each of the following: betta male, platy, rasbora, sword tail, cichlid, gourami and a guppy. I've just heard you say that it's a bad idea to have just one of each, so I'll search out your video on why that is. This can be an all-consuming hobby for the beginner!
Thank you so much for this video and examples, had a nozzle flow and attached a sponge at the end of the nozzle with a rubber band, turned on my filter and my betta was just fine!!! Alpt better when I first put him in and he was getting whipped everywhere! Thank you!!!
I use an internal filter (it kinda looks like a small powerhead with a compartment for the filter foam is located) with a surface agitator. I block the outflow of the powerhead and have all the water redirected to the surface agitator pipe and it creates a lot of surface movement but a really gentle flow which I find great for bettas.
Thank you so much! I never thought about using a soap dish! Just got a new beta fish and I think the filter that came with my tank is still to strong for it on low. Loved this video!
So my filter has a huge output so what I did is I got a sponge clothe and superglued it to the waterfall output so the water gently flows through the clothe and into the tank
Thank you!!! My guppy had babies and i had to get a little temporary tank for them and the output flow is INTENSE. turned it all the way down and it still pumps out like crazy, I was looking for tips and this perfect :)
Love her vids...as a newbie who just bought a fluval flex 15 and I was worried about too much flow because I want a giant betta. These hacks give me great ideas
I just purchased some flow diffusers/baffles on Etsy....going to give them a try on my (2) aqua clear 110's. They kind of work like the soap dish but actually stay in place. (small soap dishes didnt work because heavy flow kept knocking them off!) I also put pre filters on the intake tubes, and really stuffed my filter tight with media. Fingers crossed!
omg, a 5 minute easy fix!! I have a 5 gallon fluval with the built in filter and outflow spout and HATED the look of a big, black sponge over it...watched your video and BAM, quickly removed the pump and drilled some holes into the plastic tube - voila - happy days and less agitated tank. Now i feel like i can look for a betta. Thanks again...oh hey, have you ever had to program a light timer? Specifically a Nicrew? I've attempted to figure it out with the instructions; watched 3 RU-vidrs and STILL can't seem to figure it out. I'm going to look through your vids now lol.
Vancouver Island here, Keep doing what your doing! I used a combination to slow the flow, but I think Im going to try to get that soap dispenser trick! I woke up to my beloved apple snail spinning in a jetty, and shes a big one too. Shes doing much better. First night in a big solo tank did not go well for her. Shes back to exploring.
Hi i have 2 bettas each in 10 gallon tanks and one way i found that helps with a strong filter current is placing a betta leaf hammock right under the filters outflow. Ive already tried the bottle method and sponges to block the outflow but none have worked as good as the leaf. Also i still get movement on the waters surface so i dont have to worry about biofilm forming. Hope this helps someone😀
Thank You for all your help! I appreciate & love your videos. You have been so very helpful. I watched a ton of your videos before I even bought my first fish tank which was a back to the roots. I then decided I needed a bigger tank & bought a 10 gallon where I moved my Beta too. I also bought 6 Neon Tetras & 6 Endler's over time. Everyone seems to be happy. =D
hi, i just wanted to let you know my super strong filter was stressing my betta fish out and stressing me out as well.. i can’t afford a nice huge fancy tank or perfect filter for my water baby but thankfully i came across this video and it totally helped. i used a plastic bottle on the output of the filter and it’s working great!! :) thanks for all the information.
What I learned, input blocking is bad as it wears out the filter mechanism a lot more than putting a filter on the output. Always find a way to slow down the output instead. I took out my old filter that was part of my tank when I bought it (the filter wasn't doing a good job of filtering) I baffle HoBs by cutting the large plastic soda bottle..... not the best looking thing, but it is cheap and effective For nozzle output filters, I usually buy a sponge-filter, cut it into size, cut an x shape (but not fully cut through the sponge) place it onto the nozzle, and zip tie the thing. My current internal filter uses a nozzle and is slated for 15 gallons, (I have a smaller 5 gallon and didn't like the design of a few filters that were in that range) even at the lowest setting it was pushing my betta and he would stay on a specific corner. This method that I used allowed me to keep the flow wide open, but the flow that goes out into the tank is significantly baffled to the point my betta isn't swimming around frantically. Since my sponge is already filtering, I don't have to worry as much about my output sponge taking in all the gunk and clogging.
I tried the pre-filter sponge method, which did work, but as you mentioned, it may burn out your filter's motor. Mine was certainly taxed and running hot, so I stopped using that method. I'll be trying some of the other methods you mentioned here for my poor platies getting pummeled by the current. Thank you!
This video was sooo helpful!!! I did the bottle hack but i also burned little holes with a needle in the bottom of the bottlw so that it worked better and was smoother flow
Thanks for all the info! You're doing a great thing here! Wish more people would see this, especially those who keep the bettas in a jar or huge streaming
I just found this video now, after getting two 5 gallon kits from the pet store. The filters were HUGE like bigger than my 20 gallon…. And my poor bettas did not enjoy it. I tried the water bottle method and the first word out of my mouth was literally “wow!” There was an instant change in flow and now both bettas are very happy :)
Im not sure if you still monitor the comments, but my Betta is defying most betta behavior. He seems to prefer tank water current, and is food obsessed to the point of staying by the feeding hole in the tank top.
I have a Fluval 30 filter for my axolotl! I keep it on the lowest flow and I made a DIY water bottle baffle! I put a plant right in front of the outflow also. It keeps the flow very gentle and works great for axolotls!
Ok so I was in pinch with my angle fish fry that are being parent raised and they decided to put the fry on a leaf right below the filter output so basically blowing them around the tank and the plastic water bottle trick worked really well thank you thank you
This is great! I'm getting dwarf frogs and they are weak swimmers. My danios are loving the current but it's a tad too strong for the future frogs. Also this will be perfect for my QT as the spare filter I have is very strong and my QT is 11L.
Can I ask if tying air tube safe to reduce air flow? It serves for its purpose(it reduces the air flow) bit is it safe? Check valve isn't available in local pet store in my area and shipping fee is expensive.
Not sure if you still respond but what kind of sponge would be used for blocking the flow? Don’t normal sponges fall apart after being in wet for a certain time?
