Built-In Filter - Good? 7gal

[j_diaz01]

Hello!

I just recently purchased an Aqua Japan All-in-one 7gal (see attached photo) to make a tank for a betta on my desk.

The LFS helped me purchase a pump that fits inside nicely, and I also have a heater in there which is working well to keep constant temp. The LFS helped me to pick out some live plants and everything is going well.
1. Set up tank, let it run for a day with the heater going.
2. Then I planted it (with rec's from LFS). Added in some seeded media from the LFS they sold + some beneficial bacteria (Dr. Tims) waited another day.
3. Added my betta yesterday.

I have never used the all-in-one filters before and wanted to see if I should just use the recommended sponge + bio media combo that they sent or if I should add anything or use something different? The sponge for mechanical filtration is huge, so looks great. There is room to add more in the bio media filter area or to tweak. Just dont have much experience with these filters and want to see if I am utilizing it effectively.

Any tips would be helpful! Thank you!

 

[Aiken Drum]

Looks a nice setup.

If all you are keeping in there is a betta then what you have got in there should be more than sufficient. You could add some more biomedia if you wanted or swap it for something like matrix, but if its established media i wouldn't do that now. There is some space in there for a bag of carbon should you need it.

You want your flow order to be mechanical > biological > chemical.

Can that last chamber hold your heater so its out of view?

 

[j_diaz01]

Yes! The last chamber holds my heater perfectly out of sight which is great.

And thank you for the tips for order. Havent heard of Matrix but will look it up. Thinking I may add a snail.

 

[Aiken Drum]

If all you are planning is a betta and a snail then you dont need to add any more media. Ive got a small tank for QT purposes, with a filter that holds a fraction of the media that you have, and it will support single fish larger than a betta just fine.

 

[ColdKoi]

Yea that’s definitely more than enough media for what you want to do. That looks like the same, if not more than what I’ve got in my 29g tank that’s housing close to 20 comet goldfish!

Of course it doesn’t hurt to play around with it and try to improve water quality and maintenance requirements