placing filter for the 5 gallon planted tank

[nitin1986]

Hi,
Having African Cichlid tank is very exciting. Those are auratus cichlids 13 of them, full playful mood, very active. every time some or the other chases some other, all less than or equal to an inch in length. I have two plants in this five gallon tank. It is obvious that i have to upsize my tank with at least 30 gallon..
The plants which I have are one amazon sword and another one is cabomba. well the substrate is the river sand, and the water is borewell water(ground water.) water change every 20 days 30% water.
Here the fishes are biting the cabomba plant. how do i save that plant from getting bitten by the fishes..
The main purpose of starting this thread is, the filter. Its sobo wp1000f its an internal filter. Ii bought it when I started the auarium(aug2017). It slowly stopped throwing air bubbles along with the water.. I thought that i have to rinse the filter sponge, but was really thinking about the good bacteria which was thriving in it. I had to let it run as it is even though there was no surface agetation, no airbubbles .. but the filter was working, i could feel the flo of the water from the outlet of the filter.
Recently, I felt that I need to clean it once so I took some water from the aquarium and removed the fiter and squeezed the filter sponge generously. and then kept back and ran the filter. It worked fine for a day then the same old story. No surface agetation, no airbubbles .. but the filter was working. I found out that the filter sponge is obstructing the intake of the water , I inserted a wooden tooth pick in the filter to hold the filter sponge to clog the water flow. Now its running excellent.. sad part is that the fishes are hiding in their places to avoid the force that the filter creating.
if I dont run the filter, the NH spikes. if filter runs, fishes hide...
Any ideal plan to place the filter and the pressure of the flow also dos'nt disturbs the fishes. can i shut down the filter for few hours (in the morning)
do you guys recommend to remove the cabomba as it is nbbed by the fishes?

 

[ZxC]

I'm sure you've been told this before, those fish have no place in a 5 gallon tank, especially when you only do a 30% water change every 20 days.

You will have to keep the filter running while you wait to upgrade tanks, and if the flow is too much you'l have to find a way to divert the flow, reduce it or alter it in a way where the fish aren't being blown around. As to how, I would have to get my hands on it in real life, so it's up to you to find a way....

Africans are better suited in tank 50+ gallons not 30