# Filters for divided betta tank



## Elry

So, as you can see from my sig, I have a divided tank for my three bettas. I only currently have the one filter that came with my tank (a 30 gallon Tetra silent power filter) and I know it's nowhere near enough to filter the whole tank.

hXcChic22 recommended these filters which I can get at my local Petco for about the listed price with an air pump.

Someone on Ultimatebettas.com recommended these which I think can only be ordered off the site. I calculated the costs for a year for three filters and it came to almost two hundred dollars. 

The point of this is thread is to ask if people have experience with either filter and/or both. Or, if neither is very good, if you have any other recommendations.

Tank specs: 
29 gal (I just round up to 30 because I like even numbers >_>;; )
Two dividers
Three bettas
Roughly ten gallons to each betta

I'm sorry if this is still really unclear or anything. I'm just super tired. T_T I had a six hour car trip (that turned to seven hours by stopping for dinner and my mom and dad talking for an hour) and travel makes me tired.


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## emc7

There are 2 ways to deal with divided tank. 

One powered filter that takes from one side of the tank and puts back on the other with flow-through dividers like egg-crate or poret foam. With the foam dividers, the foam itself acts a filter. But I don't see how they clean it without mixing the fish.

Or 3 separate filters, as if it was three tanks. For single fish, you don't need a lot of power. I would do 3 ATI sponge filters like this one http://www.amazon.com/Hydro-II-Sponge-Pro-Filter/dp/B0002ARE34/ref=pd_bxgy_k_text_b with a gang valve and air-pump. After a few years you need to replace the sponge when it starts to fall apart or the air-line tubing when it stiffens, but you don't have any media costs, just electricity. A decent air-pump can work for decades with an occasional new diaphragm. The more similar 'tanks' you are filtering, the more sense sponge filters make. Pick the right air-pump and run all of them off one. No electricity in the tank, no fin-sucking intakes, no hidden failures. Its either bubbling or it isn't. Squeeze it to see if it needs cleaning yet.

The drawbacks are they are ugly and the constant 'blub, blub' of the bubbles and the hum of the pump can be really annoying in a bedroom or workspace.


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## hXcChic22

And don't get me wrong... those ones I suggested are great in my opinion because you can place them so they only disturb the surface and not the whole tank, and you can lessen that even more with floating plants or a silk one placed in front of it. 

But they do make a lot of bubbling noise and there doesn't seem to be a way to quiet it that I've found yet. We have one of those ones emc7 suggested (the sponge) in our feeder tank and it's decently quiet, but the top sticks out of the surface so I don't know how it would be for sound if it were completely submerged. 

I can't deal with water sound while I'm trying to sleep, period, so I don't have to worry about our tanks disturbing my rest. I told my husband that's the one room I refuse to have a tank in.


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## emc7

You can cut the top off the upright tube or take the ring between the filter and the base out. They also make littler ones. IMO sponge filters are about the most cost efficient way to filter multiple tanks, but I don't use any in my bedroom.


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## Fishy Freak

I looked into these for my divided tank...
Sponge Filter


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## hXcChic22

Fishy Freak said:


> I looked into these for my divided tank...
> Sponge Filter


Those ones are nice, too. Had one of those in our butterflyfish tank. It disturbs the surface less than a box-style air filter.


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## lohachata

or...............you could try an undergravel filter...very efficient..no sponges to wring out...no cartridges to change..


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## adamxatomic

Sponge filters would be nice in each section. But they do not provide any chemical filtration.
I have a 10gal triple divided and I use 2 generic aqua tech 5-15 power filters on both sides and have had good results.
I had to cut my hood to fit, but it was a really easy mod.
What type of dividers are you using? Picture?
I'm using a DYI divider that lets a good amount of water flow between it. The only problem is since now that my Bettas can see each other all the time, they have become desensitized.


















Another option would be to extend the intake of your power filter to the far side of your tank using PVC pipe.. But that may be a pain because of the dividers.


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