5.5 Gallon Filter/Skimmer Ideas

[chaoticaquatics]

Currently I have a 5.5 gallon planted tank housing a Betta, a nerite snail, and 3 Neocardinia Shrimp. I have the TopFin BettaFlo 5 filter in my tank currently, but am searching for a replacement as it does not provide enough surface agitation to combat the layer of biofilm growing on the top of the water. And sometimes it makes a weird noise as well.

I'm pretty sure this is normal with planted tanks right? If not, feedback would be appreciated.

I tried to fit in a nano aquarium co-op sponge filter, but it was too large and came up too far out of the water.

Is it worth buying a surface skimmer to take care of biofilm/provide agitation? It would be nice if I could find some sort of HOB filter for this size of tank that could create adequate agitation without blowing my Betta all around.

Any suggestions?

 

[ruud]

Small HOB canister filter, with outlet directed upwards.

 

[chaoticaquatics]

Small HOB canister filter, with outlet directed upwards.

This might be a stupid question, but I thought HOB and canister filters are different? Canisters being the ones that run lily pipes up into the aquarium and HOB sucking water up with a tube connected typically to a small plastic box hanging on the outside of the aquarium?

 

[Fishfur]

Currently I have a 5.5 gallon planted tank housing a Betta, a nerite snail, and 3 Neocardinia Shrimp. I have the TopFin BettaFlo 5 filter in my tank currently, but am searching for a replacement as it does not provide enough surface agitation to combat the layer of biofilm growing on the top of the water. And sometimes it makes a weird noise as well.

I'm pretty sure this is normal with planted tanks right? If not, feedback would be appreciated.

I tried to fit in a nano aquarium co-op sponge filter, but it was too large and came up too far out of the water.

Is it worth buying a surface skimmer to take care of biofilm/provide agitation? It would be nice if I could find some sort of HOB filter for this size of tank that could create adequate agitation without blowing my Betta all around.

Any suggestions?

I’ve had great results from these filters from
Nicrew. I’d go with the 5-10g size.

As rudd said, aim the output straight up and it works quite well without creating a strong current.

https://www.amazon.ca/NICREW-Aquari...564&sprefix=nicrew+,aps,145&sr=8-6&th=1&psc=1

 

[ruud]

This might be a stupid question, but I thought HOB and canister filters are different? Canisters being the ones that run lily pipes up into the aquarium and HOB sucking water up with a tube connected typically to a small plastic box hanging on the outside of the aquarium?

And there are hybrids, which are the ones I'm using.