Will I absolutely need a filter for a planted tank?

So I've been having a 10 gallon aquarium for almost a year now, currently housing a male betta fish. About two months ago I added some organic topsoil(about two inches) to the bottom of the tank and covered it with about half an inch of medium sized gravel and 1 1/2 inch of small sized gravel. The water consistently stays clear despite a relatively small algae bloom. I have an anubias nana plant, four temple compacta plants, an Amazon sword and a moss ball. I recently took out my sponge filter because it was creating too much of a current to my poor betta and most of the time stayed on the other half of the tank away from the current. I've had my betta for about 4 months and quarantined him for a week immediately after getting him. So my question is, will a filter be required in my aquarium given my setup? I just took it out and I'm debating Wether this was a good idea or a bad one. My parameters currently are as follows:
PH: 7.2
Alkalinity: 80 ppm
Total hardness (GH): 150 ppm
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
As I said before, I just took out the filter so these are the results after taking out the filter and doing a 35-40% water change (The top leaves with the light green color of the temple compacta plants are all the new growth)

 

What is your ammonia?
I personally would keep a filter in, their is such a thing as doing filterless but everything I've read up on it is a little complicated, and needs more then just some plants and top soil.

You can use a gang valve to slow the sponge filter's current.

 

Don't know my ammonia The kit I bought didn't have one for ammonia. But thanks for the info. I put the filter in my 20 gallon it's got a 20/30 hob filter but I thought my mollies would benefit from the extra filtration.

I'll probably end up tanking it out again then.

 

You can use a gang valve to slow the sponge filter's current.

Second that. At the very least you should have a sponge filter. Just slow the air flow with a valve from any air connector kit.

 

You can also use something to pinch the hose to lesson the amount of air

 

Don't know my ammonia The kit I bought didn't have one for ammonia. But thanks for the info. I put the filter in my 20 gallon it's got a 20/30 hob filter but I thought my mollies would benefit from the extra filtration.

I'll probably end up tanking it out again then.

You can also baffle a HOB if that is what you want to use to make the current not as strong. There are a lot of ways to do it from half a water bottle to using tights.

I'm guessing you are using stripes then for water testing. I highly recommend the API freshwater liquid water test since the stripes aren't as accurate. I was asking about ammonia because you may not be cycled which would also cause some stress to the fish.

 

I'd keep the sponge filter. Sponge filters by nature cause less current than just about any other type of filter (I'm actually probably going to move to a sponge filter from my HOB filter specifically for that reason), and there are measures you can take to limit the amount of current further if you deem it necessary.

The main danger of having no filtration on a tank is you lose the vast majority of your nitrifying bacteria by removing it. In theory, it's possible to have enough plants to take up the ammonia generated by your fish, but I'm almost positive you would need more than you currently have. I did an experiement recently in my moderately planted tank to see if I could do without biological filtration. It only took 24 hours for my ammonia to go up to 0.25ppm (high enough to stress the fish, not high enough that I felt a need to do an immediate water change), so I turned the filter back on again. I think I'll repeat the experiment in 6 months or so when my aquarium is closer to "jungle status."