Aquarium Pump

Most internal filters come with a hose that introduces water (fine bubbles) into the aquarium and this way the necessity for an air pump decreases.

Without a filter, the aquarium pump is the only thing that will keep the fish alive for any length of time without the necessity of changing the water daily.

If you are not in a position to buy a mechanical filter, you can create your own biological filter by using an air pump and a sponge. The sponge will be kept inside the fish tank and will serve as a “house” for bacteria..

Biological filtering

You can achieve biological filtering through the ammonia-consuming bacteria and it is based on breeding this type of bacteria to filter the water.

There are some types of bacteria that progressively divide the ammonia into its' less toxic components, nitrates and nitrates.

These components are considered to be non-toxic and you can find plenty of them in nature. In presence of ammonia and oxygen they tend to multiply. Bacteria attack the aquarium, rocks, sand and even the aquarium’s decorations.

Remember that we haven't mentioned anything about mechanical filtering because this one requires just a surface on which ammonia can settle and well oxygenated water.

If you decide to limit the number of fish due to the biological filtering capacity you won’t need a mechanical filter.

In recent years, a large variety of new biological filters have appeared. They can increase the bacteria colonies’ capacity to filter the aquarium water. Actually these filters offer a bigger surface for the bacteria colonies to breed and provide a bigger amount of oxygen in the water.

Physical filtering

Ammonia comes straight from fish’ branchies, from their excrement and also from their food. If we are able to mechanically filter the solid excrement and their food remains before they decompose we can already be talking about a major advantage.

Mechanical filtering collects the excrement and food remains from the aquarium but cannot handle the ammonia problem.

A regular mechanical filter cannot avert both the algae and the small bacteria from the water nor the solid remains grasped by gravel, plants or even decorations. To avert these solid remains from all areas of the aquariums it is necessary that we use different methods.

One of the easiest is vacuuming the sands/gravels surface with a hose when you do your periodical change of water. Exceptions in this case are the marine aquariums that have living substratum.

You can choose to install circular aquarium pumps also known as wave generators which improve the chances of collecting the remains in the mechanical filter. A filter with a small filtering port collects small parts but it can also clog easily, so the rule in this situation is that the bigger the filtering port is the harder it is to clog.

As the filter gets dirtier it is less likely to be able to vacuum any large particles. When this happens, you know you need to clean your filter.

Bear in mind that a good mechanical filter is one that can retain enough solid elements that it can maintain clear water without clogging too often.