AQUANEAT Aquarium Bio Sponge Filter Breeding Fry Betta Shrimp Nano Fish Tank, 3pcs (Large up to 60Gal)

First time using sponge filters but won’t be my last! Love these and for the price is perfect for my 10 gallon tank. I like this 3 pack as I use 2 of these small ones in my tank so I can alternate them, having a spare is always handy to have especially if you’re just starting a new tank. My advice though, is to alternate them a week apart or so when cleaning them, and just use the old tank water not tap water that will kill your beneficial bacteria, and can mess with your cycle. You tube have loads of videos on this if you’re new to the hobby! Keeping a spare for emergencies is always great though.

First, it is a good idea to mod these to use an internal air stone. Use snips of some kind (like small side-cutters) to cut space on the inside, then attach a small air stone (0.6" cylinder worked for my "small" sized filter) inside the filter from the cap using the tubing. Doing this will make the filter create finer bubbles, providing better filtration and less water surface disturbance. It will also quiet the bubbling from the filters down quite a bit.Sponge filters are great all-round filters, and work well for fish that don't like movement (like Bettas). You need an air pump and airline tubing to use them, though. They won't flood the ground around the tank like other types of filters, and they don't really break (air pumps do, though). They are a little unsightly and harder to hide than some hang-on-back filters, but not impossible.This particular sponge filter is about as good as any other, with some caveats. Some aquarium experts recommend larger, open-cell sponges for their filters, which will clog up less than the fine closed-cell sponge on this filter. Because of this design, you will need to clean this filter more often than you otherwise might need to. It does work, though.Also, this filter is not quite weighted as much as it should be. Even when fully soaked, it's a little too buoyant. A good sponge filter should sit comfortably on the bottom of the tank.Do not ever replace the sponge, by the way. To clean it, you pull it out of the tank and squeeze it out gently in the old tank water during a water change. The sponge may last years, and will harbor beneficial bacteria for your tank. If you replace it, you will mess your tank up. To replace a filter with another, you want to run the old one alongside the new one for a least a few weeks to help the bacteria colonize the new one.

After comparing, these were the largest for the price, and have a heavy base which elevate sponge portion from the floor so there is no bottom debris accumulation like I had with other sponge filters, but the best part was the sponge porous size was able to clarify the water very well and I was very surprised at just how well it filtered, plus the bubbles was nicely separated inside without the usage of any air stone. Other sponge filters I had created noisy blobs of air. These units disperse the air into smaller bubbles nicely.Just the best sponge filters I used so far.

Good price for 3 sponge filters. They are pretty discreet and mostly quite. I got the small 10 gallon ones. A basic size air stone was hard to fit inside but that's not necessary for the product to work, just a personal preference. Easy to use and set up.

Great shipping time and well packaged. It's a little bigger than I thought they would be, but it will work well in my 10-gallon tank.