# 1 gallon shrimp tank- do I need a filter?



## chunkychun (Apr 6, 2012)

No you don't need a filter if you have lots of plants in your tank. get some fast growing plants and or floaters and you should be fine. I have lots of vases and no filter and fish/shrimps are doing fine. there are lots of vase threads to search for as well


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## Nolan (Feb 12, 2013)

I have 2 filterless tanks with shrimp. For the the first month I had to small water changes every 2 or 3 days to get the film off the water surface.

Im not sure if whatever was causing the film worked it self out or if the ponds snails and shrimp are just eating it all...

From then on its been a 50% water change about once every 2 months. Only because the water gets a yellow tint to it from tannins.

Also I only feed the shrimp 1 pellet every few weeks, when the duckweed starts looking yellow


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## jmhk (May 3, 2013)

You don't "need" one, but there are some really small ones that help to keep the flow going without using much room. I've had a 1 gallon vase up and running with this filter since the end of December, and it has kept the water crystal clear. 





 
I haven't even had to wipe any algae off the glass. I've only cleaned the sponge out once, and changed the water twice in those 4 months (but lots of top offs, vases evaporate fast!). It houses about 20 RCS shrimp - they bred there, I only put in 10.


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## cjstl (Mar 4, 2013)

I second that you don't need one, but they are definitely nice to have. I have one of those oddly-shaped acrylic betta tanks with a Tom Mini Internal filter. I pried open the tiny carbon cartridge after the first month and replaced the carbon with a little cutting of carbon foam. Now I clean the filter sponges and replace the carbon pad about once every two months. At that time, I'll do a small water change too. 

I also have a Marina Cubus that I have torn down and set up several times. There is a tiny HOB filter that works well for little cubes. Azoo Palm/Mignon. Dr. Fosters and Smith has them pretty cheap. You can actually get the foam/Biomax pack for an AC 20 and cram them into the Azoo. There are videos on youtube that walk you through it. The filter comes with a small coarse foam intake cover, or you can use the one made for the AC 20 if you want a finer sponge.


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