# Baffle Help



## zroberts (Feb 28, 2011)

Hey, 
so around a month ago i was in the petstore and decided i would like a betta to sit on my desk to look at while i'm gaming or working on school work. 
so i bought a new betta and a Marina Betta cube, being one of those ignorant people who didn't know better. I quickly found this website though when i looked up proper betta care and learned that he needed something bigger, so i began looking at something bigger. finally settled on the Aqueon 2.5 Gal 

so, he's been in that for the last 3-4 weeks, and he's much happier, but the filter is too strong for him.
i got one of the sponges that slide over the intake, and it didn't help much.
so i was wondering if anyone has tried the water bottle baffling with the Aqueon mini bow filter? i'm not sure if it would work or not since it doesn't have a top on it.
or if someone has a different suggestion i would be open to it.

also, is it common for the water to evaporate out of the tank? I've noticed his water level drop after a couple days from his water changes.


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## Goomba3 (Jan 20, 2011)

I never tried the water bottle baffle, not really comfortable with that idea. I just used a filter sponge and rubber-banded it to the front where the water flows out. It's definitely dampened the flow. The water evaporating happens with every tank, but it will be worse without a hood. The hood would collect a lot of the evaporation and drop it back into the tank. You can always top off the water every few days. How often do you do water changes?


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## cjayBetta (Jan 18, 2011)

I used the water bottle method on my tank and it seems to work fine.


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## c4talys7 (Sep 7, 2010)

I use the water bottle baffle because the sponge didn't work at all. I also have a sponge over the intake so my Betta doesn't get stuck to it but it didn't help with reducing the flow. The water bottle didn't really work too well either but it changed the direction of where the water was shooting so the only place with strong flow is directly against the wall now.

I have used panty hose before to lessen the intake and it took a few layers to reduce the flow of the filter, but it kept getting clogged with particles so the outtake became nothing more than a few drops. That's why I switched to the sponge and water bottle. Also, my Betta likes to play in the current of the outtake occasionally so having it directed at the wall fixes both problems for me.


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## cjayBetta (Jan 18, 2011)

Haha my betta plays with it too


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## Goomba3 (Jan 20, 2011)

I'm just paranoid because I heard of someone's betta getting stuck in there and dying. Also I think it looks kind of tacky. Black sponge on black filter with a black rubber band all blends together, haha.


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## cjayBetta (Jan 18, 2011)

Yea its true it doesnt look great but there is only so much you can do.


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## Ariel1719 (Mar 29, 2009)

I have that exact same tank and Im baffling it with the water bottle. Goose swims through the bottle so fast, its like a game to him! The water level also drops often but i just top the water off with some fresh water. I do 25% water changes every 2 days and a 50% once a week.


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## Thunderloon (Feb 6, 2011)

I simply drilled a line of holes down through it about half an inch in from the drop-out, 3/16 holes. It lessened the flow a lot.

The aqueon filters aren't that hard to do another easier modification to.

Flip the filter assembly upside down and you'll see the housing cover for the impeller system is just slipped on from the bottom. The thing the intake pipe fits into is just a cap you can carefully pull off.

Inside this assembly there is an impeller that sits inside a magnetic coil and rides a pin. 

If you cut a disk of plastic to precisely fit the diameter of the round area in the cap then cut a hole smaller than the intake pipe diameter in the center of that, then place this into the cap and put it over, it should drastically slow down the flow.

Aqueon filters submerge the impeller motor so there won't be any problem restarting. 

Make sure the plastic disk is large enough that it fits tight inside the cap, not the housing.

Next post will have the pics.


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## Thunderloon (Feb 6, 2011)

*here we go*

If you pay for bandwidth, are on a cell phone, don't have a $200.00 monitor or simply don't like scrolling twice to see a whole picture, do NOT click the thumbnails.

 This is the portion that is the cap.

 What inside the cap looks like.

 Vac packs make nice stiff hardened plastic sheet.

 Cut out larger than you need then pare down to fit, tighter than I did:

 This is too loose, much tighter fit or the impeller will pull it out and make noise. If the plastic bows up from the fit, trim it carefully till it lays flat. Careful, this stuff is a springy leaper.
If the hole is too small it will also make noise and put heating strain on the motor.

 With the plastic in place carefully penetrate it. I keep my little blade dullish except for the point. The starting point I made was on the "diameter" of the hole I want.

 Gently slowly fold over and make a crease, then cut out the little hole.

 Insert in cap, hold cap open-up and reattach to magneto housing with impeller. Cross fingers, plug in, listen for noise and watch flow. 

Remember to start out with a smaller hole but not a TINY hole, the motor uses water flow for cooling. That square groove lets the water be sucked up along side the metal pin then spun out and wasted back into the flow, cooling the pin and making a hydraulic bearing of water pressure. This is the most common thing to bind up on almost all aquarium water pumps.

 This is the magneto housing, pin in center. This is filled with water around the:
 Impeller.
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## Thunderloon (Feb 6, 2011)

observation tidbit: the muck on the inside of that pump is nitrosomona and nitrospira


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## zroberts (Feb 28, 2011)

thanks for the replies, and sorry for the lack on my part.

i'll prob end up drilling a couple holes in the bottom as you said you did, seems like that would be the easiest solution for me atm. 

main issue was that water was going through the overflow which was causing a weird whirlpool effect on the surface, making his betta log just spin around in circles. I blocked off the overflow area with some sponge, so that got rid of that issue, so he can at least chill out and avoid the current in there till i can get the filter sorted out.

thanks again
~Zak


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