Can I turn my betta filter off at night?

[Soda]

Hi, my question is exactly as stated above. I just got a betta fish a couple days ago, and the noise of the filter is driving me nuts. The first night it was actually just a very quiet hum which I didn't mind. But tonight it's suddenly much louder and keeping me awake. I have looked up threads with similar questions and have seen mixed answers, but the people asking the question don't always have the same tank size and stuff. My tank is a 5.2 gallon that has an API internal superclean filter (it came with the tank). I have two bunches of live anacharis plants. So with this set up would it be okay for me to turn off the filter a few hours a night? Or do I even need a filter for this set up? I could buy a quieter filter but I don't really have the money right now and would need to wait until I get paid next week. And I don't have any space for the tank other than in my room so I can't put it elsewhere.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Its not usually recommended to switch off filters at all, normally the only time a filter is switched off is during tank maintenance / water change.

I wonder if air or something is getting into your filter therefore making it louder, this is a very common cause on a lot of filters.
Or could be intake pipe is partially blocked and making the filter motor work harder.

Usually just a case of taking filter apart and looking to see if anything obvious is making this louder, checking water level is right for the filter. Common sense really.

 

[Byron]

With a Betta only (snails don't figure into this, they're fine) in a 5g tank, you can manage without any filter. I would however make sure you have live plants, especially floating. If you cannot get the sound issue resolved, I would go down this route rather than keeping the filter on during the day and off at night. I just don't like the idea of dirty filters not operating for long periods.

 

[Soda]

Thanks for the answers! I took the filter apart and looked at it but nothing seemed wrong. But I think I may have put it together incorrectly the first time or something. It sounds a lot quieter now. I've decided to keep the filter running because I would like to add a tank mate (African dwarf frog or 2) once the tank has cycled another week or so.