Do you really need a filter?

So I have been using this filter for over two years, and just got lazy and decided to never change the filter for about a year. There is no way the carbon can still be active right? so what is it really doing? My tank is fine, never better actually - So is this filter a giant power head? is it needed =/

TL:DR - Do you really need a filter or just water agitation?

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Dohan on February 5, 2012 at 5:22pm

lol not good you got goldfish lol :P

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Permalink Reply by Cody on February 7, 2012 at 3:12pm

no just ~60 rcs and 6 rasboras

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Permalink Reply by Martin Seel on February 7, 2012 at 7:21pm

do you only have carbon in the filter or is there sponge ,fine filter floss or anything else ? what size is your tank and how many fish are in there ?

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Permalink Reply by Cody on February 9, 2012 at 10:40pm

its just a regular tetra carbon filled pad, havent changed in literally forever rofl - 29 gal with 6 rasboras/ ~60 rcs

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Permalink Reply by Connor on February 18, 2012 at 12:13pm

nah dude i do that same thing with my 1 gall tank. the filter pad has so much of that brown beneficial bacteria and i havent changed it in well over 6 months lol and the tank is fine. if you have a ton of plants in your tank then your fine because they act as a filter absorbing all the nitrates and stuff