Hi everyone,
Thanks for all your input. Life has been a bit hectic and I haven’t been able to get back to this. @TOtrees I usually get quite a bit out of the sponge when I clean it, but we’re talking months worth of filtering and I have nothing to compare with.
I think for me, if it’s a breeding tank or experimenting tank I’ll just do sponges, but if it’s a display tank where multiple people will see it, I’ll have something extra. Of course then you run into the age old question of which HOB or canister. I like the idea of polishing the water more but haven’t found an HOB that ticks all the boxes for me and canisters can be expensive.