Sponge Filter Efficiency??

[SunniSki]

Let me start of by giving you a bit of a background on what is going on in my tank.  A few months ago I believe I introduced parasites and Ich in my tank with some new fish.  Meanwhile I had "pest" snails overrunning my tank which rode in on plants.  So in between 2 months of treating the parasites and then a fungal infection... with Ich-X, Maracyn and Paracleanse... and over cleaning my tank weekly and still seeing pest snails.... I made a grave decision due to my canister being overrun with Pest Snails.... I DUMPED All of my filter media in the canister filter.  I did have a sponge filter already in the tank which should have been well seeded and I also pulled the Matrix out of my canister filter and dropped it in a fine mesh bag (hoping pest snails wont escape) and put that in my tank. 

I was thinking... yes it may throw things off slightly but I have a well established tank and a per-existing sponge filter running in my tank, things will balance super quickly.  BOY... was I wrong.  Rookie Mistake but I was so sick of the pest snails and they made a motel out of my canister filter, I made a rash decision out of frustration.  So let me get to the question... Does the coarseness of the filter sponge matter... I ask this because I purchased one from Top Fin before ever discovering the Aquarium Co Op site.... I have the large Top Fin sponge filter and I now see its not supporting my bio-load which I thought it would be able to.  Can it all be due to the coarseness of the sponge media and not having good water flow???

Here is the link to the one I own:

https://www.petsmart.com/fish/filters-and-pumps/filters/top-fin-sponge-filter-5308109.html?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxtSSBhDYARIsAEn0thT2YU9Kqto_eiq9_YEOcIHT8JDidS9EGjqFYD9WaAb_RzXXmyqRFK8aAtUnEALw_wcB

[Jack.of.all.aquariums]

A fine sponge will technically hold more bacteria but they get clogged much quickly which can lead to minimal filtration.  When you pulled all your media there was a chance that your sponge had very little beneficial bacteria on it to begin with because of this.

Lastly population booms of pest snails are directly related to how much food is in the tank. You can try cutting back on food some but it's extremely unlikely that you will get rid of them 100%.

Embrace the snails 🐌 😁 I love them

[SunniSki]

On 4/12/2022 at 8:41 AM, Jack.of.all.aquariums said:

Embrace the snails 🐌 😁 I love them

I have a huge dislike for these things... I don't have any fish that actually eat them.  I have 3 assassin snails... well... 2, I cannot find the 3rd.... I don't know if its deep buried under gravel or what.  I cannot find the 3rd one.

[modified lung]

On 4/12/2022 at 5:45 AM, SunniSki said:

I have a huge dislike for these things... I don't have any fish that actually eat them.  I have 3 assassin snails... well... 2, I cannot find the 3rd.... I don't know if its deep buried under gravel or what.  I cannot find the 3rd one.

My bladder snail problem went away when I bought mystery snails. I believe they outcompeted the bladder snails for food. I don't have a canister filter though. It's possible the pest snails in there wouldn't be affected by the competition.

Whether a coarse or fine sponge is better depends on your goals. I have fine sponges where I want fine particle filtration. I have coarse sponges where I want a refuge for live feed organisms to reproduce. I've haven't had a problem with fine sponges clogging, maybe because the shrimp keep it clean. My coarse sponges clog a lot but I rarely squeeze them out.