Filtration Article, interesting read!

[Johnny D]

Was reading an article on HOB filters and saw Cory get a shoutout! 

Quote from article:
 

Quote

To improve a hang on back filter Cory at Aquarium Co-op (bright young kid who NEVER steers one wrong) recommends replacing the cartridge with foam. 

Interesting read if anyone likes that type of stuff! I had a bad experience recently with a canister filter almost completely emptying out a 20 gallon tank on my floor (completely was my fault #usererror) and am a bit scared of it flooding my room and ruining my new floors when I'm not home, so doing some reading! 😄

 

[nabokovfan87]

Nice find!

Kind of weird all of the "you MUST" statements, but I understand it's likely a translation thing.  Saying that you need to use pot scrubbers instead of foam was a nice chuckle.

[OnlyGenusCaps]

On 6/7/2022 at 5:37 PM, Johnny D said:

Was reading an article on HOB filters and saw Cory get a shoutout! 

@gardenman from this forum has a shout out on that site too:

https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/8-7-7-bottom-of-the-tank-matten/

Here is the OG thread:

On 6/7/2022 at 6:25 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Kind of weird all of the "you MUST" statements, but I understand it's likely a translation thing.  Saying that you need to use pot scrubbers instead of foam was a nice chuckle.

I think the article says that "One MUST replace these cartridges with foam or pot scrubbers per the directions below."  Although, he does go on to make a case that pot scrubbers are better in a HOB.

Dave is an opinionated guy, for sure.  But his site loaded with a ton of useful, and factual, information.  Wish he'd use references a lot more, but I think he's pretty solid in how he wants approach that.  Regardless, IMO when misinformation is bandied about in this hobby, it's still a good spot to point folks towards. 

[Odd Duck]

His suggestion to use 1” foam seemed smart to me, too, but didn’t work as well as I had hoped it would.  The 1” foam doesn’t hold itself in place as well as 2” foam does. That may be because the 1” foam I used was too flexible and didn’t have enough rigidity to press outward against the glass sides so it bows upward unless weighted down.  I’m switching back to 2” foam for the next tanks I plan to convert to this, but I will be doing this in some future tanks.  I already have 2” in 2 tanks, and 1” in another.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Odd Duck

[MrWestCoast]

Cool article and good info. About the only thing i'll disagree on is tap water killing off most of the beneficial bacteria. There is a study on this. It would take nearly 2 hours for chlorinated water (4.0 mg/l) to kill off most of the bacteria. Washing your media in chlorinated water for a couple of minutes isn't a threat to the nitrifying bacteria.

[Odd Duck]

On 6/9/2022 at 11:57 AM, MrWestCoast said:

Cool article and good info. About the only thing i'll disagree on is tap water killing off most of the beneficial bacteria. There is a study on this. It would take nearly 2 hours for chlorinated water (4.0 mg/l) to kill off most of the bacteria. Washing your media in chlorinated water for a couple of minutes isn't a threat to the nitrifying bacteria.

I rinse sponge filters in tap all the time and have never had an issue.

What I don’t do is rinse every sponge in the tank at once.  I do rinse them very well (or until they are unclogged) because it will likely be months before I rinse again.

[Ken Burke]

On 6/9/2022 at 11:58 AM, Odd Duck said:

I rinse sponge filters in tap all the time and have never had an issue.

Me too.  One thing to remember it that everything in your tank has bb on it.  Plants, gravel, rocks.  The total surface area for all the other stuff likely exceeds the little cartridge.  Even if you just through it away every time, you likely would never see any problems.  My HOBs are more for mechanical filtration and water circulation than for bio filtration.

 

btw, I don’t have a filter in my summer tub.  Just an air stone.  It stays in balance just fine.

[Odd Duck]

On 6/9/2022 at 12:19 PM, Ken Burke said:

Me too.  One thing to remember it that everything in your tank has bb on it.  Plants, gravel, rocks.  The total surface area for all the other stuff likely exceeds the little cartridge.  Even if you just through it away every time, you likely would never see any problems.  My HOBs are more for mechanical filtration and water circulation than for bio filtration.

 

btw, I don’t have a filter in my summer tub.  Just an air stone.  It stays in balance just fine.

I have big sponge prefilters and my HOB’s are all stuffed with sponge blocks.  No cartridges at all.  I do have some leftover that I keep on hand if I wanted to pull meds out of a tank by means other than water changes.

[Ken Burke]

On 6/9/2022 at 9:33 AM, OnlyGenusCaps said:

@gardenman from this forum has a shout out on that site too:

https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/8-7-7-bottom-of-the-tank-matten/

Here is the OG thread:

I think the article says that "One MUST replace these cartridges with foam or pot scrubbers per the directions below."  Although, he does go on to make a case that pot scrubbers are better in a HOB.

Dave is an opinionated guy, for sure.  But his site loaded with a ton of useful, and factual, information.  Wish he'd use references a lot more, but I think he's pretty solid in how he wants approach that.  Regardless, IMO when misinformation is bandied about in this hobby, it's still a good spot to point folks towards. 

Agreed.  Tons of good info.  But when someone says must, or must, my spidey sense goes all tingly.  We often hear a lot of opinion expressed as fact in our hobby.

[OnlyGenusCaps]

On 6/9/2022 at 12:26 PM, Ken Burke said:

We often hear a lot of opinion expressed as fact in our hobby.

True fact, sir!  I take the certainty there with a good salt lick of salt.  In terms of sponge in a HOB, would it work with rings?  Most likely.  Lava rock?  Sure.  Would it be technically less efficient?  Seems probable.  Will it matter in a typical tank?  Doubt it.  I get the feeling Dave is trying so hard to teach people what is "best" or most efficient, that he can forget that under most conditions, it doesn't need to be "the best", it just needs to work.  I still think his heart is in the right spot. 

[Ken Burke]

On 6/9/2022 at 12:39 PM, OnlyGenusCaps said:

True fact, sir!  I take the certainty there with a good salt lick of salt.  In terms of sponge in a HOB, would it work with rings?  Most likely.  Lava rock?  Sure.  Would it be technically less efficient?  Seems probable.  Will it matter in a typical tank?  Doubt it.  I get the feeling Dave is trying so hard to teach people what is "best" or most efficient, that he can forget that under most conditions, it doesn't need to be "the best", it just needs to work.  I still think his heart is in the right spot. 

Agreed