Aco sponge on ugf uplift tube

[Guppysnail]

What are your thoughts on doing this?

Here is why

I always kept 1-2 extras in all tanks so I can easily start new tanks or a qt. I switched to UGFs in all my tanks. 
 

I did leave 2 coop nanos running in a 29g. 
 

The issue is that tank and all my tanks are ridiculously over filtered so they are no longer heavily saturated with active BB. Example the 29 these came from now has UGF, aquaclear 50 hob, fluval 407 canister, the two nano sponges and tons of plants both submerged and emergent  

I pulled both to quick start a tank but there is not enough BB to process all the ammonia and nitrite right off the bat. I’m getting slight readings. This never happened before because I would squeeze out multiple sponges directly into tanks to pollute them from the start. 
 
Sp popping an ACO sponge on the uplift tube of ugf instead of the little outflow nozzle came to mind. That way I have plenty of sponges to squeeze for new tanks.

I may have to modify a bit so they fit. What do you folks think? Am I making my ugf less efficient doing this? Any downsides?
 

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by Guppysnail

[gardenman]

I'm not sure I fully understand what you're saying. In a conventional UG filter you use air in the uplift tubes to move the water. If you take off the top of the UG filter uplift tube and slide a sponge filter on there (I'm assuming upside down) where does the air go? It gets trapped in the bottom of the sponge filter housing and will float the sponge filter off. Some might leak out through the sponge, but probably not enough, and not fast enough.

Bacteria need to eat and fish waste is bacteria food, so if you don't have enough bacteria, it's a good excuse to add more fish. More fish equals more fish waste which means more food for the bacteria. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I have an UGF but it's disabled, I disconnected the tubes so that I could use sand and plant plants.   The good stuff/mulm is going to be under your plates, and having the ACO sponge on the top of the riser tube may reduce/slow aeration.  Why not have the ACO sponge at the halfway point on the riser tube?  Just having the sponge in the tank will allow it to collect BB until you are ready to deploy it.  (P.S. I like your creativity)

On 10/28/2022 at 10:51 AM, gardenman said:

and slide a sponge filter on there (I'm assuming upside down) where does the air go? It gets trapped in the bottom of the sponge filter housing

The ACO sponge (only the sponge, not the plastic pieces) is just a tube really.  It would be fitting a sponge tube over a plastic riser tube.  Unlike the prefilter sponges which are closed on one end.

Another thought would be to supplement with bottled bacteria.  I do that sometimes when changing out filter media.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

On 10/28/2022 at 10:51 AM, gardenman said:

I'm not sure I fully understand what you're saying. In a conventional UG filter you use air in the uplift tubes to move the water. If you take off the top of the UG filter uplift tube and slide a sponge filter on there (I'm assuming upside down) where does the air go? It gets trapped in the bottom of the sponge filter housing and will float the sponge filter off. Some might leak out through the sponge, but probably not enough, and not fast enough.

Bacteria need to eat and fish waste is bacteria food, so if you don't have enough bacteria, it's a good excuse to add more fish. More fish equals more fish waste which means more food for the bacteria. 

I was only going to add the cage and sponges no base which has holes at the bottom. 

[Guppysnail]

On 10/28/2022 at 10:53 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Why not have the ACO sponge at the halfway point on the riser tube? 

This gave me ideas. I can put just the sponge around the riser tube so it’s in each tank collecting BBA. Easy to slide off, squeeze and slide back on. 
 

I LIKE EASY 🤗

Edited October 28, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Odd Duck]

I’m like you, I keep extra, running sponge filters in most of my tanks and can move them to a newly cleaned tank whenever necessary.  If you have extra filtration, you could just transfer a more aged filter to the new tank and put a new filter into the “old” tank that has so much redundant filtration.  Then your new filter gets seasoned next and the new tank gets instant filtration.  If your seasoned filters aren’t carrying enough BB’s to keep up with the new tank you need to dirty up your old tanks a bit!  😆 More fish, more food, more poop, more BB’s!

I also have been switching the orientation of the sponge blocks in some of my HOB filters so there’s a gap at the back(depending on their designs).  This has left me with extra blocks of sponge that are dry now, but theoretically, have sporulated bacteria just waiting to spring to life.  I’ve done this for decades - using old, dry media to start new tanks, and it does appear to season a tank much faster than starting completely clean.  If you have any “used”media, you can even add it to a box filter to boost your filtration until your BB’s get a little more “grown up”.

You could even put loose media like biorings or similar inside a cut off pantyhose, put an airstone in the middle of it, and tie the sock closed around the airline tubing.  The air movement is enough to pull some water through the aged media and works just like a box filter.  If you have an aged sponge block, you can cut a slit and push the airstone inside it for a filter.  It’s not likely as efficient as a commercially made filter, but it will still add some filtration and might be just enough to get you through until your BB’s mature a bit.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/28/2022 at 11:30 AM, Guppysnail said:

This gave me ideas. I can put just the sponge around the riser tube so it’s in each tank collecting BBA. Easy to slide off, squeeze and slide back on. 
 

I LIKE EASY 🤗

Oh, I get it now. I like your way better because there will be more air and water flow through the sponge, better for bb growth . The downside is if the top of the riser tube is open, you could have Plecos or snails make their way down the tube and under the plates.

[Guppysnail]

On 10/28/2022 at 12:32 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

The downside is if the top of the riser tube is open,

That’s why I was going to use the cage from the sponge 

There are holes there that the air could come out and I could drill more in the very center and then there’s the center hall

See I would take the center part in the sponge filter and then I would turn it upside down in the middle and zip tie the two pieces together then and it would hold the sponge on

Edited October 28, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Guppysnail]

On 10/28/2022 at 12:08 PM, Odd Duck said:

If your seasoned filters aren’t carrying enough BB’s to keep up with the new tank you need to dirty up your old tanks a bit!  😆 More fish, more food, more poop, more BB’s!

Here is the problem. The guppies are aging out and I’m letting them. I’m not repopulating. I moved all but one boy out and I only have 2 girls left in there. Once they age out I’ll move my exploding least killi over which will fix the issue of not enough 🤣. 
That’s why I’m trying to get sponge into other tanks without adding even more air. 
 

I have cubes of media in all my hobs I steal for other hobs. So this time that fixed the issue. I’m looking to have ready to go impromptu fry tanks without as much movement as hobs create. I guess i could just float the seasoned sponge media in the fry tank. 

[Odd Duck]

Ah, I see what you want now.  You don’t need a core if your sponges are on an outflow.  It’s to keep the core open in case the sponge clogs up and to have a structure to attach the airline/airstone.  If you want to be able to block the top opening, you can use only one core and the top, then just slide the bottom of sponge over the opening of the uplift.  You don’t need flow through the entire sponge, just through most of it so you build up BB’s.

Your water will be flowing out through that sponge.  If you are expecting the flow to come in through the sponge it won’t be coming through your gravel and UGF plate.  You might get some Venturi effect and get some flow in through the sponge with enough lift, but I would actually expect outflow through a sponge attached to the top of a UGF tube.  Might be an interesting experiment to see which way the dye goes.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/28/2022 at 1:03 PM, Odd Duck said:

I would actually expect outflow through a sponge attached to the top of a UGF tube

Same.

[KittenFishMom]

I'm trying to figure out UGF because I am trying to set up a drink dispenser scud colony, like Torrey's. I have a round UGF, but the bottom of my drink dispenser is domed up in the middle. Twice the area under the plastic canvas has filled with crud and clogged the spout. I think I need a flat bottom under the UGF, but am not sure.

@Guppysnail From what I can figure out so far, the dirty water flows down through the gravel and then clean water flows across under the filter and up the uplift pipe. It seems like there might not be enough mulm coming up the lift tube to feed the BBs in the sponge filter attached to the top of the uplift, but I'm not fully understanding the UGF so don't take my word for it.