sponge filter users

[meadeam]

If you use them exclusively on any tanks, do you find the mechanical filtration to be acceptable?  I have 3 display tanks in the living areas of my house.  One has a canister with internal heater, but also consistently keeps an auxiliary sponge running.  On my 20 long I've recently switched to sponges exclusively.  It is a blackwater tank with lots of botanicals that break down and decompose.  The detritus is then kicked up by 6 julli cories rooting through it.  It actually isn't too bad, and being a blackwater tank I wonder how critical I can be of how pristine the water looks.  I'm running one small and one medium sponge on a single pump going into a manifold.  It creates decent flow, and the sponges do pickup some material from the water column.  The fine stuff passes through them though, which I guess is good to keep from clogging.  I'm considering a HOB to do some better mechanical filtration, but then I keep wondering if I do that, then why not just rely on the HOB all together.  Aquarist problems I guess.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I think it depends on what you (in general terms) consider acceptable. Honestly sponge filtration is not good mechanical filtration IMO but I use them in all of my tanks and they are my favorite tank filters. 

In my "messier" tank- I have 60+ Otocinclus in a 20G tall I run 2x sponge but also an HOB for the detrius you've mentioned as there is quite a bit of it. Vacuuming takes up most of the detrius for me. Otherwise my bladder snails and Nerites clean all that up in my other tanks run by sponges. 

I don't think there's anything wrong with running both, especially if you're like me and run a lithium battery backed pump, if the power goes out a sponge is still  going when the HOB isn't. 🙂 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I run a coarse sponge and it is brilliant with biological filtration but I am going to add another filter with floss to capture detritus. In my opinion the decision to run coarse sponge only, depends on the organisms kept and how heavy their bioload is, as well as how neat you would like your tank to appear. I have a light colored pool filter sand and find that detritus is very obvious. Every tank in my home will always run a sponge filter, either standalone, or as additional filtration so I can move sponges to new tanks as needed or run them during power outages with nano pumps and power banks. Or for emergency setup of hospital tank.

Edited November 15, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Anjum]

I'm currently running a HOB & a sponge on all 3 tanks. All are somewhat of a "display" tank, at least in that they're placed where they'll be seen regularly. I tried running just a sponge on the 10g for a time, but I wasn't a fan of the floaters. A sponge alone doesn't do a tremendous amount for mechanical filtration. All my tanks are heavily planted so gravel vac isn't a viable option. However I do find a sponge to be valuable since I'd be running an air stone anyways, so why not have the extra biological filtration & the option to pull the sponge if I need to kick start another tank. 

[Theplatymaster]

ive used them for a while and they work great.

[meadeam]

Battery powered nano pumps for outages is a really good use case I often forget about.  I only have one USB nano pump, but I have a power brick that will run it for a few days and can rotate between tanks.  Sponges for the win on that one, so I probably will always run one in each tank regardless of other filters.  Maybe on the tanks that can't be vacuumed easily due to plants and botanicals I'll have to consider some more mechanical filtration.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/15/2022 at 11:20 AM, meadeam said:

Battery powered nano pumps for outages is a really good use case I often forget about.  I only have one USB nano pump, but I have a power brick that will run it for a few days and can rotate between tanks.  Sponges for the win on that one, so I probably will always run one in each tank regardless of other filters.  Maybe on the tanks that can't be vacuumed easily due to plants and botanicals I'll have to consider some more mechanical filtration.

 

I used a 20000 mAh power bank and got a 52 hour runtime. It may have run a little longer than that but at the 52 hour mark I left the house, and I found that the pump had stopped when I returned. So 52 hours confirmed for me. I now have 4 of those power banks so I can swap out when one dies.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

The pump I speak of isn't a nano usb, it's just a battery backed pump like ACO's (that is sold out last I looked but I have several similar that were on the market prior). They are plugged in and operate just like regular air pumps (benefit some have 2 airline ports so I run 2 different tanks with each of my 2 and have single port for my 5th tank- if the power cuts out it just goes to battery power. They are more powerful than the nano pumps IME. (which use for smaller QT or portable tanks)

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/15/2022 at 11:36 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

The pump I speak of isn't a nano usb, it's just a battery backed pump like ACO's (that is sold out last I looked but I have several similar that were on the market prior). They are plugged in and operate just like regular air pumps (benefit some have 2 airline ports so I run 2 different tanks with each of my 2 and have single port for my 5th tank- if the power cuts out it just goes to battery power. They are more powerful than the nano pumps IME. (which use for smaller QT or portable tanks)

I’ve looked at those. They are pretty slick! How long will the battery-backed one run?

I go nano during hurricane season where the outage can last multiple days or even a week. It only uses 1/3 of a watt which it how it can go for >2 days.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea about as long as a battery pack of that size (depending on model) will go though I've never personally tested it as my power outages have not been for very long. The other great thing about it is that you can change the modes to intermittent on the ones I have so it will make bubbles every 30 seconds or so which will make the battery last longer. They can be charged just like any other battery back up as well. 

I also believe you can use a battery back up to run it if it runs out of a charge. 

[MattyM]

On 11/15/2022 at 10:04 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Every tank in my home will always run a sponge filter

Same here - so handy, and if you're gonna run an air stone might as well have a sponge filter with it. I also view them as cycle insurance, as I rarely clean them.   

On my 20's I have sponges and HOBs that pretty much just run a coarse sponge (whether on the intake or in the media basket) polyfil, bio-rings of some kind, and Purigen. This keeps the water nice and clear. On my 10g, I cannot run a HOB just b/c it is on a lower shelf and I can't really get to a HOB b/c of top clearance. In that tank I wedge a strip of POLYBIO Poly Filter between the sponge and wall - it is great at absorbing more gunk and clearing the water up. 

But for your blackwater tank, I wouldn't use Purigen/Polybio - maybe a polishing pad of sorts to help with the finer debris. 

Edited November 15, 2022 by MattyM
added info

[TeeJay]

I like having sponge filters with hob for all of my tanks except my shrimp and snail only tank. Imo there is no such thing as over filtration. And like some else said it's nice having seasoned sponges around for kick starting other tanks when the time comes. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

From no filter at one end, to canisters on the other end, the only thing I know of that I haven’t played with is canisters. Tanks 10 gallon or smaller have a sponge. 20 and bigger has a sponge and HOB or additional internal filter. HOB’s have a pre filter sponge, and then filled with more coarse sponge and the ceramic media they came with. RARELY have I polished my water, but have played with that. I deal with mulm with shrimp/snails/plants. Works well for me. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/15/2022 at 7:16 AM, meadeam said:

If you use them exclusively on any tanks, do you find the mechanical filtration to be acceptable? 

On 11/15/2022 at 7:23 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

I think it depends on what you (in general terms) consider acceptable.

Absolutely agreed.  There are two major factors here, well... three.

A.  What pore size is the foam
B.  How are you cleaning it
C.  How much air is going through it

If you have courser sponge, then I would opt towards more mechanical work on the sponge side of things.  More passes through the foam, more gunk gets clogged, and you have a better chance to polish the water of fine material. 

If you clean it using a bag, compared to lifting it and all of the muck comes detached, it tends to leave a cleaner tank.  Siphoning the water is critical because you still will have stuff all over the tank.  Yes, there is flow, but there is a lot of junk that wont get touched by your every day sponge filter.  You're going to have mulm, generally on a sponge tank moreso than you do other filtration.  Especially because people tend to run them lower on the airflow side more often than not.

If you run less air, or you have one specifically that doesn't let you use an air stone, then you're going to have a lot of disturbance at the surface.  Some fish, some tanks can't handle this too well.  If you have an adjustable air stone, then you can adapt that flow higher compared to all other setups resulting in better flow through the sponge. 

If you're worried about "fines" and crystal clear water, I would encourage you to run one fine and one course ACO style filter.

[Rita]

I have 7 tanks from 20 gal to 5.5 gal. They all run on sponge filters with 3 aquatop air pumps. I agree with the others, not fantastic for mechanical filtration and if I get lazy with gravel vacuuming mulm does become quite apparent. My 20 gal long has a medium and small sponge filter on each end. I will say that tank often looks to be the tidiest, but it also has the most plants. I have a 14 gal cube that is notorious for mulm an detritus... I think I didn't arrange it very well, as the one sponge filter in that tank is sitting in the corner behind a large piece of wood. Water flow was not great. I ended up adding an additional air stone running very lightly to help circulate water a little better and it seems to be helping. Full disclosure I also added 6 more amano shrimp which may also be helping. 

 

TLDR: nothing but sponge filters and I don't mind the mulm if it means I don't have to worry about malfunctioning HOB's that leak water all over my 2nd floor fish room.

[Winstons_estate]

I have fallen down the rabbit hole of of expensive filters in the past. I've found it to be a bit of a racket at times. The whole 'turn your tank over 10 times an hour' is a sales ploy disguised as wisdom.

Today in my hobby i have 3 tanks and I run exlusivly sponge filters with 0 issues. My biggest tank is a 55G, it has one large sponge filter with live plants and a heavy bioload. The water is crystal clear with 5ppm Nitrates. All you need is surface area, Some water movement and water changes. The rest is optional IMO.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Winstons_estate
spelling error

[Bev C]

I have sponge filters   love them

i have 2 one medium and one large in my 55 gallon  with a canister filter  i have one for extra filtration and one in case i need to start a new or quarantine tank 

and my 10 gallon  has only sponge filter  and a small box filter i have a box filter to hold my seachem matrix  and purigen and filter floss 

Edited December 17, 2022 by Bev C