hey everyone,
this may sound like a dumb question but its something I've wanted to clarify for a while. I just recently decided to ditch carbon all together in my AC 70 and 110, and use two sponges and biomax at the top. I kept reading about how good sponge is for beneficial bacteria so I'm doubling up and got some more sponge to put around the intake as pre filter. Anyway, how do you clean the sponges inside the filter without removing the bacteria? I know to squeeze them around and slosh them back and forth in a bucket of tank water and NEVER tap water but how well does the bacteria hold onto the sponge? When i squeeze and slosh it around in the bucket, am i shaking off good bacteria along with the gunk that builds up? I want to make sure I'm not destroying my BB colonies every time i clean my sponges! thanks everyone!
this may sound like a dumb question but its something I've wanted to clarify for a while. I just recently decided to ditch carbon all together in my AC 70 and 110, and use two sponges and biomax at the top. I kept reading about how good sponge is for beneficial bacteria so I'm doubling up and got some more sponge to put around the intake as pre filter. Anyway, how do you clean the sponges inside the filter without removing the bacteria? I know to squeeze them around and slosh them back and forth in a bucket of tank water and NEVER tap water but how well does the bacteria hold onto the sponge? When i squeeze and slosh it around in the bucket, am i shaking off good bacteria along with the gunk that builds up? I want to make sure I'm not destroying my BB colonies every time i clean my sponges! thanks everyone!