ADVANCED SPONGE FILTER THEORY

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I have about 15 sponge filters in my 100 gal sump. They are ready if I need in a power outage or anytime I need some seeded filters. I only use a few for running tanks. My tanks are too large for sponges.
 
I run air driven sponge filters in every one of my tanks except for the 180. With regular tank maintenance, any thing more than what I have is a waste. My tanks stay pretty clean as long as I can stay on top of keeping them clean.
 
viejafish said:
The most common and cost effective filtration in large fish rooms is air lift sponge filters. One air compressor can operate multiple sponge filters in dozens of tanks. Sponge filters provide essential biological filtration and is best operated by low gpd air lift. Mechanical filtration is achieved by bottom siphoning which costs nothing.

Power driven sponge filters create too strong a flow that will clog up the pore spaces quickly defeating their usefulness as a biological filter. It's not a good idea to use sponge filters as mechanical filters as that will require frequent cleaning to unclog. For mechanical filtration, it's best to go with HOBs which are more effective and easier to clean.
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Arent sponges used in canister filters? FX5 has coarse sponges as mech/bio filter?

ATI pro filters have worked great on tanks where they are the only filter. with and w/o power heads ..Ive have one connected to a 400 gph rio pump..You know its time to clean when sponge starts looking compressed :popcorn:.. also used as prefilter on returns for submerged sump pumps..

In fact I mod my HOB E400's with poret foam cut to cartridge size..sponges/foam are easy and quick to clean..
plus as said before an easy way to increase filtration on any tank w/o big chunks of money
 
I am not saying you can't use sponge filter for mechanical, but it is best to separate mechanical from biological filtration. If you use too coarse sponge for mechanical, it won't filter out the fine particulate matters and the water will remain cloudy. If you use dense sponge for mechanical, it will get clogged up quickly and you need to clean it frequently or else it will stop doubling as a biological filter. Frequent cleaning of a sponge will wear it out and shorten its life. It's best to use fine filter pads for mechanical to polish the water, and sponge for biological only. Mechanical filtration is for cosmetic, and you don't absolutely need it if you do regular WC and bottom siphoning. But fish will die if if biological filtration fails.

For commercial fish room operations, there is nothing more economical yet equally effective as air lift sponge filters. Most commercial fish room tanks don't have substrate so siphoning is easy, but then the sponge filters become comparitively important as the primary location for biological filtration.
 
thanks for the input everybody!..this is turning into a good thread...seems like I am one of the very few who use sponge filters & powerheads together...my scheme is to use big hob's (mostly ac 110's and 70's ) in conjunction ,so that bio is spread out over several filters...I use an aquaclear70 powerhead in my 90 show tank(25 inches tall) so it creates enough current to lessen the need for gravel vacs,that has an ati "pro" sponge attached and 2 ac 70's as primary filtration...in another tank (75),I have an ac 50 powerhead (with the "pro "sponge), I have an ac110 and cascade 300 also on that tank,it pretty much stays "crystal clear"even though it is heavily stocked...the other tanks all have powerheads in the 150 gph range and azoo type sponges(similar to ati ,,but better strainers) with simiar hob's..THE 1 Exception is my 40 breeder ,,it has a a 400 ghh hob and a sponge running on air..and it works fine ..water is crystal clear ,,even with 11 fish...:popcorn:
 
Mr Pleco said:
Arent sponges used in canister filters? FX5 has coarse sponges as mech/bio filter?

ATI pro filters have worked great on tanks where they are the only filter. with and w/o power heads ..Ive have one connected to a 400 gph rio pump..You know its time to clean when sponge starts looking compressed :popcorn:.. also used as prefilter on returns for submerged sump pumps..

In fact I mod my HOB E400's with poret foam cut to cartridge size..sponges/foam are easy and quick to clean..
plus as said before an easy way to increase filtration on any tank w/o big chunks of money
Click to expand...
good post ..very good info:)
 
viejafish said:
I am not saying you can't use sponge filter for mechanical, but it is best to separate mechanical from biological filtration. If you use too coarse sponge for mechanical, it won't filter out the fine particulate matters and the water will remain cloudy. If you use dense sponge for mechanical, it will get clogged up quickly and you need to clean it frequently or else it will stop doubling as a biological filter. Frequent cleaning of a sponge will wear it out and shorten its life. It's best to use fine filter pads for mechanical to polish the water, and sponge for biological only. Mechanical filtration is for cosmetic, and you don't absolutely need it if you do regular WC and bottom siphoning. But fish will die if if biological filtration fails.

For commercial fish room operations, there is nothing more economical yet equally effective as air lift sponge filters. Most commercial fish room tanks don't have substrate so siphoning is easy, but then the sponge filters become comparitively important as the primary location for biological filtration.
Click to expand...
another good contribution..thanks!
 
I use (air-driven) sponge and box filters in almost all of the tanks in my 50+ tank fishroom.

I run air slowly through the sponges so that they don't pull in too much gunk (and serve primarily as bio filters)...and run a lot of air through my box filters (so that they serve as primarily mechanical filtration).

Cleaning sponges packed with gunk is a PITA and involved a bucket, dunking, etc. Switching out the fluff in a box filter takes seconds.

Running powerheads, HOBs, canisters, etc. uses a lot more energy than a large air pump or two, which matters in a big fish room...

Matt

lp85253 said:
I have been using mostly powerheads , but I am thinking about air driven being a good idea..less gunk = less maintenance= more stable params (lots less cleaning)
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AC HOBs are essentially powered sponge filters. But the AC sponge is so coarse that it doesn't do a good job for mechanical filtration. But you can improve the mechanical filtration by wrapping a fine filter pad around the sponge to pre filter the foam.

I only use air lift sponge filters in my grow out and fry tanks to prevent the fry from getting sucked away. I don't use any sponge filters in my show tanks, only HOBs with filter pads for mechanical. With substrate and rocks in my show tanks which are homes to abundant of BB, I don't see any need for a dedicated biological filter. I bought very cheap poly batting by the yard from JoAnne Fabric to cut my own filter pads, and trash them when they get dirty. I don't bother to rince and reuse sponge filters for mechanical.

http://www.joann.com/search?q=polye...tart=0&q=polyester batting&sz=54&prefv1=false
 
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