How many or you use sponge filters?

[nfored]

I have them in the sump, just in case of power failure, when the lights go dark I pull the sponge filters and throw them in the tanks with a batter air pump.

 

[Wheat]

I run them in each tank on my central system. The main filter is a wet/dry, but if i need to isolate a tank, or if the pump dies, the sponge filters are a good backup.

 

[srikamaraja]

I have found that the cheapest and easiest-to-maintain filter one can manufacture is simply a powerhead with a large foam sponge over the intake. Awesome mechanical and biological filtration, with no dead spots, and tons of oxygenation, especially if venturi aeration is added.

 

[importracer]

In the 25 years that I have kept fish I have never used an air driven sponge filter exept in my fry tanks.

I was talking to this guy at my LFS and he told me that I was nuts for not using one and that I was just asking for a tank crash. While Im sure that there may be some benifit to a sponge filter I do not feel that I ever needed one. My HOB's, Sumps/wet-dry, and cannisters have always been enough.

Are any of you using sponges in conjunction with your other filtration?

I only use sponge filters in my fry tanks....Even in my hospital tank, I use AC101's, not sponge....

 

[redm18]

I think they are cheap and work well but I don't think you have to use them. If your worried about power outages you could put sponge prefilters on you intakes. Then if power goes out you have colonized sponges. You take the intake off an put a battery powered airstone in the it intake.