Some real basic questions about sponge filters.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
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oii

Candiru
MFK Member
Oct 22, 2007
489
2
46
Michigan
here goes.. When I have a sponge filter in my tank do I still need to have a bubbler in the tank? (I currently have both sponge filter and bubbler, on a splitter but it only wants to work for my sponge filter so I rubber banded off part of the sponges bubbler line and got them both going at about 50/50)

secondly.. it might sound stupid but here it goes anyways. How do I get this type (pic below) filter to stay down!? I have it wedged under my thermometer right now and it seems to be keeping it down but for how long who knows. I also packed some rocks around the side of it but I didn't want to completely cover it because I didn't know if it would take away from its filtration.
efdaf895.jpg


lastly.. What type of filtration is this even providing? I've heard that people use them for biofiltration but I have no idea what the difference is between biofiltration and mechanical filtration. Mechanical removes floating chunks and bio keeps the tank from getting cloudy? It seems to be removing the cloudiness from my tank but I don't see how. It sprays everything it intakes right back out the top so I am a little confused. Any information will help, thanks.
 
LOL you should try holding down a HUGE Hydro5 until it saturates...I started glueing the bases to a piece of tile.

The way you have it is just fine...In time you can remove the gravil and it will stay put. The gravel wont effect the flow very much at all.

You don't need both an air stone and the sponge filter...The sponge filter will be fine all by itself.

Mechanical filtration takes out WHAT YOU SEE....

Chemical filtration takes out WHAT YOU SMELL...

And lastly Bio filtration takes out chemicals that hurt your fish.

The constant flow of water through the sponge plus the nutriant rich mulm (fish dookis) and large serface area of the sponge provides a giant condominimum for Benificial Bacteria (BB)
 
Wolf3101;1226548; said:
LOL you should try holding down a HUGE Hydro5 until it saturates...I started glueing the bases to a piece of tile.

The way you have it is just fine...In time you can remove the gravil and it will stay put. The gravel wont effect the flow very much at all.

You don't need both an air stone and the sponge filter...The sponge filter will be fine all by itself.

Mechanical filtration takes out WHAT YOU SEE....

Chemical filtration takes out WHAT YOU SMELL...

And lastly Bio filtration takes out chemicals that hurt your fish.

The constant flow of water through the sponge plus the nutriant rich mulm (fish dookis) and large serface area of the sponge provides a giant condominimum for Benificial Bacteria (BB)
Click to expand...


everything in one post perfectly.. You're the man. I'm assuming that I don't need chemical filtration since my tank doesn't smell? I have carbon in my 2 whisper filters, would that serve as my chemical filtration purpose?
 
naaa. You rarely ever need chemical filtration. In fact I'd recomend tossing out those factory cartrages in your wispers and buying some SC2 supercartrages for them. That one's for an E400/280 but they are very simillar. No more buying pads. Theres just a single cleanable pad that you don't have to replace. Last time I looked the SC2's were about 4-5 bucks each on Ebay.

And NO...before anyone asks...I DON'T sell them.
LOL
I just happen to really like the improvements they make in HOB filters.

supercart.JPG
 
If your water is OK then you dont need chemical filtration. Regular water changes will remove any chemical contamination, so generally it's not needed. Yes the carbon in your whisper filters is the biological filtering, but it's generally not needed.

Sponge filters mostly provide biological filtration, the sponge provides a good home for the nitrogen cycle bacteria. Thats a good thing. An airstone just provides water movement and exta aeration.. also a good thing. So it wont harm anything by pumping your air 50/50 to each, and thats OK filtration for a small tank.

They wont magically clear up cloudy water, but having the tank filtered properly and doing regular water changes those cloudy water issues usually clear up over time. They may be bacteria, algae or diatoms causing it, but they will eventually go away.

Cheers

Ian
 
Wolf3101;1226561; said:
naaa. You rarely ever need chemical filtration. In fact I'd recomend tossing out those factory cartrages in your wispers and buying some SC2 supercartrages for them. That one's for an E400/280 but they are very simillar. No more buying pads. Theres just a single cleanable pad that you don't have to replace. Last time I looked the SC2's were about 4-5 bucks each on Ebay.

And NO...before anyone asks...I DON'T sell them.
LOL
I just happen to really like the improvements they make in HOB filters.
Click to expand...

I think this is the second time you or maybe somebody else has told me to look for "SC2 supercartrages" I googled it and all I got was links back to the MFK forum with people suggesting them to others. If you could find me a link to buy some that would be awesome. I'm going to look on ebay right now.

Just out of curiosity why would you chose this over the carbon and pad in a whisper? Is it because they last longer and are cheaper in the long run or is it because they filter better? I found a spare biofoam pad at my LFS today for $1.14 so I bought it and crammed it in the extra space behind the carbon filter. I haven't noticed any difference though. So now instead of just carbon, foam its foam, carbon, foam. Is this helping anything at all?
 
Wolf3101;1226591; said:
They last forever...hows that for longer...lol the pads are simpler to clean and the filters run longer before starting a overflow...A well known problem with Wisper filters... Those bio additions are not worth buying..trust me. It's just a small plastic frame with a tiny piece of foam.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Bioforever-SC2-...ryZ20758QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem
Click to expand...

$1.14 down the drain.. Oh well it's not hurting anything for now.

I found another place to buy them if ebay doesn't have them. I could actually probably get 2 off of here cheaper too. $4 per filter + $10 shipping which I'm pretty sure is a flat rate. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/pet_supplies.cfm?c=3578+4136&s=ts&r=330
 
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