Switching to Sponges?

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shawntraviss

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 2, 2005
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Peterborough Ontario Canada
Hello all. Ive been considering switching my filtration up for a while now and i think ive finally decided on it. Right now i have five 125 gallons. All of which are running three aquaclear 110s. They work just fine and do a good job....aside from the noise. The noise is coming from the sand that my lovely cichlids constantly toss into the filters, no matter how often i change the impellers/shafts. Im thinking sponges because A) theyre much easier on the power bill, which would be really, really nice B) sand doesnt hurt them and C) theyre cheap and easy. Im thinking of going with two Hydro sponges per tank, the sponges would be model H-Vs, which is the largest they make. Obviously sponges dont do much for mechanical filtration so id also leave one aquaclean on, just for the big "stuff". My tanks are heavily stocked, but not to a dangerouss level (im my eyes). Just wondering if this idea seems workable, with a weekly large water change/save vac to boot. Also i only feed my fish three to four times a week, so they dont end up to over weight. So, any questions, comments or concerns, please have at it.

>>Link to hydro sponge info<<
 
noise is coming from the sand that my lovely cichlids constantly toss into the filters, no matter how often i change the impellers/shafts

I can feel your pain on HOB noise.
Even without a grinding impeller, just all those boxes humming away gets old.
Are these tanks scattered around the house, or are they in a central fish room?
 
Have you tried putting a prefilter sponge over the intake of your HOBs?

This is a quick and easy way to keep the sand out fo the impellor. You will have to clean that prefilter more often than you previously had to clean the HOB media. As for electrical consumption keep in mind that an AquaClear 500/110 (the biggest one) only uses 13 or 14 Watts.


I've gone back back and forth on my feelings for sponge filters over many years. With a large enough air supply or powerhead I can get some pretty impressive filtration (including mechanical) out fo them. The trick is, like with any filter, to arrange the water flow produced to push/pull debris to the filter media. It's a little more difficult with sponge filters but with again, it's a matter of havign a large enough air supply or powerhead to create the needed water movement.

The two things that drive me away from sponge filters most is that they are not very attractive additions to my decor. The second is I don't care for the looks nor the sound of the bubbles. I presonally tune out a slight consistent hum rather easily but the fiz for bursting bubbles is a little mroe distracting.

All in all it boils down to all filters available work, it's a matter of trial and error to realize which works best for the particular situation you are putting them in and with the particular criteria you have in mind.
 
Have you tried sumps? If the tanks aren't drilled get overflows which are pretty quiet, and you can use 30g as sumps. that would be cheaper and probably quieter.
 
KaiserSousay;4462568; said:
Are these tanks scattered around the house, or are they in a central fish room?
Click to expand...

Theyre all in one fish room, which would make using a large, central blower possible...thankfully.

nc_nutcase;4463046; said:
Have you tried putting a prefilter sponge over the intake of your HOBs?

This is a quick and easy way to keep the sand out fo the impellor. You will have to clean that prefilter more often than you previously had to clean the HOB media. As for electrical consumption keep in mind that an AquaClear 500/110 (the biggest one) only uses 13 or 14 Watts.
Click to expand...

Ive tryed using a prefilter but with large cichlids it gets clogged almost daily and then the filters GPH suffers. As for the 14 watts, you have to realize that thats then multiplyed by 15. Where as with sponges one large central air blower would be needed.

honda237;4463097; said:
Have you tried sumps? If the tanks aren't drilled get overflows which are pretty quiet, and you can use 30g as sumps. that would be cheaper and probably quieter.
Click to expand...

Ive considered this actually. None of the tanks are drilled so itd have to be an over flow box. What stops me here though is that ive read alot of bad things about overflow boxes suction stopping. Also the overflow/sump/plumbing would be about 10 times the price of sponges.
 
KaiserSousay;4465324; said:
Theyre all in one fish room, which would make using a large, central blower possible...thankfully.

That is a major plus.
Next question would be, how important is esthetics to you?
I was thinking,
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f20/my-diy-hamburger-mattenfilter-130387.html
These are in widespread successful use.
Click to expand...

+1

Sponges are great for bio filtration. I won't be buying any 'standard' sponge filters anymore though. After a lot of research, all of my future sponge filters will be Hamburg Mattenfilters.

Here's another site that makes kits for them. Nothing pre-made for 125's though. You could order the foam sheets and air lift tubes, or just make your own air lift tubes. Swiss Tropicals
 
You could do 3 hydor Vs... but they can be noisier than a HOB depending on how you run them... I have yet to find a SILENT air pump.

They actually do a decent job at mech filtration. I would honestly go the canister route though, I use sponge filters for additional filtration. I can hardly tell if my FX5 is on... I have to put my hand on it to feel if the motor is going it's so quiet.
 
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