who runs sponge filter only on tanks?

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skillzizzo

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Feb 18, 2007
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Mesa - Arizona
whats up guys. I was just in one of my local fish stores earlier ever single tank that they have that are 40 gallons or less are run by sponge filters only. I am curious to how many people on here run tanks lets say 29 gallons or bigger with nothing except sponge filters. Seems like a pretty piss poor way to filter a tank. And if there is any thing in there of significant size it seems like the water quility will get pretty poor pretty quick. So what size tank do you or have you run sponge filters only on, whats the stock, What are or were the paramiters and what was the water change schedule. I have a 29 gallon i run 2 hydor II sponge filters on. But the only thing i use it for is to keep like 20 small feeders goldys in with salt, and high temp to get rid of any thing they might have for a month or so before feeding and i dont bother to pay attention to the water paramiter is a waste of my test strips or liquids. I do a 5 gallon a day water change on it every other day when it is running and clean the bottom exc. And the sponges for the hydor II and the rena filstar prefilters i use on my 2 ac110 on one of my 75's are the same so i just take um of and transfere to the sponge filters for bb when i set it up pretty convenient on that actually. i wish i had of know they used the same exact sponges before.
 
I run sponges on most of my tanks. They typically stay cleaner than my canister or sump filtered tanks.
 
Thanks for the reply it is appreciated. Oviously you are a moderator here and have tons of use full information to share. I would like to know simply what is the biggest tank you have running with sponge filters, what size sponge filters the stock and the maintence schedule if you wouldnt mind sharing your knowledge. And thank you
 
let me see if I can break this down

9-10 gallon tanks with small blue sponge filters. They are the little blue triangle one found at just about any LFS.
Stocking - Anything from livebearer groups to grow out fry from my breeders. Anywhere between 2-40 fish.
Water changes every couple of weeks.

3-40 Gallon tanks
Water changes every couple of weeks.
#1 Three 3-4" compressiceps
#2 Group of 6 live bearers
#3 Qty 8 3-4" flowerhorns.


In the past, I have had 55G tanks filtered with two hydro sponge filters with close to 25-30 fish in the tank. Sponge filter are a lot more effective than most people believe.
 
Sponge filters are pretty good. I had a friend that ran 10 sponge filters on a 300gallon tank. He did have a sump but yeah. I also run a sponge filter in my tanks along with canister filters.
 
I was skeptical of the effectiveness of sponge filter only tanks also.But I meet a guy that runs #4 sponges in his growout vats which are atleast 120 gallons I think he had atleast 3 per vat and his fish all looked big and healthy.
 
let me see if I can break this down

9-10 gallon tanks with small blue sponge filters. They are the little blue triangle one found at just about any LFS.
Stocking - Anything from livebearer groups to grow out fry from my breeders. Anywhere between 2-40 fish.
Water changes every couple of weeks.

3-40 Gallon tanks
Water changes every couple of weeks.
#1 Three 3-4" compressiceps
#2 Group of 6 live bearers
#3 Qty 8 3-4" flowerhorns.


In the past, I have had 55G tanks filtered with two hydro sponge filters with close to 25-30 fish in the tank. Sponge filter are a lot more effective than most people believe.

Thanks again. I can c the ten gallons with small fish being affective i mean thats what most people use them on as tanks with only sponge filters. the 40 gallon with 8 3-4 inch flower horns run with sponge filter is more what i am looking for that is a equavilant to more then a full size huge 15 inch flower horn in a 40 gallon run by nothing but sponge filtering. I beleive what you are saying just is super crazy to me that it is even possible to work right. The thing that gets me about them is there is no water turn over it just sits there and forments. And the fact that sponges are not the best for holding bb to begin with no matter what kind of filtration. thanks for sharing.

Sponge filters are pretty good. I had a friend that ran 10 sponge filters on a 300gallon tank. He did have a sump but yeah. I also run a sponge filter in my tanks along with canister filters.

Thanks for your input. Alot of people run them along with other filters doesnt really show the results of what the sponge filters do thow. Unless they are the only form of filtration and is what i am focusing on here. Apreciate your responce thow. On a side note to that i have been thinking about adding one to every one of my tanks simply for if the power goes out the baterie operated air pumps will still keep them running and have bb in the tank. But isnt the topic of conversation thanks again
 
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