How to clean the sponge filter?

jlroar said:

Mind you I only have river-rock as a bed in my aquarium and do not have layers of different sub-straight. I also have Goldfish in my tank.

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specifically because you have large gravel, and large poop factories for fish,
you need to vacuum much more often than the average planted tank keeper.
large quartz gravel does a poor job hosting the bacteria and microorganisms
helpful at breaking down poop and left over food, thus the junk accumulates.

if you had 3" depth of 1-4mm grain size substrate, preferably volcanic or clay,
you would not need to vacuum at all as long as you also under feed your fish.

so a tank with proper substrate should not be disturbed or the large amount
of mulm (fish & plant debris, bacteria & microorganisms) deep in the substrate
will become water bourne and disturb your fishes health, as well as temporarily
reduce the effectiveness of your substrate as a biological filtration system.


as for how to clean a spong filter - I never squeeze mine.
I place them in a half gallon jar half full of water, then
I close the lid over the jar, and shake it around a while.
I pour out the waste water, then put back the sponges.