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Sponge Filters - I must learn!

971 Views 11 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  phishphood, 
D
Hmmmm, I bought some small plecos one got in the filter and munched... I know many breeders use sponge filters when small fish are present.

So if you could educate me on how they work and suggest some brands, that would be great. FYI this would be going in a 10 Gallon tank. Thanks a ton.

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After some quick research, looks like these "Lustar Hydro-Sponge Filter" are the sponge filter. How are they powered... please discuse.
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E
Most are powered by an airstone. The airstone causes water to lift up in the tube and thereby causes a slight suction around the sponge that pulls debris towards it.

You can also find powerhead powered sponge filters...they have better mechanical filtration and I bet your plecos would be safe.

Another alternative is to use a sponge pre-filter for whatever filter you're using now.
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D
Any specific brands that are better, and were would i find them online? - specifically the power head ones
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Z
Question about using an airpump to power a sponge filter. I always thought that airstones/airpumps putting oxygen into the water was bad for the plants, which is why we inject CO2.

Would using the airpump flood the tank with oxygen and degas the CO2?
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tazcrash69
zabak80 said:
Question about using an airpump to power a sponge filter. I always thought that airstones/airpumps putting oxygen into the water was bad for the plants, which is why we inject CO2.

Would using the airpump flood the tank with oxygen and degas the CO2?
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It's the surface turbulence caused by the bubbles that get oxygen into the water, and off gasses CO2.
A reasonably planted, well growing tank will have more Oxygen in the water than any number of airpumps could ever produce. The reason for this is that is turbulence will try to get the water into equilibrium with the atmosphere which only has about ~21% Oxygen.

As far as power head filters, I've used this:


on my hagen power heads, and have been happy.
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bulrush
I got my sponge filters from www.kensfish.com. Good prices and fairly priced shipping, and he always throws in a sample of food. I mean a big sample, not a tiny 1/2 teaspoon sample.
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D
Nice! How are these hagen powerheads? I bought some eheim ones and man they are terrible... nothing but disappointing! Also the Maxi Jet ones have good reviews as well. Anyone that has used both perhaps?

Can the Hagen ones go submerged? Looks as if the maxi jet ones have suction cups for that. I would have that as a plus... anyways thx for opinions and such will be lookin forward to reading this again.
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tazcrash69
To my knowledge, they must be submerged, the impeller must be underwater.

Never owned a Maxi-jet.
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H
What about sticking a sponge over the intake of your filter. This is what i have done and so far it seems to work great.

Here is what I did. I took one of these, and widened the hole enough with a knife that it would fit over the intake of my XP3. I have been using it for month now with no problems.



link

The other trick that might work is that you could attach pantyhose over the intake of the filter.
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D
Because they are climbing up the overflow! LOL The filter I have now even when clean does't have the flow to knock them down. They can't get in the intake. :icon_smil
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H
Diablos said:
Because they are climbing up the overflow! LOL The filter I have now even when clean does't have the flow to knock them down. They can't get in the intake. :icon_smil
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lol. I can see where my suggestion might not be too helpful.

I had a SAE that like to try and swim up the outflow of my HOB too, Luckily he never made it inside.
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P
Diablos...maxijets have one of the greatest reputations in the saltwater world for being darn near everlasting. They can be run either fully submerged, or external, or half-half.

For the filters, if all you want is mechanical filtration, then toss a sponge on a powerhead intake and you'll collect a lot of stuff. Same thing if you put it on a regular filter intake.
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