Sponge Filter Or External

[sara213]

I have a Tetra whisper 70ex for my 55g tank, however I was thinking about changing the filter to a <a href="http/www.bigalsonline.ca/Fish_Filters_Sponge-Filters_Breeder-Sponge-Filter_9206529_102.html?tc=fish">sponge filter.</a>

What are the disadvantages and advantages of these filters?


any suggestions of other filters too is fine.

 

[blue acara]

Sponge filters are excellent. They are cheap, they are great bio filters, they are perfect for fry tanks. Easy to clean and easily transferable to other tanks. Personally I use sponge filters on all my tanks.

 

[sara213]

Sponge filters are excellent. They are cheap, they are great bio filters, they are perfect for fry tanks. Easy to clean and easily transferable to other tanks. Personally I use sponge filters on all my tanks.

I like that they are cheap Do you use any other items when you have a sponge filter (ie) carbon, things like that? or you just have the filter itself and place it in the tank and that is it? right?

 

[rifty]

look into mattern hamburg sponge filters

 

[blue acara]

I like that they are cheap Do you use any other items when you have a sponge filter (ie) carbon, things like that? or you just have the filter itself and place it in the tank and that is it? right?

All you need to run a sponge filter is an air pump and air tubing line stuff(at least with the sponge filters I use). You cant run carbon filters with sponge, but I have never used or needed carbon filtration anyway.

I use Huey hung sponge filters. here look under equipment then filters air.

 

[OldMan47]

A significant number of my tanks run sponge filters only. I just returned from a fish convention where the people from Swiss Tropicals were promoting their product called Poret foam. They had done something a bit different from what most of us do. They installed a thick sheet of foam across the end of a tank and used an air lift to move water from one side to the other. The end result was that they treated the whole end of their tank as the filter housing and were pulling water into it from the other side of the foam. The whole flow pattern was quite impressive when I could see it in person. Please note, this approach is a bit pricy compared to most of the filters that I use.

 

[rifty]

A significant number of my tanks run sponge filters only. I just returned from a fish convention where the people from Swiss Tropicals were promoting their product called Poret foam. They had done something a bit different from what most of us do. They installed a thick sheet of foam across the end of a tank and used an air lift to move water from one side to the other. The end result was that they treated the whole end of their tank as the filter housing and were pulling water into it from the other side of the foam. The whole flow pattern was quite impressive when I could see it in person. Please note, this approach is a bit pricy compared to most of the filters that I use.

thats mattern hamburg filteration what where the prices like for the foam please?

 

[OldMan47]

According to their site's advertising materials, the amount needed for a 10 to 20 gallon tank would set you back about $22 in the US plus a shipping charge. You would have to add the price of an air pump to that. As I said earlier, it is not an economy approach to filtration, although I am encouraged by what I saw being demonstrated. I did buy a pre-assembled filter made from a cube of some of the foam and mounted on a ceramic tile. It more closely resembles a traditional sponge filter and I got it fairly cheaply, at auction prices instead of retail prices. I will be trying it out in one of my tanks to get a feel for the actual performance, instead of the sales pitch that I got at the convention, for the filter material.

 

[sara213]

So, let me ask this question does anyone have a power head attached to the sponge filter?


I think i'm going to go get one today at my LFS later on in the day....

 

[OldMan47]

I have lots of sponges that are driven by power heads. They work out rather well but should not be considered as somehow providing better filtration than the air driven filters. Either way, the effective surface area of the sponge determines the bio-filtration, not the flow rates.

 

[bullit]

A significant number of my tanks run sponge filters only. I just returned from a fish convention where the people from Swiss Tropicals were promoting their product called Poret foam. They had done something a bit different from what most of us do. They installed a thick sheet of foam across the end of a tank and used an air lift to move water from one side to the other. The end result was that they treated the whole end of their tank as the filter housing and were pulling water into it from the other side of the foam. The whole flow pattern was quite impressive when I could see it in person. Please note, this approach is a bit pricy compared to most of the filters that I use.

When i was at mikesrift the other month he was using this method in all his tanks. On a 6 foot tank he had the sponge one either side and used powerheads with each. Defo the way forward on fishrooms.

Couldnt japanese matting for pond filters be used aswell?

 

[OldMan47]

I am sure that some form of matting could be used as a biofilter. Actually anything with lots of surface area can work just fine. In canister filters I use all manner of materials including plastic pot scrubbers for biological filtration. One of the best bio filters for a canister happens to be that plastic pot scrubber. It has an enormous surface to volume ratio compared to almost any commercial filter media.