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Washing intake filter sponge
- Thread starter Rocky998
- Start date
AbbeysDad
Fish Gatherer
Yes
Yes. You can also rinse it in straight tap water, and it won’t hurt anything.
OP
OP
No,
my water has chlorine which will kill my bacteria on there
Animallover😍
Fishaholic
I just rinse it in straight tap water. Sure it kills the bacteria but there are lots more on the substrate and the plants. Never had a problem.
why risk it...wash it in tank water
OP
OP
I would but I'm not going to do a water change, even a small one cause it'll mess up the natural nitrite levels that need to come down on their own. So cant I just dechlorinate tap water to wash it?
You could...
OP
OP
For some reason I feel like I'd be hearing some hesitancy in your voice if we were talking face to face...
It’s just the sponge for the intake. It’s not like you’re rinsing your main media in tap water.
DoubleDutch
Fish Gatherer
If you're still in the cyclingproces simply don't wash it.
AbbeysDad
Fish Gatherer
There is a common misconception in the hobby that beneficial bacteria only lives in the filter. There is another misconception that you have to have commercial bio-media, be it ceramic, plastic, or lava type rock) for bio-media colonies. Still another misconception is that there is beneficial bacteria in the water.
All of these are just plain false. Beneficial bacteria colonies develop on every hard surface in the tank. The glass, the decor, and especially in the substrate. You'll note that commercial bio-media marketing will rate their products based on surface area. How much surface area do you think is on, and in, the substrate - be it gravel or sand?!?!
Even though this new tank is cycling, and even though the filter is a nice place for beneficals' to develop, cleaning an inlet filter sponge would have little impact. (but see below).
Also, as far as partial water changes during cycling, you want to keep ammonia and nitrite levels to a minimum. Oh, you want them, but ammonia and nitrite at higher levels are toxic to beneficial bacteria as they are to fish and inverts. Now bacteria is very resilient, known to survive dormancy for years, but to expedite cycling we want the ppm to stay low giving the colonies time to develop.
Now having long windily written all of that, I'd leave the intake sponge alone unless it was dramatically reducing the flow through the filter - OH, and regarding the flow through the filter, a slow flow is much better than a very fast flow as a slow flow improves beneficial bacteria efficiency (again unlike the filtration myths of our time).
If it’s too clogged up, the pump inside the filter won’t receive enough water, and may try the motor.
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