View Full Version : Sponge Filter Good?
GT3050
10-26-2003, 6:14 PM
I have a spare Optima air pump and was wondering if it is worth it to hook it up to a sponge filter. Right now I have only have a 350 magum and an emp 280 for filtration so I was thinking that it might be good to set up a sponge. Thanks for the help!
Cearbhaill
10-27-2003, 3:19 AM
I keep a sponge filter running in an established tank at all times. When I need to use a quarantine tank I pull it out and have an functional bio filter immediately.
Don't know whether you need it or not, but they are darn handy to have around.
chipstahoy
10-27-2003, 3:18 PM
how big is your tank? you pry don't need the sponge filter, but like GT said, it'd pry be helpful and beneficial. i also have one in my 30 that aids with the biological filtration and that i can take out to help cycle another tank later on (which i pry will need to do soon).
-chip
It is the only filtration I use in my 5 gallon betta tank. Are they needed? No, but extra filtration is always handy. The only problem with them is that you have to reach in the tank to do an maintenance on them unlike canister and HOB's. They aren't great if you have a planted tank with added Co2 as the surface agitation they create will make you loose all that added CO2.
GT3050
10-28-2003, 1:06 AM
thanks for the replies, my tank is a 90 gallon cichlid tank.
fisherman
10-28-2003, 2:09 AM
I use sponges for fry and for new tanks while the other (new) filter cycles. I also have one in a 5g q-tank at the moment but I plan to change to a box filter soon. The problem with sponges is that they do not perform any mechanical filtration. Great for fry or when another filter is performing the mechanical filtration, but I prefer a box for any kind of semi-long term application (I expect this q-tank to be running for a couple of months at least). Otherwise, you need to do very frequent water changes and vacs on the tank, even with a relatively light fish load.