please see the picture at the beginning of the thread.
I would try to use a lot more sponge than that just to give the bacteria more surface to colonize.
Can a good powerhead with the sponge replace any other filter in a small tank?
- Thread starter smyke
- Start date
please see the picture at the beginning of the thread.
I would try to use a lot more sponge than that just to give the bacteria more surface to colonize.
I agree with Cory Keeper. A sponge filter is a great biological and terrible mechanical filter. However, this design would make a great supplemental filter.
^ didn't read every word, but agree that sponges have very limited capacity for "junk", making them, at best, so-so mechanical filters. The solution to this problem is simple enough - cut power to sponge filter, yank sponge, squeeze junk out of it, swish it around a little in a shallow bowl of tank water, put it back in tank - no need to replace until it's falling apart. You can do this in ~30 seconds. If you don't have anything in the tank that's small enough to get sucked into the PH, you need not cut power to it.
DAVIDFBT
Extinct? Since when?
oh sorry didnt catch that, i have two huge diy sponge filter in my qt and that is good enough for 40 in my opinion
I only run one sponged intake powerhead- it is on my zebra pleco breeding tank and is there for basically two reason. The first is current and the second if for mechanical filtration. The tank has two other filters in addition to the powerhead.
Basically sponges differ in terms of pore size- ie coarse and fine. The finer the sponge, the faster it will clog up with mech. waste. I normally use coarse sponges for prefilter applications as well as in power filters along with a finer sponge. The sponge on a PH intake is basically a prefilter.
Prefilters are great for helping keep water clear but not so great as bio filters due to the clogging. Prefilters should be rinsed/cleaned weekly for two reasons. The 1st is to remove the trapped wastes before they break down and return to the tank. The 2nd is to prevent them from impeding the intake flow. On all pumps, filters, powerheads etc it is a bad idea to block the intake to cut down flow. Flow reduction should always occur on the output side.
The sponged powehead has many useful appilications, but one of them is not replacing a proper filter with a less expensive item that isn't a true filter.
Basically sponges differ in terms of pore size- ie coarse and fine. The finer the sponge, the faster it will clog up with mech. waste. I normally use coarse sponges for prefilter applications as well as in power filters along with a finer sponge. The sponge on a PH intake is basically a prefilter.
Prefilters are great for helping keep water clear but not so great as bio filters due to the clogging. Prefilters should be rinsed/cleaned weekly for two reasons. The 1st is to remove the trapped wastes before they break down and return to the tank. The 2nd is to prevent them from impeding the intake flow. On all pumps, filters, powerheads etc it is a bad idea to block the intake to cut down flow. Flow reduction should always occur on the output side.
The sponged powehead has many useful appilications, but one of them is not replacing a proper filter with a less expensive item that isn't a true filter.
thank you all for your input, with all this in mind I just purchased the Jebo 828 on ebay for under $70 shipped. I know its not the best canister out there but I read a lot of good reviews on it and it definitely fit my budget.
