Sponge Filtration

Raithan Ellis

Raithan Ellis

I'm only crabby due to lack of beer
Jan 24, 2002
240
1
0
Pennsylvania
www.flickr.com
I would like to know about peoples experience with different air-powered sponges in use as a means of primary filtration, mainly in barebottom breeding/growout environments.

I'll be using a GAST diaphram vaccum pump, 60psi/1.2CFM. It's not a huge amount of air, however I am only looking to run maybe 10-14 tanks from it if possible.

What brand/type of sponges would you recommend for my new fishroom? Also, how many tanks would you speculate that I can run from this pump?

Cheers,
Raithan O. Ellis
 
Well, first off I hate air-driven filterss because they are not silent, and the pumps driving them are worse. But I do use them for small fry and certain breeeding setups (my shrimp-breeding experiments currently in process right now, also rainbow hatching tanks).

The bad news is that my favorite air-driven sponges are no longer available - the Tetra Brilliant/Billi filters, singles and doubles. I do have a subtantial stock of them, so I am okay for some time. I have heard rumors that Hagen is taking over the production of that item, but I have no more info than that.

An alternate system that I have been wanting to try but have not as yet is the Hamburg Mattenfilter. All the history and articles are in German excepting one, author-approved translation is available:

http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/mattenfilter.shtml

HTH
 
That Mattenfilter does look interesting, however I'm aiming for more mechanical than biological. The purpose is breeding and growout tanks, and I wouldn't be able to do the water changes necessary for such a setup on our smaller well water system. More or less, I'm trying to remove the organics before they breakdown.

If I can find some suitable sponge material, I will certainly give the Mattenfilter a shot in one of my tanks and let you know how it progresses with photos! *think I got a new DIY project* Yay!

Does anyone have experience with those cubic sponges that are often on AquaBid?
 
Alright, I'm currently using a sponge filter in my 10 gallon breeding tank. The problem is, that I used marbles for substrate to save the fry / eggs from being eaten when the parents first spawn. I was hesitant to remove the marbles in case I would crush a small fry. Well, it's been two months and most are big enough to knock around the marbles themselves, but there are still tiny ones that swim through the marbles. Problem is that sponge filters are not powerful enough to clean up all the stuff from all over the tank. So the area around the sponge filter is nice and clean, but the rest of the tank is quite dirty. I know have brown algae all over the sides, heater, and marbles. I attempted to siphon out the waste but I ended up sucking in a couple of fish, making quite a mess both inside, and outside my tank, and it drains about 50% of the tank water in under one minute!! I have to hand pick out all the marbles very gently to avoid killing any fry, which takes FOREVER. So, if you're going barebottom, you should not have as much trouble as I am having but the filter is just not powerful enough to clean up after the fish!
 
That's pretty pricey! For how many tanks do you want to use it for? Because the GPM is pretty large.. eep.. it'd be overkill for small tanks (>25 gallons).
 
Depends on the pump you use, I suppose.
 
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