I've heard reverse-flow is supposed to get more oxygen to the BB, so thats probably good. The only comment I've seen about slower flow rates to the BB being better was regarding a fluidized sand bed bio-filter. He said the slower flow made a huge difference, but that could just be his situation...
Sponge Filter more efficient with Powerhead or Air?
- Thread starter JK47
- Start date
Just remember kiddies, if you reverse the flow of something, don't forget to clean it first! 
**trust me**
**trust me**Ill bet its quite effective! lol I reversed my aqua clear power head once with the pre filter on it made a little mess as I recall. I wring out my sponges good once a week and they barely get any detritus on them (They are air driven)JK47;3440634; said:Just did it. It's a perfect seal, will work exactly like I needed but yeah your right, it looks like a Volkswagen just parked in my tank.
You ever get an idea and go hauling butt over to your tank, do it then stand back and go "oh crap, what did I just do..." I JUST DID! I went to check the fit for tightness and it was good so I rinsed the plumbing and hooked it right up. I forgot to ring out the sponge first.... Now my tank looks like turd soup!!!I'll be doing a water change if you guys need me... Good news is it's obviously getting some good flow judging by what it just did to my tank.
The connecting tube:
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Before shot:
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After shot:
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tcarswell;3441187; said:
Yeah I ring mine out with ever water change. This was picking up allot of mech because I put it right over my 2 plecos favorite hiding place. Turd machines!
i like the reverse power head setup it keeps the sponge from getting all clogged up air works fine to run sponge filter a power head does move more water which is nice but does make the sponge filter into more of a mech filter which clogs faster the reverse setup with a prefilter imo is the best of both worlds
tcarswell;3441282; said:
I can only do about 25% - 30% at a time because it causes stress cracks in my acrylic if I change more than that at one time. I did two WC's back to back, about 130 gallons. Tanks allot better now. I am in the process of plumbing the sump to a 55 gallon drum so I can do 50 gallon push button WC without stressing the acrylic. The 135g will get the same but mainly so I can buffer down the PH before adding the water back to the tank.
That sucked! I can't believe I pulled something so rookie! LOL!
dwilder;3441503; said:
Totally agree, wish I would have thought of it sooner. Never really been a fan of sponge filters but I don't have any canisters left so I am having to improvise in order to get ready for the next tank.
lol im sure everyones done something like that. Push button water changesJK47;3441559; said:I can only do about 25% - 30% at a time because it causes stress cracks in my acrylic if I change more than that at one time. I did two WC's back to back, about 130 gallons. Tanks allot better now. I am in the process of plumbing the sump to a 55 gallon drum so I can do 50 gallon push button WC without stressing the acrylic. The 135g will get the same but mainly so I can buffer down the PH before adding the water back to the tank.
That sucked! I can't believe I pulled something so rookie! LOL!
Kinda like flushing a toilet? Let me know how that works out I may want to give it a shot
tcarswell;3442108; said:lol im sure everyones done something like that. Push button water changes
Probably didn't represent that well in my description. I will be starting a thread about my plans soon. In short, see below.
1) Plumb a 55 gallon drum to my sump with a Rio 3100 I have as an extra. Over flow from the drum goes back to the sump just adding water volume to my system.
2) A series of ball valves will allow me to redirect the water going to the drum to go straight back to the tank. Isolating the drum so I can have free reign to change the water on the drum/let sit as long as I need to to buffer down the PH.
3) When I'm/the waters ready, redirect the water flow back to be part of the system and esecially be a WC.
It would take my tank from 225 to 280 gallons. Changing 50 gallons at a time would be an 18% WC. I would have to do changes frequently but it would stress my fish far less and I would never have to shut down my filters. No buttons but sounds fun to build and use.
