The Woefully Underappreciated Sponge Filter

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I bred Discus, Malawi Peacocks and Tanganyikan Cichlids for some time, and all I ever used in the growout tanks were DIY sponge filters. They worked wonderfully! A piece of the old girlfriend's stocking, a few river pebbles in the bottom for weight, tubing to the bottom, pack with pillow batting, tie the top with monofilament fishing line, done.

I just built a river style sponge filter for my new pleco tank. I'll post pics once I get them transferred to it. Sponges are a great way to filter, I enjoyed the write up!
 
I love sponge filters and run at least two of them in all 19 of my tanks! I have only done "maintenance" on one Hydor sponge filter in my nearing two years of fishkeeping. I did have one Hydor 0 in a 5 gallon tank have the sponge eventually "dissolve" so I changed the sponge cover over it.

I have never had to touch the 30 - 40 bigger Hydor sponge filters that I have running in my tanks! I must obviously be doing something wrong!

What criteria do you all use to determine when to "clean" or to "replace" the sponge. I was under the impression that they rinsing the sponges was purging the benneficial bacteria from the filter!
 
I really don't clean mine that often, honestly. I give them a quick squeeze in a bucket of tank water about every 3 months. If you don't clean them, it will reduce their mechanical filtration ability (which isn't amazing to begin with), bio should be fine.
 
Thanks for the writeup, this helped me solidify what I had already been thinking.

In the interest of concealment, would there be any issues with putting a light coating of aquarium safe silicone on the vertical tube, then covering it with some kind of sand so that it would blend into the tank better? Obviously, you would have to let the silicone cure, but would there be issues that I'm not considering that might affect the filter or the beneficial bacteria?
 
i think i'm with clockwork.. i think maybe with silk plants on the tube and maybe some around the sponge it could be very close to invisible. maybe with a rock formation or a nice piece of driftwood in front of the filter.
 
sc2dave;4941267; said:
are these safe? What other sponges can be used safely for filtration?
Click to expand...

That's an interesting question. Anyone want to input on this with their DIY sponge filter setups? I've seen large pads of foam usually used in pond setups cut and used.
 
i haven't seen any DIY sponges.. but it might be interesting to investigate such things. when i was at home depot the other day i was looking at those giant sponges for the tile grout.. but i didn't buy them.
 
Somone on one of these fish forums used a big yellow sponge I dont remember where.

IMO those wont work, they are not super breathable. But would probably get the water super clear. My big sponge I can breath in and out with it on my face no problem, the grout sponge not so much.
 
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