Pre-Filter Sponges. Is anything else really needed?

[A201]

As noted on another thread, I recently installed two Marineland pre-filter sponges on my Emperor 450 & 400 bio wheel filters.

I was in disbelief on how well the sponges cleared up the water, literally over night.

All my Marineland Emperors have long since been modified with ceramic and sponge media. I clean the media about four times a year. It's gets plenty dirty.

I'm guessing the pre-filter sponges will strain out the majority of the bio gunk particles that normally reach the filter box. That leads me to this question:

Is any other variety of filter media, or filtration in general, really needed when a pre-filter sponge is installed on the intake tube of a power filter.

I think that's a valid question, considering the addition of the pre-filter sponge inadvertently converts the HOB filter into a super charged sponge filter.

Many of the YouTube fishkeeper gurus exclusively use XL sponge filter systems to mange their multiple tank setups. According to the experts it's economical, complete filtration.

Then why are we buying sophisticated, expensive canister filters & Hob's?

I'm not about to empty my media boxes yet, but could an appropriately sized pre-filter sponge installed on an Hob or power head, do the job without any additional variety of filtration?

I've known about pre-filter sponges for quite some time, but I refrained from buying one due to the bulky shapes offered. A huge cylinder or box shaped sponge hanging from an intake tube did not appeal to me.
Marineland finally developed a sleek rectangular sponge that is a better fit.

IMO, a properly installed and sized pre-filter sponge is likely as good as or better than any other type of filtration. Not to mention a whole lot cheaper.

What do you all think?

 

[DaveSch]

If you have a situation where you want fast flowing water, say for hillstream loaches, a sponge filter isn't going to do it. On the other hand, a sponge filter is great for fish that do not do well in a strong flow, such as bettas.

Also, as you mentioned, many sponge filters take up a fair amount of space and can be difficult to hide.

I do understand where you're coming from though. I have two tanks with canister filters and each has a pre-filter sponge. The amount of gunk in the canisters is amazingly low even after 3 or 4 months so it seems that the canisters aren't totally necessary. But, canisters and HOBs do provide extra places for beneficial bacteria to live so I see that as a plus, especially if the tank is heavily stocked.

 

[kallililly1973]

We did something similar with a breeder box that runs off an air pump when we were breeding Cory . It was a Marineland breeder box with an intake tube so we wrapped polyfill around that and had plants living in the breeder box itself and had another small cutout of polyfill on the “return/waterfall” side so anything the intake took up it was held in the breeder box. It was small. But definitely made cleaning the tank much easier instead of trying to siphon out a 5 gallon and freaking out 25-30 Cory fry. So I think if I’m understanding you correctly. Just having a prefilter on the intake with no media inside could definitely work. But as I mentioned we had polyfill on the return side so it would contain any sediment that made it past the intake prefilter.

 

[BlackOsprey]

You have to remember that filters aren't solely for mechanical filtration/water clarity. Removing particles from your sight is something filters can do, but their most important function is to host bacteria that detoxify nitrogenous waste. Almost every medium in a filter is to provide more surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow on. The more media you have, the more bacteria. The more bacteria, the more bioload you can have in a tank.

For people with heavily stocked tanks (especially if they don't have plants to help eat nitrogenous waste), it's essential to have as much beneficial bacteria as possible. The amount of sponge filter that some bioloads would require is considerable and not compatible with many people's vision of a display tank.

Some folks also simply favor having a filter they can service without getting elbow-deep in the aquarium itself.

I also would not recommend you dump out your filter media. Most pre-filter sponges aren't especially large, as their main function is mechanical filtration and/or preventing fry/shrimp deaths. From the sound of it, your sponge isn't that big either.

Removing surface area from your filter doesn't benefit your aquarium's environment in any way I know of. At best it's neutral. At worst, you risk destabilizing your tank's cycle. It's always good to have more than what you need, since a large buffer zone can help your water stay non-toxic in the event of an ammonia spike caused by something like a fish death.

tl;dr: prefilter sponge only COULD work but idk why you would do it. You'd probably be better off attaching a powerhead to a proper sponge filter rather than just relying on the slimmer prefilters.

 

[A201]

I totally agree with all the replies. I thought this topic would be fun to discuss.

 

[SparkyJones]

I run a prefilter sponge on my wet/dry filter for years now and wouldn't do it without it.

This keeps out food and waste junk from my wet/dry which keeps it far less "buggy" and free of mulm.fine particulates that make it past the sponge prefilter wind up in the wet/dry but it's miniscule. I rinse the prefilter sponge daily and put it back. Which also seems to work. Overall I have a ton of surface area in the wet/dry filter for biological filtration and fine mechanical filtration, while the sponge prefilter is catching the big stuff.

Works for me. Maybe my prefilter sponge is doing something for biological filtration, but I'm not relying on it for that and wouldn't trust it to do it for my bioload. Heck maybe my tank could do it itself its been running for a decade plus now, but I wouldn't trust to run without a filter at all.

 

[A201]

SparkyJones
Remember the days before the power filters, when air pump powered charcoal and floss bubblers were the only source of filtration.

Our tanks were successful totally due to the benificial bacteria growth that formed on the decor and substrate, and the gentle current provided by the bubbler.

I'm sure that after ten years of continued operation your tank likely has a huge benificial bacteria population, which would easily be kept alive with only the use of a couple of power heads to aerate the water. No filters needed.

I'm in the same boat. My tanks have been up and running for 26 & 10 years respectively. I'm not ditching my power filters either. Lol.

 

[Fishfur]

When I started out with fish, the 29G tank had an HOB but all there was in it was charcoal & floss made of fibreglass - and there was a UGF. This would be around 1967ish.

When I cleaned the HOB, everything got tossed & replaced. But the UGF only got cleaned once a year or even less often.

The poor fish would spend a few hours in a bucket & I’d scrub the glass & wash the grids & why any fish survived that I don’t know.

I’m quite sure the UGF was the reason that tossing out all the filter media from the HOB didn’t cause any issues.

When I think of how little I knew then compared to now, it seems almost impossible that I didn’t lose fish on a regular basis but I didn’t. My angelfish pair and a kuhli loach were at least 13 years old when I sold all the fish, because I just didn’t have enough time for them.

 

[A201]

Yeah, back in the 1960's there wasn't much information about benificial bacteria & cycling a tank.

Even if there was information available, being a little boy at the time, it's doubtful I would have read it, or even understood it. Too many other things to do. Lol.

I remember my mom cleaning my small steel rimmed tank with dish soap. I don't know how my Tiger Barbs and Zebra Danios survived, but they did.

 

[Fishfur]

Yeah, back in the 1960's there wasn't much information about benificial bacteria & cycling a tank.

Even if there was information available, being a little boy at the time, it's doubtful I would have read it, or even understood it. Too many other things to do. Lol.

I remember my mom cleaning my small steel rimmed tank with dish soap. I don't know how my Tiger Barbs and Zebra Danios survived, but they did.

The information about the nitrogen cycle as it pertains to aquariums didn’t become well known until more than 2 decades after the mid sixties.

Even if we hadn’t been kids, that info wasn’t something we would have been able to find.

 

[A201]

Back then "aged" was the word for "cycled".

I still occasionally use that term "aged".

 

[bgarthe]

I use the word “aged” when describing myself.

All my HOBs have prefilter sponges for sure. As was said, the filter also provides bio filtration. For me, cleaning out a HOB once in a great while is better than more frequently. Those prefilter sponges are SO easy to pull off and clean compared to whole HOBs or canisters. And…they really keep the mechanical gunk minimal in the filter proper. Lastly, the prefilter sponges really help to keep sand/gravel from getting into the impeller and causing trouble. I also can keep my nano fish safe from being sucked up.

 

[SparkyJones]

SparkyJones
Remember the days before the power filters, when air pump powered charcoal and floss bubblers were the only source of filtration.

Our tanks were successful totally due to the benificial bacteria growth that formed on the decor and substrate, and the gentle current provided by the bubbler.

I'm sure that after ten years of continued operation your tank likely has a huge benificial bacteria population, which would easily be kept alive with only the use of a couple of power heads to aerate the water. No filters needed.

I'm in the same boat. My tanks have been up and running for 26 & 10 years respectively. I'm not ditching my power filters either. Lol.

I can say this with certainty, during a hurricane a few years back and the power out for almost 3 weeks. I didn't lose a single fish without a operating filter or any means of power for the house to cool. I just stopped feeding until the power came on figuring that was about all I could do. that time of year my cold tap water was coming out at 90F or higher (august) unless it's 4AM, so it's not going to help. I believe it could work, I really wouldn't rely on it though unless I had to, especially since I'm overstocking on a tank.

 

[Sewerrat]

I think a pre filter sponge would be enough for a lightly stocked tank but why bother having a hang on back then. As far a sponge filters they grow plenty of bacteria (know people that use them as only filtration in bristlenose tanks) when I was breeding mystery snails would have about a hundred in a 29 gallon with a single small sponge filter. Unfortunately sponge filters don't do enough mechanical filtration for tanks with larger fish.