filter sponge?

[chefbill]

I have a 29g biocube with a fuge in the 2nd chamber. There is a filter sponge between the return pump and the fuge. It is a pretty coarse material. My question is should it stay or should it go? Like I said, it's coarse, but coarse enough for 'pods to travel?

 

[chefbill]

bump bump

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Is it there to serve as a bubble trap?

 

[chefbill]

no idea, I never considered that. Should I remove it and see what happens? Doubt any chaeto will enter DT, it is stuck together well.

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

no idea, I never considered that. Should I remove it and see what happens? Doubt any chaeto will enter DT, it is stuck together well.

You could... Any pics you could post?

 

[Morangus]

It's probably there for a bubble trap. I've seen those in a few premade sumps at my LFS but I wondered how much flow they'd restrict over time as they get gunked up?

 

[chefbill]

It's probably there for a bubble trap. I've seen those in a few premade sumps at my LFS but I wondered how much flow they'd restrict over time as they get gunked up?

That is exactly what made me wonder. I did my WC and removed ~50% of my chaeto, then pulled the sponge to clean it, and saw it was very gunked up. Now, gunk removal is great, but why have a refugium if the pods can not pass through to the DT?

 

[chefbill]

You could... Any pics you could post?

Not sure what you want a pic of, this is simply a coarse sponge between the fuge and the return pump.

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Not sure what you want a pic of, this is simply a coarse sponge between the fuge and the return pump.

Just didn't know if it stood upright, laid down, etc... That's all.

 

[chefbill]

No way to ge a pic of it 'in situ', so I'll do my best to describe it. At the bottem of the seperating wall, there is a box like holder for the sponge. The sponge itselfis roughly 3x3x1 and fits into to holder. Link to the actual sponge JBJ 28 Gallon Nano Cube HQI - Replacement Sponge

 

[chefbill]

ok, update. removing the sponge caused a ton of bubbles as well as several (a dozen at least) small fragments of chaeto to enter the DT. Also a fair amount of gunk.

This begs the question: when doing aWC, siphon out the fuge or leave as is as pod food?

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

ok, update. removing the sponge caused a ton of bubbles as well as several (a dozen at least) small fragments of chaeto to enter the DT. Also a fair amount of gunk.

This begs the question: when doing aWC, siphon out the fuge or leave as is as pod food?

If it were me, I would clean the sponge when doing a WC, rinse it with old tank water. This will get the bigger pieces of gunk off, but will not destroy the bacteria. As long as the pods can navigate through it, keep using it as a bubble trap.

 

[carey]

Its there to prevent any gunk from going into the return pump.

I left mine in there, just gotta rinse it when you do tank maintenance..

 

[Morangus]

So what are people doing with these homemade sumps out of 40b? I don't see any sponges in those sumps?

 

[carey]

I use a filter sock on all my tanks, it catches the debris that might harm the pump.

 

[Morangus]

Ah yes! I forgot about the sock...