Major trouble assembling sponge filter!

[FishieKeeper429]

I bought a biologically active sponge filter and I'm immensely confused. I called the company that makes them and he just repeated what the instructions that I couldn't figure out said. I put an airline tube through the lift tube and put the lift tube in the hole in the filter. It is bubbling and such but it's making weird noises and bubbling out of the lift tube so I have a feeling that something went wrong. Does anyone know how to assemble these?????


46g Red tailed shark tank
10g Betta and Ember Tetras
10g Betta breeding tank
5g Female Betta Sorority
5g Male Breeder Betta
5g Crayfish

 

[PassengerTN]

Looks fine to me, except your water level needs to be higher.

Jesse

 

[FishieKeeper429]

Looks fine to me, except your water level needs to be higher.

Jesse

It's low for breeding purposes. It's 15cm deep.


46g Red tailed shark tank
10g Betta and Ember Tetras
10g Betta breeding tank
5g Female Betta Sorority
5g Male Breeder Betta
5g Crayfish

 

[PassengerTN]

I could be wrong, but if you don't have water flowing out the tube, you're not getting suction of water through the sponge, not to mention no aeration/gas exchange.

Jesse

 

[Brookster123]

Water needs to be above lift tube for that filter to work properly.

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[FishieKeeper429]

Can I cut the lift tube down?


46g Red tailed shark tank
10g Betta and Ember Tetras
10g Betta breeding tank
5g Female Betta Sorority
5g Male Breeder Betta
5g Crayfish

 

[PassengerTN]

No reason you couldn't cut it. Most store bought sponge filters I have seen have a telescoping tube. You'll have a "sweet spot" where the flow is the best. You're still gonna have to raise the water level

Jesse

 

[FishieKeeper429]

Yeah, I'm going to raise it by probably 1.5 gallons and cutting the tube down a bit. Thanks!


46g Red tailed shark tank
10g Betta and Ember Tetras
10g Betta breeding tank
5g Female Betta Sorority
5g Male Breeder Betta
5g Crayfish

 

[ScotJudd]

Ideally the sponge need to be near to the bottom and the top of the tube submerged by at least one inch. The longer the tube the better the flow of water through the sponge so don't cut it too short. An air stone on the end of the air pipe, smaller than the diameter of the tube also helps lift by producing a stream of bubbles rather than individual bubbles.


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