Sqeezin the sponge?

[Caliban07]

I was just wondering how effective squeezing a filter sponge over another is. I read that the slime coating that the bacteria lay down is extremely resilient and even a pressure washer could not remove them.

I can understand putting the seeded media directly into the filter or the water but I'm can't see What squeezing actually achieves.

Anyone know why we do this?

Cheers

 

[wildroseofky]

I started another small tank and just squeezed the sponge from my 29 gallon tank into the new filter. Had a cycled tank in a week. I usually keep extra seeded material in my main tank in case I need some for a new tank but I had used all the extra seeding material and wanted to get the new one started. I also smacked the old sponge into the new filter material. There is a build up in my old sponge so I thought it would contain a lot of the beneficial bacteria. It must have worked because by the next evening I was getting Nitrite and Nitrate readings. I added snails and shrimp to the tank to keep the bacteria fed until I got the new tank inhabitants. It was the easiest tank I have every set up. No issues with algae or anything. Everything in the tank was new so I know there was no bacteria present before I squeezed out the old filter media into the new filter so it must have worked.

 

[Caliban07]

Interesting! Thanks bud. Sounds like it definitely does work! Has always bugged me that.

 

[jlk]

I actually dump all the water I use to clean my filter media into my pond filter for a few weeks in the spring when it recycles. Rarely, if ever, see any spikes in toxins. I have also experimented with this in my qt tank and it works every time. Not that you should expect this to handle 4ppm of ammonia but it definitely helps jump start the process.

 

[Fishfur]

No question that sponge squeezings and floss rinsings contain enough bacteria to cycle a filter in a matter of days. It's true the BB do stick to the surfaces they colonize, but quite a few come off when you rinse out media, and if you need them to speed up a cycle, they're terrific at doing that.

Rinsings from a friend's filter stopped a steep nitrite spike in 36 hours once poured into my tank.. though now I pour them into the filter itself, to save having to clean the crud off the tank bottom. Fully cycled in two days, 29 G tank.

 

[Caliban07]

Thanks Jlk and that's awesome fishfur. Two AA colossus sharing advice there! Excellent but what exactly do you mean by rinsing. Do you mean pouring old tank water through the sponge into the new filter?

Another quick question off original topic. Do Cory's carry on hunting at night?

 

[Fishfur]

When I say rinsings, what I mean is tank water that's been used to clean any sort of filter media from a mature filter. Whether the media has been swished, squeezed out or whatever in the water, by the time you finish with a dirty filter, that water can be really disgusting looking. But it will have a load of BB in it, and so I pour those rinsings into a filter and that does the trick.

Might have to clean the filter a bit sooner than you would have otherwise, but it's a small price to pay for the fast cycle you get.

My cories are active most of the time but they do appear to be more active at night, like the kuhli loaches are. They do much of their hunting by night. If I watch the tank in the dark, [ no moonlights], I see the albino ones busy as can be, all over the place.

 

[Hobgob]

Cories are nocturnal... They hunt at night. And like mentioned above. BB will always come off when you rinse. For my sponge filters I pour my rinsed water through the sponge. So the water has to travel through the sponge and in theory bb gets trapped. All my other hob filters and canisters I just pour right in it.