Intake Tube Pre-filter

[thegundog]

Aquaclear 50 HOB in a planted 29 Gallon FW Tank.

My intake seems to be gathering plant particles and recently I noticed at my LFS a sponge type pre-filter (don't recall who made it) that you slip over the tube intake to eliminate small fry and debris from being sucked into your filter.

Sounds like a pretty good idea and for $2.47 not a costly decision... But as I pondered the item I am concerned that the sponge could get clogged over and the filter might not receive sufficient water flow to the point it would not filter the water and maybe even burn up the filter motor for lack of water flow.

Is this sponge a good intake option?

[librarygirl]

I'm not sure but I'm using one too lol Inititally I tried it b/c the filter outtake seemed to have created a lot of small bubbles when hitting the water, even the filter at at the lowest setting and water level raised (I have an AquaClear 20). I've since found another solution but before that I bought a small sponge filter insert replacement (I think it's for a Fluval but not sure) -- a round cylindrical sponge with a hole in it. I put it over the intake and it's still there. I haven't noticed any reduced flow so I'm guessing it's ok.

[toddnbecka]

I use the penguin powerhead reverse-flow replacement sponges for prefilters on all my power filter intakes. They're coarse enough that they don't clog too quickly, and I clean them weekly.

[Crepe]

I've got one on my fluval canister. They're great. It's turned into an algae scrubber more than anything lol. It's completely black with BBA! But not a speck of it on anything else in the tank so I'm happy.