Mr. Aquaforce
Aquarium Advice Freak
Would i just be able to use a sponge filter in a 25 gal aquarium without the need to use a powered filter?
Only using Sponge filter for 25gal?
- Thread starter Mr. Aquaforce
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You could, but a lot would depend on how many fish you have in the tank and how conscientious you are with your maintenance practices. If you have a low bioload and do weekly gravel vacuuming and water changes, then yes a sponge filter will likely develop enough of a beneficial bacteria colony to keep your biofiltration going. You would have to be very careful, though, when cleaning the sponge to avoid disturbing the nitrifying bacteria. You could reduce the risk of that by running two sponges and only cleaning one at a time.
The downside to sponge filters is that they don't provide you with a means to run chemical filtration media (if you should ever need to). If you wanted to stay with an air-driven filter, then you might consider a corner/box filter, which would allow you to add chemical media if needed. It would also allow you to keep a separate biofilter (a bag of ceramic cylinders or something like that) separate from your mechanical media (like filter floss) so that you could clean/replace the mechanical media without disturbing the biofilter.
BBradbury
Aquarium Advice Addict
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Mr...
Absolutely. A dual sponge filter run with a medium sized air pump would easily filter a small tank and wouldn't be expensive. Change out half the tank water every 3 to 4 days to stay ahead of the dissolved fish waste and you'll guarantee the fish a steady water chemistry and have no tank problems.
B
Absolutely. A dual sponge filter run with a medium sized air pump would easily filter a small tank and wouldn't be expensive. Change out half the tank water every 3 to 4 days to stay ahead of the dissolved fish waste and you'll guarantee the fish a steady water chemistry and have no tank problems.
B
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Mr. Aquaforce
Aquarium Advice Freak
Thank you for the helpful insight guys! Have a small tank with 2 year old tetras which seem to be sick with something, hasn't been in best care in the last 2 years, now I have one angelfish out of the 5 I bought not suiting the original alpha of the tank and ended up making him miserable, been wanting to transfer him over to the 25 gal tank, but should I even invest in medicating my tetras if they are that old already?
I have a 55 a 29 and a ten that all run strictly off of sponge filters. I will only run carbon on my 10 q tank when I need to remove meds all other tanks it is unnecessary imo. I love how easily they are and more effective than most people give credit. Cheaper to run. And never a problem when power failure happens because it doesn't need priming to start. I have another 55 with an aqua clear 70 that I'm going to change to sponge also.
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Mr. Aquaforce
Aquarium Advice Freak
Gotcha gotcha, how do you run your carbon along with the sponge?
I don't run carbon in my main tanks. I only run it in my hospital tank with a cheap hang on back filter if I have to clean out medications. But because it is a hospital tank i don't keep it cycled because it is quite often empty. I just do lots of extra water changes.
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