Are filter pads and sponges necessary for canister filters?

[edmond]

I have a 50 gallon tank with about 70 lbs of live rock. 2 clowns, a firefish, a rock blenny and a mandarin dragonette. I have 10 hermit crabs, 5 snails and 2 emerald crabs. For coral I have bubble coral, a small hammer head coral, a small frogspawn, a duncan and a rose anemone. I have a eheim canister filter, a uv filter and a red sea hang on protein skimmer.

My canister filter has 3 levels of media, with a circular sponge on the bottom that I have never changed, just cleaned whenever I rinse the media. It also has space on the top level for a white filter pad. I rinse out my media every time I do a water change.

Do I need to use these pads/sponges? Or is the media combined with my live rock enough?

I have a feeling that these sponges are helping causing hair algae.

[kdogg85]

i would slowly start removing all the media from the filter and just use it as a water pump. All that stuff can turn into a nitrate factory, even with regular cleaning. The live rock will do the filtering.

you could periodically cut a phosphate or nitrate sponge and use the canister for that if those get out of control. Or just run carbon once in a while if you feel the need.