sponge filters!

[FishyRobert]

good morning all! THANK YOU for the help!

OK, 65 gallon, 2 large sponge filters cranking, fluval 406 filter.

3 medium discus.

how do I clean the sponge filters, how often?

just squeeze them out into a bucket?

any hints would be GREAT.

fish doing fine.

ammonia tested 0.5


nitrite zero.

I do not know if amquel leads to a false positive for ammonia.

best
bob

any ideas are welcome!

[Akili]

I squeeze my sponge filters in water from the tank every two weeks in a small plastic container and return to the tank soon after.

[FishyRobert]

thanks Akili!

[Belkar]

I just use a pvc pipe connected to a hose to siphon/watherchange. When I do this I use the pvc pipe to clean the sponge. Push it alittle and turn it around and suck away all debries.

[Akili]

I just use a pvc pipe connected to a hose to siphon/watherchange. When I do this I use the pvc pipe to clean the sponge. Push it alittle and turn it around and suck away all debries.I use a same kind of set up but this way it only cleans the surface of the sponge.Squeezing the sponge a few times gets out the the finer mulm from the inside

[Filip]

It all depends of the amount of debris and food they collect on them Robert .
If you turn them off while feeding and siphon afterwards before you turn them on again , they should be fairly clean for a prolonged period of time .
Its better to let them be if nothing comes out during their cleaning .Just dont let them hold too much debris and dirt in them and you will sonn learn your routine.
HTH

[Willie]

How much water do you change? That'll tell us how much stuff is in your water.

Once a week, I squeeze out my sponges in the tank! Of course, I'm doing a 100% water change at the time so the tank gets completely cleaned. I do 100% water changes daily. Even so, my Hydro V's get pretty dirty.

Willie

[MD.David]

I don't squeeze my sponge in the tank, I squeeze in bucket with tank water, then I put back in tank, I do this weekly, sometimes twice a week.


How much water do you change? That'll tell us how much stuff is in your water.

Once a week, I squeeze out my sponges in the tank! Of course, I'm doing a 100% water change at the time so the tank gets completely cleaned. I do 100% water changes daily. Even so, my Hydro V's get pretty dirty.

Willie

[MD.David]

I wouldn't be squeeze my sponge in tank, your canister filter is sucking everything you just squeezed in the tank into the canister.
Not a good practise.
I would also recommend loosing the canister, but I'm a sponge nut so everyone has a little different way, but in the end as long as it works, it's acceptable.
Cheers mate!
:)

[RogueDiscus]

I also have two large sponges in each tank. With each water change, I take out one and clean it. If the bio load has been very high, like in my tanks full of fry, I might clean them both. I have well water, so rather than using tank water, I can use that without worrying about chlorine. I rinse the outside layer and then squeeze them repeatedly in a bucket while it is being filled by water in my bathtub. When it gets really dirty, I dump it and start again. Here's the part where I encourage others to chime in. I rotate the sponge around while I'm squeezing to get all it's area, and for about the first 20 squeezes, I get out the recent "dirt", but the water is mostly clear, not cloudy. After that, I seem to get to a deeper layer where the water starts getting cloudy. I assume the cloudiness is the beneficial bacteria you want. If it's still coming out brownish, I keep squeezing. If it's just yellowish, I stop to save that bacteria. I've had sponges that have been in tanks that I've squeezed almost 60 times before I've gotten rid of the deep down dirt. Now, there's a confession for you that occasionally I've fallen behind on water changes for a tank, but I'd be interested in what folks think about that layering of debris in the sponge and the cloudiness.

[Pices]

Thanks Filip-I tried turning off filters for feedings yesterday and what a difference when I did water change-mostly just poop! Thanks Fishy Robert for posting a question so all of us can benefit!