Help Sponge!!!!!!

[MonkeeFish]

Hi i am new to this hobby and my name is Johnny. I've been reading about all the sponge and stuff wut i do not get is "it is bad to use a fuval 303 with all the bio-stuff inside of it. Am i suppose to take all that stuff out and replace them with sponge? so my Fuval 303 is just full of sponge and put a pre-filter sponge on the intake of the filter??? plz solve my confusion

Johnny

Thank

[RyanH]

Hello Johnny,

Welcome to SimplyDiscus!

I am not sure that the argument is against the sponges per sa. I think that there is a feeling among some Discus Keepers that Fluvals are not the best way to go as far as filtration is concerned. I have used Fluvals before and because they are an external canister they can leak and flood your room. This has happened to me personally.

Also, if the Fluval get turned off for whatever reason the nitrifying bacteria it contains will not live long without a steady supply of oxygen and warm water. Basically if the power goes out you only have maybe a couple of hours before they die. So not only have you lost your bacterial colony, you have potentially exposed you fish to poisons. I still use one Fluval on a 75 g acryllic tank (this is the one that leaked on me recently) but I have retired my other ones in favor of back-hanging power filters.

If you do continue to use your Fluval, a sponge pre-filter is highly recommended. This will keep larger waste and food particles from building up inside your filter and rotting. Inside, I would continue to use the sponges and the ceramic noodles for biological filtration. I would not use Carbon unless you think you would be diligent about replacing it every 2-3 weeks without fail.

hth!
-Ryan

[Carol_Roberts]

I agree with Ryan

[MonkeeFish]

what filters do u recommand???? i also have a penguin 330

[RyanH]

Many people on this forum use Aquaclears and hydrosponges. I have been using hydrosponges for quite awhile and I am starting to switch over to Aquaclears from Fluvals and Whispers.

[MonkeeFish]

by aquaclear u mean the "aquaclear powerfilter" am i rite? if there is other please correct me.

[RyanH]

Yup.