How often do you clean sponge filters

[thekarens]

I have two Hydor V sponge filters in my 90g (along with an Eheim 2217) and I was wondering how often should I take out the sponge filters and clean them?

[William Palumbo]

I hardly ever clean mine...in fact most of them I am sure I NEVER cleaned...But you should clean yours probally weekly or bi-weekly...Bill

[thekarens]

LOL, do as I say, not as I do? :) Sounds like something my mother told me at one time.

[William Palumbo]

lol...Yea I'm pretty lax about that. So you can only imagine what my power filters used to look like!...Bill

[Eddie]

I used to clean them every 2 weeks but I have gotten into the habit just siphoning them with my WCs and never squeezing them out. Maybe every few months I will break the filter down to clean inside but not usually and I will give a squeeze when the sponge is off.


Eddie

[White Worm]

I dont.

[John_Nicholson]

I always did like basshead. When I would siphon the tank I would do a light weight cleaning of the sponges and that was it.

-john

[MostlyDiscus]

Heavy feedings and lots of young, everyweek. Breeders and older juvs once a month.

Ed

[troyclark]

I squeeze the heck out of the sponge filters that are in my fry tanks (55 gallon) every night during the 90% water change. The spongs in my adult tanks get the big squeeze once to twice a week. HTH

[crash]

I have two hydro IV on and aquaclear in my 110 gallon.
I alternate between the spong every couple of weeks to give them a clean.

I just take one of them out and squeez the dirt out in running water. I figure since I alternate, the bacteria in the other filter will do the job until this one is established again and then take the other filter and clean it. This is what we people in Information Technology call a hot spare or a redundant backup :).

Amol

[Eddie]

I have two hydro IV on and aquaclear in my 110 gallon.
I alternate between the spong every couple of weeks to give them a clean.

I just take one of them out and squeez the dirt out in running water. I figure since I alternate, the bacteria in the other filter will do the job until this one is established again and then take the other filter and clean it. This is what we people in Information Technology call a hot spare or a redundant backup :).

Amol

Wow Amol, I'd just squeeze them out well in a bucket of siphoned tank water. This way there won't be a total annihilation of the beneficial bacteria. If it works for you and it aint broke, don't fix it. ;)

Eddie

[Graham]

Actualy Eddie, a well established bio-film is pretty tough and squeezing sponges out or even running them under chlorinated water for a quick cleaning will have very little affect on them.

[crash]

sorry to drag this forum away from the original topic. But where exactly on the sponge do the bacteria colonize. From what i understood. it needs mosit area but not completly submerged underwater. the bacteria need to be in contact with the air so in the sponge filter i am assuming they colonize on the inside towards the middle frame of the sponge holder? Or on the frame itself between which air is blown?

[Graham]

Hi, Bio-film will develop anywhere there is sufficient amounts of O2...that can be submerged or emerged. They do not need to be in contact with air. They'll colonize just about anywhere on a sponge, gravel, tank walls plants... whatever.

Because nitrification is an oxidization reaction the more O2 the better. That's why trickle towers or bio-wheels function so well. The water flowing over them will have slightly higher O2 levels, like 9>10ppm than the water in the tank which is typically around 7 to 8ppm.

G

[guille2007]

Actualy Eddie, a well established bio-film is pretty tough and squeezing sponges out or even running them under chlorinated water for a quick cleaning will have very little affect on them.

This is very correct, I have heard that nine hours are enough for a full restoring.

[alpine]

I clean the hydro sponges every two weeks and take the bottom of the hydro stack open and clean that too. You will notice a tremendous amount of sedimentation in the lower part of the hydro , it looks pitch black and it smells horrendous. I clean my sponges in tank water as I drain it and I have cleaned them with tap water right from the spout.
" Not a veteran here " but that is the system I have implemented.

Roberto.

[guille2007]

Hi, Bio-film will develop anywhere there is sufficient amounts of O2...that can be submerged or emerged. They do not need to be in contact with air. They'll colonize just about anywhere on a sponge, gravel, tank walls plants... whatever.

Because nitrification is an oxidization reaction the more O2 the better. That's why trickle towers or bio-wheels function so well. The water flowing over them will have slightly higher O2 levels, like 9>10ppm than the water in the tank which is typically around 7 to 8ppm.

G

Yes also, I have a bare bottom 10g tank with sponge filter where I do not clean the tank walls or bottom, I just do only WC there( I am doing this as experiment). There is a better water processing in this tank with respect to the others in my system where I clean tank walls and bottom using the same sponges and doing the same daily WC.

[crash]

great info.
thank you,

[Runningfish]

I have two hydro IV on and aquaclear in my 110 gallon.
I alternate between the spong every couple of weeks to give them a clean.

I just take one of them out and squeez the dirt out in running water. I figure since I alternate, the bacteria in the other filter will do the job until this one is established again and then take the other filter and clean it. This is what we people in Information Technology call a hot spare or a redundant backup :).

Amol

Same here every week for growing and every other week for adults/breeders.

[Eddie]

Actualy Eddie, a well established bio-film is pretty tough and squeezing sponges out or even running them under chlorinated water for a quick cleaning will have very little affect on them.

Graham, I would have thought that squeezing the filters out under tap water would kick the bacteria in the butt? All my filters have established bacteria but I would still hesitate.


Eddie