Sponge filters and biological filtration

Can an air driven sponge filter stop working, for whatever reason, biologically? I'm not talking if the air supply gets interupted or if it gets cleaned to thoroughly. If things are going "normally" can it stop working?

I did a thorough cleaning of 6 tanks today and I also checked the nitrIte levels. To my surprise 2 of the tanks showed nitrItes. The six tanks are nearly identical - 20 gallon highs with 2 large air driven sponge filters in each tank - and have been up and running for several months. It's probably been 2 months since the filters were last cleaned.

The only "odd" thing was that the two tanks that had a nitrIte reading had two hydro sponges running in them. The other tanks either had 1 or 2 home made sponges made out of Aqua Clear 500 sponges cut in half.

Can the finer pore Hydro sponges get too clogged and stop working? Although I would have to say that only 1 of the hydro sponges was what might be considered clogged.

Any ideas?

GARY

Could something have gotten into your tank that could have killed the bacterial colony? Have you medicated those tanks with anything?

No Ryan, no additives of any kind. Just water changes.

GARY

I dont know for sure but I would think that a sponge can become so clogged with waste the it would severely restrict the water flow going over your bacteria colony.

I know an a couple of occassions I have pulled the sponges off and gave them a squeeze in a bucket of tank water to clean them and ALOT of gunk came out. I know it had to be causing a serious restriction....

i'd agree. finer pores aren't always better in sponges or filters depending on how they are used.

Hi all,
Gary, there COULD have been Anaerobic areas in there due to clogging, low/no water flow creating a DeNitrification situation, with bacteria taking the Oxygen from, and reversing the NitrAte, but I would doubt that. How's your water as far as Sulfate hardness? Have you noticed any pH changes with the NitrIte? Just for fun, any "rotton egg" smell in those tanks AT ALL?

Steve

Thanks steve - I was wondering the same thing.

If not - the only other thing that comes to mind - is a loss of the bio-logical bacteria.,

Finer pored sponges can accomodate more bactreia; however they must be kept clean - not as mechanical filters.

Similiary - bio-sphear type "noodles" have the problem of becoming loaded with "mulm" and losing the effective-ness.

Bottom line Keep every thing '" clean".
HTH.
Smokey

Steve,

Not sure about the sulfate hardness. No rotten egg smell though. pH is usually a little over 8, but I didn't specifically check that when I noticed the problem.

Guess I'll just try rinsing them out more often. BUT, I have THE WORSE luck cleaning out sponges. Even when I'm gentle cleaning out the sponges I get a small nitrIte spike a day or two later. And yes, I do squeeze them out in the tank water not tap water.

I'm also going to try some of the coarser hydro POND sponge filters. Maybe they won't clog as quickly.

GARY

Gary,
I have been using some of the HydroPond Sponge filters over the last year or two. I've got about a 50-50 mix of them and Hydro V's. The Pond version definitely don't clog as much, but don't seem to keep the water quite as crystal clear as the Hydro V's. So I usually keep a mix of the two in each tank. That way I get the best of both worlds. I have noticed that the Hydro V's don't get nearly as dirty and clogged up (yes, mine used to get so clogged up I could hardly squeeze them out) with a coarser Hydro Pond sponge in the tank. But when squeezing them out, I've found a small problem with the coarser Hydropond sponges. When you lift them out of the tank, all the water in the sponge escapes into the aquarium water as you lift it out, along with the ditrus. So what I do when I'm going to squeeze my sponges out, I put a plastic grocery bag under the sponge, and close it around it, after disconnecting the airline. Then lift the bag up (sponge, water and ditrus all inside) by the handles and take it out of the tank and put it into my bucket. Oftentimes theres enough water in the bag that I dump into the bucket to squeeze the sponge out. Plus, no chance of getting chlorinated tap in the bucket, thus killing the bio bed in the sponge. When you replace the sponge in the tank, there is a little more clouding in the tank since the pore size of the sponge is larger, but I generally try to clean out my HydroPonds more than my Hydro V's, since I rely on them more for mechanical filtration, though they do a great job of bio filtration. But don't get me wrong, in some small tanks I've got, the only filter I have inside is the HydroPond, and the tank is really nice and clean. You can buy just the sponges at Florida Tropical Fish Farms, if you don't want to buy the whole filter.
Lance Krueger

Thanks Lance. Using a combination of the two sponges is exactly what I was thinking of doing. I'm going to stack mine two high with the Hydro V sponge on the bottom and the Hydro IV pond sponge on the top.

GARY

PS I get my Hydro stuff directly from Lustar, the makers of the Hydro sponges. Not sure why they'll sell directly to me but I'm not going to ask. I get all my parts CHEAP.

Gary,
Actually, I've got quite a few of mine double stacked (can't do it in smaller tanks, though), and even two stacks of three Hydrosponges (Hydroponds) in my 200 gallon Oceanic with about 25 adult discus. Overkill, I know, but I've always got extra sponges to instantly start breeder tanks when some of these guys pair off. I try to buy the HydroPond II (I think that's the right number), which has two Hydropond sponges stacked on top of each other. It's cheaper to buy them that way.
I have tried to find Lustar's phone number or website, but have been unable. Do you have either? I would like to buy from them directly too, and wanted to see if they had any other useful products.
The only problem I have with them is that sometimes even after a little use, the joints won't hold between the different plastic parts. I asked one breeder what he does, and he said just throw them away and get new ones. But what I've been doing is taking an old pair of underwear or thin dish towel, and cutting a little 1"x1" square out of it, and putting that over the connection before pushing them together, and that seems to work good. Only problem is connecting the two strainers inside the sponge. Hard to get the piece of cloth to stay while you push the two together. Plus, after a while, the cloth disentegrates. Anyone else with any other ideas? I'm game for any.
Lance Krueger

Gary.

I have noticed when I thoroughly clean my hydrosponges that there is a rise in ammonia and nitrates for the next few days. I think when I really squeeze the cr@p ( no pun intended) out of the sponges it compromises the bacteria to an extent where the biofiltration is not totally wipped out, but is severely hampered. (Of course I'm talking about using chlorine free water to clean the sponges).

But when I only gently squeeze the filters, I don't get that problem. I've stopped cleaning the sponges really well, and have substituted gently squeezing them just before a major water change. I just do it in the tank itself. I do it every few days or so and I find that works well for me.

Hope this helps.


Daniel

Gary,
if you have more than one sponge you may want to just squeeze just one a day. do the other one the next time for a little more continuity.