Prefilter Sponge

[sunshine]

HELP!!!!!!!can you help.. i dont have time to read through all the information others haved posted.. action is needed now to save my fish... my discus are not doing good... they are at the top acting like they need oxygen.. they have that white/grey slim on them a little.... they are not eating....... Here is what we did... We bought 4 new ones and had 6 in our tank already. they were doing great..our old aged ones.. we changed out the whole tank..... got new Substrate black for our plants and eco system.. we use a magnum 350 filter, and also now have a bio sponge, (the grey one with a tube sticking out that blows bubbles)..... the one most fish stores have in their tanks.... we have a 90 tall...... we are doing all we can... changing water daily.. now like twice a day to keep the oxygen up........ we need help fast..... what are we doing wrong.... we didnt wait a full week to put the fish in our new tank.... UGGGG!!!!! but now the damage is done... should we move them all out to our 20 gallon hospital tank asap?????

[-gb-]

HELP!!!!!!!can you help.. i dont have time to read through all the information others haved posted.. action is needed now to save my fish... my discus are not doing good... they are at the top acting like they need oxygen.. they have that white/grey slim on them a little.... they are not eating....... Here is what we did... We bought 4 new ones and had 6 in our tank already. they were doing great..our old aged ones.. we changed out the whole tank..... got new Substrate black for our plants and eco system.. we use a magnum 350 filter, and also now have a bio sponge, (the grey one with a tube sticking out that blows bubbles)..... the one most fish stores have in their tanks.... we have a 90 tall...... we are doing all we can... changing water daily.. now like twice a day to keep the oxygen up........ we need help fast..... what are we doing wrong.... we didnt wait a full week to put the fish in our new tank.... UGGGG!!!!! but now the damage is done... should we move them all out to our 20 gallon hospital tank asap?????

Hello Sunshine, you need to start your own thread. It will be the quickest way to receive help. This thread has noting to do with your problem. I'll keep an eye for your new thread and see if I can help.

[dagray]

Marineland makes a sponge for their 660R power heads (the R is for reverse flow to be used with an undergravel filter... water sucked through sponge into power head and blown down the riser tube) I cut these in half and change the intake to the Tetra Whisper end and cut the inside of the sponge a little so I can slide it over my intakes. I also use panty hose as a pre-filter shrimp saver over the sponge. I think modifying the hydro sponge is a great idea or Steve at Angels plus sells some square sponge replacements for the hydro sponge that would work great.

Dave

[sunshine]

If you have a hang on the back power filter like an Aqua Clear or a canister filter you need a prefilter sponge on the water intake tube.

Picture bits of uneaten beefheat and discus poop floating about in your aquarium. If it's sucked into the filter it just sits there decomposing. Bacteria love it! And you are running every dop of water through it three times an hour . . . or more.

Sponge prefilters trap food particles and feces before they can enter the filter. You pull them off at each water change and vigorously rinse all the gunk off. Rinse them hard . . . these are mechanical filters. The good bacteria for biological filtration grow on the sponges inside the filter.

Here's some pictures of the ones I use on my Aqua Clears

Hi Carol,

you really swear by the AC 500, we got one and was wondering if your's hums?? our had a little humming rattling noise that is driving us nuts.... so we are wondering if its a bad one, or the vibration like a rattling noise is normal? thanks

[0Dgreen]

Hi Carol,

you really swear by the AC 500, we got one and was wondering if your's hums?? our had a little humming rattling noise that is driving us nuts.... so we are wondering if its a bad one, or the vibration like a rattling noise is normal? thanks

Take the lid off and see if it still rattles...i have one that rattles with the lid on it.

[sunshine]

Take the lid off and see if it still rattles...i have one that rattles with the lid on it.

we tried that... still rattles. lol..

[Fish from Philly]

Has anyone tried pre-filter on FX5? I have two in my 150 gallon discus tank and reading it is good idea to have but and would change it very frequently (probably easier to do that than to change out the canister which I plan to do every 3 months or so). I'd like to keep it looking good so would like it to be black too. Has anyone had success? I've also read the "strainer" is enough on the FX5. Can anyone comment if decreasing the flow rate by adding pre-filter effectively preventing extra gunk in the canister is better overall than not adding it? I have a school of coreys who constantly search for uneaten food in the sand but they of course poop so yeee....

Thanks!

[Elliots]

All I can say is clean the prefilter sponges often, like daily. I clean mine in tap water if I am not doing a water change. I only clean my AQ filters in tank water. (DO NOT CLEAN ALL YOUR SPONGES AND FILTERS THE SAME TIME IN TAP WATER OR YOU WILL PROBABLY UNCYCLE YOUR TANK.) I still sometimes over feed my fish I think and I clean them daily at least! I do not think adding prefilter sponges will decrease the flow rate of your filter but if they get dirty there will be a significant difference. I tried feeding beef heart for a while and sometimes my AQ 110 and AQ70 would almost stop flowing.

[Ramble]

about any sponge will work so long as it is new and doesnt have soap or chemicals in it.
I just founnd some acoustical foam laying around, cut an X in the top, poked the intake end through it, and Whala!

[blueluv]

about any sponge will work so long as it is new and doesnt have soap or chemicals in it.
I just founnd some acoustical foam laying around, cut an X in the top, poked the intake end through it, and Whala!

Acoustical foam?

[William Palumbo]

All sponge is NOT the same. A lot have chemicals, such as fire retardant chemicals, which will kill fish. More than a few people on here thought they were going to "save" a few dollars and use "cheap" foam, only to wipe out their fish collection, even tho they were warned!...Bill

[mastermamo]

Has anyone tried pre-filter on FX5? I have two in my 150 gallon discus tank and reading it is good idea to have but and would change it very frequently (probably easier to do that than to change out the canister which I plan to do every 3 months or so). I'd like to keep it looking good so would like it to be black too. Has anyone had success? I've also read the "strainer" is enough on the FX5. Can anyone comment if decreasing the flow rate by adding pre-filter effectively preventing extra gunk in the canister is better overall than not adding it? I have a school of coreys who constantly search for uneaten food in the sand but they of course poop so yeee....

Thanks!

I'm using 2 FX5's with one as a pre filter. Works really great. In prefilter the medium are:
Peat Pellets
Ammonia Reducer
A small bag of activated carbon

It's really effective as my WC's are down to once a month or more but I do a 30% WC EACH week for safety. I give the Fluvals a mild drain (about 60%) and clean medium etc every month (again not necessary but just for safety), reseed a little and I'm good to go.
I have 2x1.2m tanks, each with 9 semi adult fish in, feed them 4 times a day and all my levels hold stable.
Mu flowrate on the Prefilter is around 70% and on main Fluval I'm at 50%. Works for me.
I also have a Biolife HOB with a powerjet with some nice media in as I firmly believe that at least 2 media baskets should be submerged in the tank itself. Contrary to popular belief Discus, especially juveniles love the water stream and they can be seen constantly swimming through it.

Hope this helps

Fluval over Eheim any day

[lx2077]

Hey Carol I have the fluval G3 filter should I still add a sponge to the inlet tube? Or is my mechanical pre filter is sufficient? Thanks

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[ct3737]

The prefilter sponges are life savers and save on alot of maintenance of cleaning the cannisters so much. Still have to make sure its clean but you wont get as much gunk in there as this takes most of the food particles out.

[skie]

Fluvial edge prefilter is what I have on my 2 fluvial aqua clear 70