How To Hook Up A Sponge Filter

It'due south A Fish Thing is reader-supported. When you purchase via links on our site, nosotros may earn an affiliate commission at no toll to you. Learn more.

At present, you probably know what most of the filter types are for aquariums. However, 1 type of filter that ofttimes gets overlooked is the sponge filter.

While sponge filters are non all that well-known and not hugely pop vs other filter types, information technology does have some practiced uses and benefits that make this low-toll filtration option bonny.

In this article yous will larn:

What is a sponge filter?
How does a sponge filter work?
How to employ an aquarium sponge filter.
The right way to ready your sponge filter.
Pros and cons of using sponge filters.

divider: bubbles

Table of contents

What Is An Aquarium Sponge Filter?
What Does An Aquarium Sponge Filter Do?
Aquarium Sponge Filter Setup
Aquarium Sponge Filters – Utilize & Maintenance
- Maintenance
- Cleaning
- Water / Leaner
Uses For Sponge Filters
The Cons Of Sponge Filters
- No Chemical Filtration
- Visual Appeal
Do I Also Need An Air Stone For My Sponge Filter?
Conclusion

What Is An Aquarium Sponge Filter?

As the proper name implies, an aquarium sponge filter is a filtration tool used to clean the water, ane which uses a sponge in order to filter out debris and other things too. A sponge filter uses some kind of air pump or water pump to depict h2o through a sponge which acts every bit the filter.

These sponge filters tin be located on the inside of the aquarium walls and or be placed under the substrate, too. They are really not all that different from other types of filters in terms of their function.

fish tank with filter hose — Prototype Credit: RaKav007, Shutterstock

Simply put, sponge filters use some kind of method to describe water through the filtration mechanism, which in this case is a sponge, to filter out debris and other unwanted substances, eventually returning the make clean and clear h2o into the tank.

Sponge filters in some cases can exist connected with other filtration units for some really clean and clear water. The cool office nigh sponge filters is that sponges can come in different shapes, sizes, and with unlike sized pores, thus making them very versatile and adaptable to varying filtration needs.

What Does An Aquarium Sponge Filter Do?

Ok, so we know that sponge filters are a type of filter, but what exactly does it filter out? Well, first of all, the sponge acts every bit a mechanical filter. This means that information technology filters out solid debris similar uneaten food, fish waste, and other small particles out of the water.

The smaller the pores on the sponge, the smaller the particles that it can capture, just it does mean a slower going due to less h2o menstruation. In other words, the main purpose of a sponge filter is mechanical filtration.

However, that is not all considering sponge filters also act as a biological filtration unit. Biological filtration is essential for the health of any fish tank, whether saltwater or freshwater. You see, fish waste product releases a lot of ammonia, which is deadly to fish and plants even in small quantities (more on lowering ammonia levels here).

clean-fish-tank — Image Credit: Pixel-Shot, Shutterstock

Biological filters, by having beneficial ammonia-eating bacteria, help to degrade and interruption down the ammonia into nitrite, which is yet harmful to fish.

Yet, those aforementioned bacteria and so break down the nitrite into nitrate, which is less harmful to fish. That being said, an aquarium sponge filter does non engage in chemic filtration. So, but put, a sponge filter is a mechanical and biological filtration tool used in various aquarium setups.

Aquarium Sponge Filter Setup

We have already talked nearly how to use a sponge filter, but here is a quick guide on how to gear up a sponge filter. Don't worry; it'south very straightforward.

Step One: Starting time, brand sure that you have all of the required components. This includes the airline elevator tube, an air pump, a check valve, and the sponge filter itself. Some people as well choose to use an air rock.
Footstep Two: To begin the setup process, attach the airline to the nipple on the superlative part of the lift tube.
Pace Three: If yous are using an air rock, attach the airline to the 2d nipple at the bottom of the height plate of the lift tube, and then plug in the air stone to the airline.
Step Four: Now it is time to install the check valve. Install the check valve with the air pump on the side where the air goes through. The best place to put the check valve is up by the rim of the tank.
Footstep Five: Now you can plug the filter into the air pump, making sure that the air pump pumps the air through the sponge filter, forth with the water.

Aquarium Sponge Filters – Use & Maintenance

Ok, and so asking how to use an aquarium sponge filter is not exactly a question that is easy to answer, mainly because there are some differences betwixt models.

Simply put, you lot demand to mount the sponge on an aquarium wall or under the gravel. You need to connect the intake and outtake tubes for the water, the mechanism which pulls the h2o through the sponge. And yous need to hook upwardly the power, too.

Notwithstanding, your best bet is to only read the instructions on the packaging of the specific sponge filter you got for the ideal setup.

Maintenance

Now, when it comes to maintenance, luckily sponge filters don't require as well much of it, plus it is adequately easy to do too. You will desire to clean the sponge regularly, anywhere from every week to every four weeks.

These sponges go visibly dirty, and so it is not hard to tell when cleaning is needed. Besides, continue in mind that the amount of fish, plants, food, and other factors present in the tank will affect how often the sponge filter needs to be maintained.

Cleaning

The easiest way to clean sponge filters is to remove some of the aquarium h2o and place it in a bucket. Take the sponge and clasp it in and out for a few minutes until y'all are satisfied that all of the debris and particles have been removed and flushed out.

H2o / Bacteria

The reason you want to employ existing aquarium water to practice this is considering of the leaner. If you lot utilize water other than that in your aquarium, you will be killing off and removing the benign bacteria needed for biological filtration, and you lot will take to expect for them to grow back and multiply.

However, if you lot practice demand to apply clean water, such as could be the case if you are doing a water change due to actually dingy h2o, you lot need to allow the sponge soak in the aquarium water later rinsing information technology out in club to become some leaner back into it.

Other than that, yous might demand to flush out the intake and outtake tubes every now and again, only in that location is non much else to exist washed in terms of maintenance.

Uses For Sponge Filters

There are several different situations where you might discover that a sponge filter is the all-time way to get. And then, what are these situations where your best option might but be this odd little filtration tool?

If you have fish or animals that practice not do well in a potent current, a sponge filter will practise well. Animals like betta fish, other wearisome swimming fish, and fifty-fifty shrimp do non like stiff currents. Sponge filters create minimal currents are therefore ideal for these kinds of fish, plus this also makes them ideal for breeding tanks where many small fry will be present.
Sponge filters are also ideal for tanks with many actually pocket-sized creatures that may exist sucked up by other filters. Since these accept a slow period charge per unit, they are not likely to suck up whatsoever creatures in your aquarium.
The low flow charge per unit and currents created by sponge filters also make them platonic for hospital and quarantine tanks. Weak fish tin't handle potent currents, simply they still demand their water to be filtered, thus making sponge filters an ideal pick.
Sponge filters are also platonic for colonizing fresh tanks with beneficial ammonia-killing bacteria. You tin use a sponge in an aquarium, allow it build upwardly with leaner, and so transfer that same water-soaked sponge into a freshly established tank. This will become a long way in cycling the tank and volition immediately introduce beneficial bacteria into your new setup.
You can likewise utilise a sponge in canister filters. They act every bit a good mechanical and biological filtration tool, and then adding a small-scale sponge or two into the media trays of your canister filter is not a bad idea either.

The Cons Of Sponge Filters

There are a couple of drawbacks to aquarium sponge filters that you might need to know near. First off, they do only engage in 2 of 3 types of filtration which most people would consider necessary for a fish tank to thrive.

No Chemical Filtration

While they practice a great job in terms of mechanical and biological filtration, they absolutely do not engage in any chemical filtration at all. This means that certain odors, colors, and other substances may not be fully removed from the h2o.

That existence said, almost people would also hold that a actually potent and efficient mechanical/biological filter tin can make upwards for a lack of chemical filtration.

cleaning aquarium — Image credit: Sergiy Akhundov, Shutterstock

Visual Appeal

The other negative aspect of these sponge filters is that they merely don't expect very nice. After all, it is a sponge and unless you lot have a lot of plants to hide it in the background, it is fairly visible. This is a minor drawback, merely it is one that people tend to mention when they talk most sponge filter cons.

Do I Too Need An Air Stone For My Sponge Filter?

Y'all may use an air stone if you choose, only information technology is not 100% necessary.

You will discover that if you are non using an air stone, the bubbling coming out of the filter will be very large, which is not platonic for proper water aeration and oxygenation.

An air stone will really lengthened those large bubbling into much smaller bubbles, which not only oxygenates the h2o amend, only also looks much better too.

wave divider

Conclusion

As you can see, while sponge filters practice lack chemical filtration abilities, they are still a great choice to go with for a multifariousness of situations.

We hope that this commodity has helped you lot effigy out exactly what a sponge filter is, what it does, and how you can use it to go along the water in your aquarium as clean and articulate as tin can exist.

Featured epitome: Andrey_Nikitin, Shutterstock