BC14 blue spnonge in Chamber #3

[SigmaChris]

I am coming up on the 1 year birthday for my 14G and with it the annual maintanence. How often do you change out the blue sponge / filter in chamber #3 and where do you get a new on at? I currently take mine out once a month and rinse it out during a water change.

 

Thanks in advance,

Chris

[phases]

I am coming up on the 1 year birthday for my 14G and with it the annual maintanence. How often do you change out the blue sponge / filter in chamber #3 and where do you get a new on at? I currently take mine out once a month and rinse it out during a water change.

 

Thanks in advance,

Chris

 

 

You should be able to find one at any LFS. Look for AC sponges and then cut it to size.

[surftaco]

Took mine out awhile ago. Nitrate holder IMO

[Ganomish]

I am coming up on the 1 year birthday for my 14G and with it the annual maintanence. How often do you change out the blue sponge / filter in chamber #3 and where do you get a new on at? I currently take mine out once a month and rinse it out during a water change.

 

Thanks in advance,

Chris

 

 

Hey Chris,

Most all of us only change it out once ... we throw it away.

The issue is that it is way too easy for this sponge to build up debris and start producing NH3/NO3. Kudos to your for rinsing it once a month, but most of us toss it and use the space for rubble rock. My favorite setup is to put rubble in bags of nylon screening so I can pull them out once a month and rinse them in my (water change) water. Keep in mind you don't want to rinse in fresh water ... you will kill all of the good bacteria ... same goes for your sponge.

These bags don't build up the debris like a sponge would .. plus I like to put an inch or 2 of floss on top to let it collect debris. This I just replace once or twice a week. This cuts down on the rinsing requirements to very occassional.

This is also very nice since when I feed my tanks plankton, I just pull out the floss and let my pumps circulate normally. No need to shut down anything. I just replace the floss later in the day.

Cheers

Fred

[SigmaChris]

Thanks for the suggestions guys!