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Cultivated Reef

Filter Help Needed


Srickss

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I have an Innovative Marine 16 gallon AIO tank. I am looking for some advice on what would be the best route to replace the 3 factory filter sponges with. I know I could just buy replacements from IM but there has to be better/cheaper way. There are three "sponges". One on each side consisting of a mechanical,carbon and phosphate. What do you guys recommend for each? I am housing fish, inverts and some softies. Also is there any other supplemental filtering I should do in the other compartments in the back? I attached a pic of the factory sponges. Thanks.

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You guys are weak. How about a reply for the newbie. Remember you didnt always know everything.

 

Impatient much? You have an unusual question and not many may have your particular filter or they just buy the IM replacement. I personally haven't used filter media in ages. This may be more trouble than it is worth, but here goes...

 

For the mechanical, you would just need to clean the pad every few days, at least. It should last a good, long time.

 

For Carbon, there are other makers of carbon pads that may be cheaper which you could cut to size. Another option might be a small mesh bag filled with GAC (Granular Activated Carbon) that you can sandwich in there.

 

For Phosphate control, same general ideas as the carbon, but you'd use GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide).

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Are you planning on cleaning those sponges or replacing them regularly? I only use disposable mechanical media in my tank. There is no way your going to get them clean as I'm sure they will eventually house nitrates. Try using filter floss. You can get a huge bag of poly stuffing in the craft section of Walmart. Just make sure it wasn't treated with anything. Or buy overpriced actual filter floss. Or you can use the blue filter padding that you can cut to size that you can find at Petco (or online for cheaper)

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