A sponge filter

[Europhyllia]

I don't get how this is supposed to work.
Never heard of these before I read that it might be a good thing for my grass shrimp holding tank.
So I looked it up on youtube (of course) and I still don't get it:
it's like an airstone without the air stone. Bubble come out on top and there's a sponge.
So what? Does the air contribute to the cleaning in anyway? How so?
How would the dirt be attracted to a sponge cylinder that gets air blown into?
What am I missing?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2_QKq3_YsI&feature=related

[StevenSeas]

the air is what causes the water to move through the sponge. I am not sure how it "pulls" the water up and through it but I have used these before and the sponge does get pretty gunked up. and the ones I have used acutally get the water that it pulls through the sponge to go up a short distance (like 2 inches) and then dumps back into the tank. It baffles me how it works but it does. the sponges get dirty somehow

[jroescher]

The air rising in the column lifts water with it, creating a flow through the sponge. The sponge gets colonized with bacteria.

[Regric25]

I agree with both above. I used sponge filters when I was raising Cichlid fry because it does not create alot of suction so it won't suck up the shrimp. It also colonizes bacteria for biological filtration and it traps detritus and you might even find the shrimp feeding on the detritus and trapped food. The sponge does get gunked up after a while but it's easy to clean and a really good form of inexpensive, gentile filtration. The airstone at the bottom of the tube creates upward lift on the water and causes the water to suck through the sponge. It basically works the same as an undergravel filter. I know a couple of the sponsor stores sell the yellow corner sponge filters. Thats what I used to use.

Or if you don't want to go that route and you want better filtration, say from a HOB filter... Send me a PM and ill tell you how you can make a shrimp/fry safe filtered small tank. It's really easy. Good luck!

[RayAllen]

These are one of the oldest filters out there, Been on the market for as long as I can remember. As mentioned by Regric25 they are normally used when raising fry. They have to be cleaned often depending on your feeding.

[txg8gxp]

The water is lifted by friction. The same process of a under gravel filter.
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/images/graphics/spongefilterflow.jpg

[Europhyllia]

Thanks :)

[tzhanks]

If you have a spare hand on back filter put a piece of sponge over the intake and that should prevent the shrimp from getting sucked up

[Europhyllia]

These shrimp are actually quite agile. They're jumpers and fast swimmers. I wonder if they would even fall victim to a regular HOB?

[Regric25]

do they chill and drift around at night when they sleep? If so thats when they might get sucked up.

[Europhyllia]

I think they're more huddlers. They like to hide under stuff.
Thanks for the info via PM by the way! (still trying to decide how elaborate I want to go with this.
They only get a little space in the guest bathroom so 10g is about as big as I can go for them. :)