Switching to sponge filters...

[Frank Cowherd]

Another but unmentioned advantage of air driven filters is what happens during a power outage. Well, I guess I mean when the power comes back on, there is an advantage in that air pumps tend to always start back up and so when the power comes on there is again good filtration in the tanks. With power filters like HOB and canisters, there is always a chance that the impeller or something gets caught and does not start or you lost the siphon and the HOB cannot restart. Besides, if you have a backup power generator it is a lot easier to supply one or two or three outlets for the air pump or pumps than for 10 or 20 or 30 power heads, HOBs or canisters. I think that is why a lot of fish rooms go to air driven filtration, though there are other reasons.

In my area of the world we have power outages at least 6 times a year and some years even more if you count ones of only an hour or two. But those short ones have the same restart problems.

 

[CSnyder00]

I have battery powered bubblers/air pumps for this very reason.

 

[chriscoli]

in my fishroom everything including my 40-breeders is air-driven poret only. everything larger is on a dump filter with a power head running the flow to the filter and poret media in the filter.

I do have spare HOBs and one canister that I keep in the closet in case I need it but I've only pulled them out occasionally for temporary setups or special cases where I wanted to clarify the water really fast.

 

[CSnyder00]

Since I'm cheap and wanted to dip my feet into it to see how they work, I went ahead an ordered two 4.5 inch sponge filters from Amazon. They were $5 each. They should be here tomorrow. I'll hook them up on my 40 Br and my 75 and see how they do. I'd eventually like to have one on my 30 as well.

Once I get an idea of how well they work, I'll order from Dr. Tanner. I already have the ones picked out I want, I just have to save a little cash up first, as I also want some sheet Poret for my HOB's on my 75 gallon and I need another air pump to run my 30.

 

[finzz]

This is my first try and the matten wall filters. I got a couple in the group buy and set them up in Corydoras tanks; one houses Cories that like a lot of current so there are two powerheads with the nozzles punched through the foam and the other runs with a copy of the Jetlifter built by another hobbyist. So far, I'm really pleased. There is no need to clean the intake sponges of the powerheads every day- left the sponges off. The other tank with a single air-driven lift is cleaner than it was with two standard sponge filters. So far, this is great.

 

[CSnyder00]

Did you drain the tank to install them?

 

[jonclark96]

You only have to drain the tank enough that you don't overflow it when you put the foam in.

 

[CSnyder00]

Okay, so how does the thing stay in place?

 

[jonclark96]

Mattenfilters should be slightly larger than the dimension of the tank and they are held in place by compressing the foam slightly and "wedging" it in place between the panes of glass. I have one set up in a 55. The tank is nominally 12" wide and the piece of poret I used is 12 1/4" wide. Friction keeps the poret in place.

 

[CSnyder00]

Wow. Okay. That's something to consider in a nice long tank like a 55. I probably won't use it in my 40 breeder simply because I want the floor space, but I could see it's potential in a larger tank.

 

[finzz]

Just the spring tension of the foam holds them in place. The pieces are 13"x13" and the tanks are12"x12", so there's a little compression when they are put in place.

 

[jonclark96]

The mattenfilter will take a little floor space in the tank, but not much. On a 40 breeder, you'd be looking at 3" for the foam plus whatever space you leave behind it, probably an inch or 2 depending on what you want to hide in there. I have the jetlifter tube and my heater, so maybe 1.5" max. I'd switch all my tanks over to them if I had the cash.

 

[CSnyder00]

I understand, but giving up 4-5 inches when dealing with 36 inches is more than 10% of the floor space. The same in a 55 gallon is less than or equal to 10% because you are working with 48".

 

[CSnyder00]

So I purchased the 4.5" sponge filters from Amazon. They are HUGE! I didn't realize how big they would be. Did I buy something too big for a 40 gallon?

 

[jstlstn]

What about the corner filters. My corner filter looks great and takes up less floor space. I have one on my 125 and soon to have them on all me tens and twenties. I think the effectiveness and consumable cost more than make up for the corner I am giving up.

 

[jonclark96]

To Cory - I'm not sure there is such a thing as "too big of a filter", but perhaps more than you need for the volume of water you are filtering. I used to do the same thing, with the large API sponge filters in all my tanks, regardless of volume. I've since switched over to mostly Poret cubes, and have the 3" in my 10s and 4" everywhere else.

To Phill - If you are talking about corner box filters, I think they work great for mechanical filtration, and only so-so on bio. There just isn't a lot of room for media inside of them.

 

[jstlstn]

Jon I am talking about the matten corner filter using Proret foam.

 

[CSnyder00]

I like corner filters, but I don't have the time nor the tank space to drain the tank down, let the walls dry, adhere the short pieces of glass, and then let the sealant dry. I need something plug and play. Sponge filters/box filters are about my only way at this point other than Matten filters.

As for my previous statement, I know that 4.5 inches isn't necessarily bad, but the size of the thing takes up a ton of room. Do you thing it would be okay to go down to a 3 inch or a 4 inch cube instead of this monster? Would a 4.5 inch sponge filter or a 4 inch cube filter properly filter a 40 gallon if used in conjunction with a box filter? What about a 30 gallon? 10 gallon? I need size suggestions as I am working on acquiring more air driven filters and more individual tank pumps (my tanks are too spread out to run a linear, plus I only have 3 tanks running right now). I would like to reduce my use of power filters to the 75 gallon tank only.

 

[jonclark96]

Personally, I would run 2 sponges on a 30 or 40 if that was my primary means of bio filtration. I just like having a back up in case something happens (or I want to set up a new tank and need a seeded filter). I've never really done a lot of research on the capacity of a certain filter, but if I remember correctly, the 4.5" sponge that you bought is marketed for something like a 100 gallon tank. Could a single 4" cube filter a 40 gallon tank? Probably, assuming you don't completely overstock the tank.

I'd would not be so worried about taking up room in the tank from the fish's perspective. I've found that fish tend to LOVE hiding around and behind sponges. The bulk of it is probably more troublesome to you from an aesthetics perspective than any sort of loss of volume in the tank.

If you are worried about capacities, get the sponges up and running and then monitor water conditions. You'll see if you are overloading the capacity pretty quickly.

To give you some perspective, when I set up a new 135 gallon tank a year or so ago, I put two seeded 4" cube filters in the tank while the sump was "cycling" and stocked the tank immediately, including a foot long citrenellum. I had no issues with water quality.

 

[mchambers]

Jon I am talking about the matten corner filter using Proret foam.

I bought one of the corner filters in the Swiss Tropicals group buy, but haven't installed it yet. I am looking forward to it, however, and think it will be a nice way to have a Mattenfilter type filter, while using a little less tank space and having a less visible in-tank filter.