I don't expect my filters to do the job of a siphon- the purpose of a sponge filter is not to remove detritus! I specialise in low-flow nanos. I use sponge filters in nine heavily planted tanks. I clean up obvious detritus with a siphon, except in the tanks with shrimp, which don't generally have obvious detritus. I also don't have issues hiding sponge filters in ways that create good flow, and I have no issue with heaters, but nobody reads novel-length comments so I'll stop there.
I keep one small size sponge filter in everything from my 10gal to 55gal no-water-change tanks without issues and I never ever clean them. They’re essentially fancy bubblers while the bacteria balances the tanks. Don’t clean and over filter your tanks. Just enjoy the hobby watching the tanks go through cycles and mature into a perfect balance on their own.
I agree with everything you said and would like to add one more. I can’t stand the sound of sponge filters and air pumps. A quiet fishroom is a must for me.
I added the same sponge filters to 12 of my smaler tanks from the beggining. I don't do any maintenance on them. No gravel vac. My one 10 G still has a 7.6 pH with only doing a topoff every 2 months. There was 40 guppies and about 30 babies and no diseases. Only 7 G of water. Thick 3 inch substrate and lots of plants. 3 year old tank. Tap water is 8pH from tap.
sponge filters seem to be useless as a filter… however they are great for setting up a emergency tank i always run a few as a backup incase i ever need a cycled filter
I always look at filters in the same way. Each filter type has its ideal environment. I have had internal hanging, HoBs, sponges and just started using Canisters. I recently picked up an under gravel to try out and thinking about doing a Matten too. Haven’t decided on a sump yet. Just started researching. I found they all work with trade offs (mostly aesthetics and maintenance for bio-load) . I can’t wait for you to post the complete series showing the good and bad, in your opinion.
I do like my sponge filter kinda. I keep it in my 10 gallon shrimp tank that is also running undergravel like all my tanks. When I need a quarantine tank, I drop some tank water into a plastic tote, nice sponge filter from shrimp tank, toss in a spare heater and done. I've quarantine is done, I put sponge back into shrimp tank and carry on. Not all that concern with it filtering as much as holding bacteria.
Since I started using sponge filters my tanks are super stable. I use double fine pore sponges. I also use some sort of power filter to move flow around though. Only on 5 gallon set up is only sponge ok. My opinion. Thanks
Loved this video and the concept! I use a variety of filtration types, but all of my tanks have them and my main type of filtration is sponge filters. I have a linear pump air system in my fishroom. It is cost effective for those who suffer from MTS 🤣 I use both the Co-Op sponges and other brands that are less pourous 😁
Alot of folks don't like them, but I actually prefer internal hang on filters like the Aqueon Quietflow or Tetra Whisper. I've been able to modify them to hide in the tank at the back corner, I get my "water flow" sound and its not taking up space behind my tanks like my HOB for my 10 gallon, and I can have a solid glass pane lid that covers the entire tank. I don't use the carbon filter it comes with unless I feel that the tank needs that chemical filtration. I just use aquarium floss and polyurethane sponges. Ive been able to hide them well behind my plants and because of the mods on the filter, I don't have to worry about plants like hornwort getting sucked up into it. I only use a sponge filter in my snail bowl, but its a homemade one and I use a semi dense polyurethane foam sponge. ❤
I have 4 aquarium co ops sponge filters and one sicce shark pro 500 on a 60 gallon breeder , when I removed the sicce shark pro the water lost some clarity. Sponge filters are more of a slow flow biological filter
Ignoring chemical filtration for a minute we have mechanical filtration, removing particulates from the water and more importantly we have biological filtration. The main purpose for the filter is to provide surface area for the beneficial bacteria to colonise. I look at a sponge filter, even a large one and then look at my smallest Fluval 106 canister filter and it's no contest. I have more sponge in the canister just to trap particulates and I then have a load of media for biological filtration. Now consider the inefficiency of air to draw water through the filter, particularly once it gets partially clogged. I'll stick with my canisters, I can add chemical filtration to it as and when needed, you can't do that with a sponge filter.
In display tanks, yup... they suck! Quite frankly, they would look better if they were all black, instead they seem to come in every color but. Full disclosure: I use AquaClear HOBs with, you guessed it, big intake sponges! Proving only that big ugly sponges with a lot of suck, suck less than big ugly sponges with a little suck!! lol Looking forward to your next "unfiltered" rant. Thanks.
Great video, fairly presented. Personally, when I think optimal anything, I think a lot of approaches at once, and filtration is no exception. What's great about them is they're a grazing ground for shrimp, and increase the useable surface area for them. They dont cause massive flow, or suck shrimp into moving parts. I never have ammonia when I test, so between the plants, the deep bed, and the sponge, aparently things are good enough. Additional aeration is also good if you're not running co2, as it will work toward eqaulibrium with the air in the room all your various mammals are exhaling into. Minimal, but any help is help. Bubbles are kind of cool to look at, and this produces bubbles while performing a job. When you have a black background and sand, they arent the eyesore they might be otherwise. Also, maybe im weird, but I clean these things in a bucket of water. The dwarf shrimp are off it as soon as I move it to bag it. Then kind if shake it in the bucket of water before squeezing. Will I say I've never had a hitchiker? No, but thats why i dont just squeeze it, I have a process and a bucket, and a net.
Can you make some podcast please Bentley?!? I’d listen to anything you have to talk about. I’m running out of fish podcast to listen to. I’ve ran though KQ tropical and father fish. All of your videos too man. Keep up the content. You even made a video for me and heater failure. Thanks so much ❤
I thought I was the only one in a crowd of 500 ppl who thought the sponge filter "sucked" ....I guess I was mistaken! I have a small sized sponge filter in the far back left corner of my aquarium.... Lookin' hiddious and like you said; taking up valuable space. (regardless of the sponge size) These things came into play when undergravel filters became useless! I should reword that... they're great for 5+ gallon aquariums with gentle delicate minows!
You, father fish , the two bald tropical guys and history in your aquarium are my favorite guys on you tube for most things. And keeping fish simple. That kids a genius I thinks it’s kg tropics or something he’s always with his wife then the professor guy and his wife.
But Bentley, isn't the purpose of a sponge filter to provide extra surface area for biological filtration, rather than acting as a mechanical filter? I mean, anything is going to suck if it doesn't do the job it wasn't designed for.
Lot of good points made that apply to certain kinds of fish keeping. While un-cycled tanks might be the #1 cause of non-age related fish deaths in the hobby, once your tank (and/or filter) are cycled the overall amount of filter needed for the nitrogen cycle is pretty low (much lower than the recommended amount, which most people try to exceed). Of course if your plants are dense and growing the need for the filter might entirely go away. I use sponge filters. I like the interchangeability. I like the low maintenance. I like being able to jumpstart new tanks. I like having somewhere that young fish and shrimp come for food. And more importantly, I think having some form of aeration, even if you have lots of plants, is important. While you might have good PH stabilizers, plants take oxygen at night instead of giving it off. If you run a Father Fish setup, or even just use leaf litter, then decomposing materials take oxygen from the water as well. I like to keep the aeration reasonably well (still don't need to overdo it) and it also helps to break up and prevent minor films on the water surface. Basically, new tank needs sponge filter. Heavily planted tank that is well broke in only needs an air stone BUT if you continue to use a sponge filter it does the same thing plus it lets you jumpstart the next tank while feeding baby fish and shrimp in the meantime.
If you got the money to spend on filter cartridges for HOB filters be my guest but if your on a budget and want something that works amazing and provides great surface area for beneficial bacteria sponge filters are the way to go! Sponge filters are the best
I use them for quarantine tanks, and to always have a cycled one ready to go, I run one in each of my other aquariums. I'm a fan of having an airstone in a tank, so adding the sponge filter is just a natural enhancement of that. My biggest issue has to do with the fact that my air pumps over time always blow the air line off. So I have to keep a close eye on them and make sure they're running. They are also noisy, due to the air pump. I still haven't found an appropriately quiet air pump, and I've tried a lot.
Look forward to the series. I have a Fluval FX 4 on my 75 and a Tidal 110 on my 40. Great filtration. I also have a sponge filter in each tank with a battery backup air pump. Couple years ago we had a power outage for several days. The sponge filter combo saved my beneficial bacteria and fish. How about a series on running dual filtration types and how they can complement each other.
I am of the opinion that so long as the water moves you dont need a filter unless you dont want stuff floating in the water column or whats inside your tank isnt enough surface area which is pretty much only a thing with bare bottom or very overstocked tanks. I use sponge filters and such to polish water if i want it polished, otherwise I really dont need one. Depending on the flow i need its either an air stone or a powerhead if i want something faster for some reason. One thing that I used for my 40 tall was water lettuce, turns out the roots can catch a lot of crap and since it grows like a weed i have to remove it. Sorta naturally gets rid of some of that floating detritus that wont settle out.
If you're into aquascaping, aesthetic considerations alone produce a hard pass for sponge filters. They're visually hideous. Can you imagine Takashi Amano having ever put one of those things in his tanks? lol
Looking forward to the series! I’ve seen this content/theme before but as manufacturers advance their filters it’s a good one to revisit, as pros and cons may change.
I like this concept Bentley. Keep at it. I am a canister man myself (eheim is my preference. I have a Ecco pro and 5e atm) but I have used them all and I currenlty use a sponge filter in my mini pond. They all have their place and I like how the hobby has so much room to do what is best for you, your fish, and what you just plain enjoy :)
Great video I’ve always thought about these things u mentioned which is why I never bothered. Personally I always use the fluval u4 for my two 200L tanks and I use the fluval bio stones and some foam pads and filter wool I cut down to size and find it’s cheap and works great the only down side is how long it is so takes up quite a bit of space but my tanks are heavily planted so it’s easy to cover with some tall plants in front. I have often thought about trying a canister filter but then think why change something that works and is reliable and most importantly does the job it’s supposed to
A pig with make up and lip stick is still a pig. Don't matter the size, Make you go to clean it and soon as you touch it everything goes ass over tea kettle. Bentley keep up the good work, cant wait
I actually agree with this video. There are of course sponges in some of my filters and on some intakes, but if I'm using air powered filters, they're going to be UGFs and box filters. I just feel like I get more from box filters, since they do a better job on mechanical and I can add carbon/chemipure/purigen/etc. if I want. And UGFs give you the same bio filtration without being super ugly.
Definitely a necessary topic. My all air tanks look horrible!!!!! I had to gravel vac a tank 4x last night just to try to get it clean. Excess organics means algae also. It's not a good situation when you're cleaning weekly and having to do that much work. The other main, absolutely critical issue with sponge filters is that some of them are very bad at creating a home for bacteria. I've seen a lot of issues with tank cycles crashing be resolved by Adding lava rock hardscape or ceramic media bags on top of the sponge filter. I've had a tank running for 6+ months with 3 filters crash after I removed the 1 tidal 35 because the sponges that were in the tank could not support the bioload needed to remove nitrite and ammonia.
I have a dirted tank. Stuff settling is just more fertilizer. My sponge filter really only catches really big stuff. But it's more of a learning experiment, so when I do my big tank later, I'll absolutely not use a sponge filter.
Thank you for the video always good to know the pros and cons of each type of filtration. I think you have to apply filtration to what your bio load is and what works best for you.
🤣😆😁❤️ This does feel 100% targeted at a specific canister filter video recently released. I do like the idea of pro vrs con videos. Every filtration type has it's place and targeted user or it wouldn't still be in the hobby. I am not a fan of sponge filters or canister filters, I do still use both as needed. I absolutely hate HOB filters but will use them as a temporary filter as needed. I do really enjoy the DIY aspect and potential of Matten, and under gravel filters, they definitely are not cheaper or easier, but they fill part of the DIY portion of the hobby that I personally need. When I am ready I will share some hopefully in depth video's on building them in an uncommon fashion, not easy but functional and aesthetically pleasing (to me). 😉😁🥰😊
@BentleyPascoe I definitely did! 😁 For myself, I see it kinda like sponge filters = mini van, HOB = truck, canister = a straight truck, and a sump = a semi. A person can make any of them flashy to a point 😉 just my opinion / view on it. 😁
Bentley, I use sponge filters along with HOB filters and a internal canister filter. All on the same tanks I usually have at least 1 HOB and a internal filter and a sponge filter. I just don’t own any canister filters. I feel like canister’s are big and the maintenance on them or if they leak. I experienced this with some used ones that I got with my 90 gal tank the stuff went everywhere and sprayed water etc. I was like I don’t want to deal with this ever. So I use HOBs and internal canister filters. I use the tidal filters as HOB and the fluval internal filters. My 5 gal I use two little sponge filters. Can’t wait for more of these. I hope you tackle all the filtration. HOB, canister, internal, etc. 😊
I mean aren't they supposed to suck poop? 😅🤣✌️ I'm interested in seeing ppl get back into under gravel filters. Hot take; we should totally blame Aq Co Op for the rebirth of sponge filter frenzy. I don't use sponge filters for the filter part of things as all my little nano tanks are really heavily planted. I mostly use hob w/ sponges on intake because I'm heavy shrimp n snails, and really only use the hob for water movement so my fish feel like they're hunting. If I don't have some sort of water movement the food just sits mid water in a haze and my lil nano fish don't seem interested at all. They love the hunt that popping some frozen food in and it moving in the flow. I do have a hygger dual sponge w/ fine sponge and ceramic media in my 10g colony breeding CPD tank. So I'm interested in your thoughts on this whole sponge issue!! 🙏 Thanks as always, your content is always really interesting and informative!! Hope you and fam are doing well! Was glad to see your community post re fam friend that was escaping a horrible situation has worked out, is is working out for their well-being. 🙏✌️
After trialing canister and sponge filters, I've gone back to UGF with Delta 60s run as HOB. Think this is my sweet spot...at least for current tanks, populations and plantings.
@@darlenesluder3038 I'm a broke fish keeper so I've not had any personal experience with canisters. I think I'm lucky that I'm disabled, in the sense that I can only do nano tanks to be able to keep up on maintenance, so it's not been a big hindrance, not having the funds for a canister. If I was dealing with big tanks I'd have more need for big filtration. I mostly just use nano hob for water flow anyways, as all my little tanks are really heavily planted so that pulls a lot of the filtration work for me. I feel like if you keep it small, you can get away with being a broke fish keeper and pretty low tech, and still give your critters the best life possible. I am really interested though in the seeming resurgence of under gravel/ substrate filters as that seems like a really good option for planted tanks of all sizes! How you have a great weekend! ✌️
I have a HOB filter or TWO on every tank,and a large sponge filter or TWO in every tank........they both do their job. I have plants in most of my tanks and I hide them well enough in all my tanks with rocks,plants,and driftwood. I swear by sponge filters personally......just my opinion which varies against yours but that`s OK.....can`t wait to see further episodes. Great video Bentley.......THANKS !!
I like this video I’d love to see more of them! When I read the title I was like “whatttt” but everything you said was true, I personally like them for biological purposes by keeping a sponge from one in one of my tanks so I can set up a quarantine tank easily and I like them for breeding tanks but if I was to pick one filter it would be a sump but I can’t afford that and it’s not practical for small tanks.
I only use sponge filters for shrimp heavy tanks. I haven't another filtration method that doesn't actively murder baby shrimp (even with a course prefilter sponge on the inlet). However, I do have to be very careful cleaning it as I have found more than one baby shrimp calling it home.
You can't get me with your main point about flow because I have a hob with as much sponge as possible. Why did you not talk about the sponge filters with powerheads or internal pumps? Hole density can't be optimized with normal sponge filters. Are you redoing the canister video since the stream was a bit long and sporadic? Hi
Great video. But I use one sponge filter in my tanks with a battery back up pump as a cheap back up strategy to power failures. I lost most of my fish in the past due to a bad storm that caused extended power outage.
The ONLY reason I have sponge filters in my tanks is because I like to keep them on hand in case I need to do an instant cycle for a quarantine tank or hospital tank. They are great for those purposes. But that is all. I'm looking forward to your take on HOB filters! (My personal favorites.) ;-)
You are going to get flack from sponge filter advocates, but I agree with you 100%. I have tried using them because so many love them and swear by them, but I am never happy with the performance. Just yesterday I looked at an aquarium I recently set up with one (I was trying once again because it is a small tank) and I just was not happy with it. I ordered a canister filter for it yesterday.
You can easily find fault with any filter type, not sure the point. Liked it much better when you used to do positive content. Have learned a lot from your videos in the past. Maybe the next installment will do this. I have matten, power filter, and sponge and have used under gravel and canister in the past, they are all the best option except when they are not.
While I have to agree with most of what you said there are some other things that I dislike about sponge filters. Yes, they are hard to hide and they take up a lot of room but they can also be really noisy. You know that glug glug sound immediately when you walk into your LFS are the sponge filters. I don't necessarily want that in my office when I am trying to work. However, there are things I love about sponge filters too. For one they are CHEAP. Most canister filters and even some HOB filters are expensive. Not only that the supplies you need to replace inside them cost a great deal of money too. I feel they are purposefully made that way to keep you buying supplies for your filter. They are low tech. Again, just a simple air pump and hose and boom you have a filter in your tank. No so with other types of filters. Cleaning them can be a chore buy still a LOT easier than taking apart a canister filter and not making a huge mess. They work, are they the best? Maybe not but pound for pound they do an excellent job for what they are. Lastly, they are not so strong that they suck up all the food I put in my tanks. I have to unplug many of the filters I have because they would suck up all the food before the fish could get to it. That is not only wasteful it fouls the filter. Whereas, with a sponge filter the filter can actually hold the food so the fish can get to it easier. Nothing is perfect but do not underestimate the lowly sponge filter.
You may have heard this one! I was anxious to support ACO and set up several of my new tanks with these filters. Had to STOP rather quickly as my shrimp got STUCK in them! Try cutting stuck shrimp out of that coarse sponge! They didn't make it 😢 Same goes for the ACO pre-filter I used on my canister intake. It's FAR too coarse for very small fry or shrimp. 😢 Also, that i have to cut a piece of tubing myself to attach the air stone was a PITA, why don't they include a pre cut piece? Why don't they make varying degrees of coarseness? I gave up, they're sitting in a corner gathering dust. It's NOT a filter for aquascaping, for sure.
I've heard similar feedback from a local friend who had issues getting some of their shrimplets stuck, which is why I specifically covered it in this video.
not common at all in the uk or Europe ... we have two main options in tank or canister filters ... hang on the back filters are none existent... your video isnt correct .... i know of a koi pond that is 37,000 litres that's only powered by air pumps and its super clean and pushed 50,000 gallons a hour ... air is a powerful tool
So much bullshit in this hobby ... ALL additive filtration sucks in some way or ways - it is man-made so of course it's flawed! The best aquarium filter is a bioactive aquarium. For a casual hobbyist that just wants to look at their fish without a lot of work, sponge filters are the BEST, MOST ECONOMICAL choice. They work fine, clean it as needed and feed responsibly. HOB, not horrible, good filtration - but ELECTRICITY and cost along with possible fish death at intake (only truly good use of HOB is for clearing cloudy set ups and carbon filtering meds). Canister filters are an absolute waste of money. Garbage. NEVER EVER needed in any aquarium for any reason. In conclusion - sponge filtration is all anyone needs (size is the real variable) but the absolute best option is to create a self-contained aquatic biome.
