Sponge filters v corner filter

[Bec]

Hi all,

I am just about ready to transfer some of my fish into their new homes and I am now wondering if I should have done things differently (why does it take so long to cycle a tank ).

I have bought ten tanks each with a capacity of ten litres. ATM I have set up six of them with little plastic corner filters, filled with noodles, sponge, gravel (for wieght) and fine filter wool. I have made little sacks of purgiem to put in each, but have not added this yet as I wanted to let the tanks cycle first and I believe purgiem will remove the amonia.

I was mucking around with them a bit last night, getting them to sit 'right' and thought it might have been a whole lot easier to use a sponge ... less difficult to clean and less disruption to the tanks, which I want to aquascape in the near future, including a grass bottom .

My question is how well would a sponge filter clean the tank (mechanical filter) and if I have the tanks planted up does it really need much mechanical filtration anyway? I am imagining any waste would just fall into the grass / subtrate (2mm brownish gravel) and be used as fertiliser (do I need to vaccum a planted tank, as I can't see how this is possible to do).

What size sponge would be good for a ten litre tank? (I have seen many of the black tubular shaped ones, so that is the type I would get).

Do the sponges go at the bottom of the tank, or on the wall? So many options

I actually enjoy the tank maintinence part of the fish keeping, it is very relaxing, but I want tanks that provide a stable environment for the fish, so my ultimate aim is as ittle disturbance to thier home as possible (but I also want them to look great)

Oh, and one last thing, how many sponges can I run of an air pump? I have a twin hailea (3.5 litres a min) with six tubes running of it for the sixty litres?

Thanks in advance,

Bec

[Yanagi]

It sounds like you're aiming for a high maintence planted tank (carpet). If that's the case, I would avoid any air operated filters. The airstones would drive off the added CO2.

If the tank is only to house a single Betta, I would skip filtration completely and let the plants do their job. Partial water changes done whenever the tank needed it. Of course this is only if there's already a good amount of stem plants in there to keep the cycle going.

You're right about the waste. Mulm is organgic, it contains nutrients and will support plant growth. I wouldn't vacuum the bottom unless it was really building up, which it shouldn't as long as you don't overfeed.

[fishbites]

The advantage of a sponge filter is that it provides for biological filtration, adds water movement to help avoid stratification of temperature layers in a small tank, disturbs the surface of the water to enable oxygen exchange (betta's don't just breathe surface air), and to provide some water movement which is healthy in a fixed space environment. Make sure you put inline taps so you can control the flow of air to each filter rather than have the filter bubble at max capacity. Usually for a decent size sponge filter I try to have 3litres/minute air flow from the pump - so for six filters I'd have say about 15-20litres per hour - seeing the tanks are so small and you would be using the tiny sponge filters (50mmx50mm max size) you could get away with about 1 or 2 litres per hour per filter easily. Make sure your pump is above the tanks otherwise put a valve inline to stop water flowing down into your pump for times when the pump is off. Most sponge filters can be stood on the floor of the tank and hidden behind plants easily.

Purigen is probably overkill for a small 10 litre tank - use java moss instead - it helps a lot with removing nasties from the water as will your filter.

If you are planting up each of the 10 litre tanks make sure you have good lighting for things like grasses.... as an alternative mosses tied to rocks/slabs of glass can make a carpet effect without the need for bright lighting. You can also wrap your sponge filter with java moss which will hide the filter nicely and the moss will hold onto the sponge and add to the filtration of the tank.