Fish room filtration

[Bradc]

Is there many people on here that run their fish room completely on sponge filters? 

Im in the motion of making up some racks to hold a few tanks and dont really wanna run sumps. Was wondering if anyone has large fish rooms that they just use sponge filters on? Will mainly be either 3 or 4 ft tanks x18x18 and will be a few picks of mbuna i really like and some peacocks and might move my breesing venustus into a 4fter out there. Also what brand of sponge and size do people run for tanks this size.

Also this will be over months rather then weeks so ill be adding tanks when i have time or need rather then rushing into it so the sponges i will run in my tanks that are established. How long typically would you run a sponge before classing it as seeded to instantly cycle the new tanks. Realistically they will more then likley be in the  established tanks for months so this probably isnt an issue just more curiosity on my part.

And lastly what size LPH air pump would you use to run all of this will probably be 6 tanks maybe 8 of the size mentioned above.

[mjoconr]

Hi Bradc

Hamburg Matten Filters (HMF) are very popular in Germany in breeding facilities, I suggest you have a very good look at all the different designs of these.
Its a very power effective method of keeping fish as you do not need pumps, just a large air pump.
I suggest that your use Poret foam as this does not block up like normal sponge material.
I have a number of tanks using HMF designs two of them have been up and running for two years, no need to clean them in that time.
Poretfoam.com is the starting point for the foam and some ideas

Cheers

MIke

 

 

[Bradc]

Thanks mate ill check out there website when i get home.

[krellious]

i have 14 or so sponges on a lp60 and it works well. Ideally i would have a flow control on each filter but i dont. Some sponges need to be elevated of the substrate to get air. But all work well when balanced.

 

[Ducksta]

I ran a few thousand litres solely off sponge filters back when I had a room going.
Massive advantage in that you can keep spare filters running in all tanks and quickly and easily setup new tanks with existing water and a spare sponge, etc.
Never had a drama.  Would definitely consider going back that way again if I was to go multiple tanks (or air driven side drops)
Occasionally had a HOB style filter running to supplement a tank but that was generally for polishing.

[mjoconr]

I just saw this youtube video, it give you some good ideas and mentions her wish to move to HMF

 

 

[humbug]

I experimented with HMF and found they were more trouble than they were worth.  If disturbed, they release waste back into the water column.  Smaller fish seem to find their way to the wrong side of the filter, which is particularly problematic if you don’t have good visibility of the back side of the filter.  Probably the most significant issue is that they trap and hold organic material in the tank which has potential health implications for your fish; perhaps not as significant in a lightly stocked, planted tank, but not so good in say a heavily stocked African cichlid tank.

 

Sponge filters are great, particularly on smaller tanks.  I’m currently running a significant number of tanks solely on sponges, ranging from 18 and 28 litre fry tanks, up to several standard four footers, a 310 litre tub and a 440 litre 4x2x2. They provide exceptional mechanical and biological filtration, are very cheap to buy, and cheap to run if you are using a properly sized, energy efficient pump.  Downside is that you need to clean the sponges frequently, which is a pain if you are running a lot of tanks. 

 

Sponges wouldn’t be my first choice of filtration for tanks over about 150 litres.  I’m using them as a temporary measure on some of my tanks until I am able to set up my newest fish-room.  But in my view, sponges are probably the best filtration available for smaller fry tanks.  Gentle water movement, excellent aeration of the tank, and food particles collect on the sponge where the fry can graze.

 

Air driven side drop filters are in my opinion the Rolls Royce for larger tanks housing breeding colonies in fishrooms.  Relatively cheap to set up, extremely effective, very economical to run, simple to clean, but not requiring the same level of maintenance of sponges. Each tank is self-contained, which is good for quarantine.  Down side is that they aren’t great with smaller fish, so not a great option for fry tanks and grow tanks. 

 

As for time to cycle a sponge, I would suggest 4 – 6 weeks would be a safe time-frame.  I have at least one sponge filter in every tank in my fish rooms, even those running off canisters and sumps.  I’ve been saved more than once when I’ve had a canister or sump pump conk out and the sponge has supported the tank until I’ve seen and rectified the problem.  When I have a need to set up another fry tank, or a quarantine tank for a crook fish, there is always a cycled filter or two available that I can pull out of another tank.

 

I personally don’t think brand of sponge really matters.  I have a selection of brand name ones, and cheap Chinese ones, and they all seem to perform the same.  More of a consideration is the density of the foam. Think about what you want the sponge to do when you are deciding if you want fine, medium or coarse ones.  A fine sponge will have far more surface area, so will provide more biological filtration once cycled, but it will also clog more quickly, and require cleaning more frequently.  Coarse sponges are great for mechanical filtration, and don’t clog as quickly, but won’t provide the same level of biological filtration. 

In my 60 litre fry tanks, I generally run two sponges – one fine, and one coarse.  I clean the coarse ones out at least every second water change.  The fine ones get cleaned less often.  This seems to be working well for me.  I have pretty heavy socking in these tanks, and I feed heavily.  Using two sponges would probably be over-kill for a tank with a lower stocking density than mine.    

In sizing an air pump, I work on around 3 litres per minute per sponge as a starting point, particularly if running 2 foot deep tanks.  If you are only running shallower tanks, then 2 litres per minute per outlet may be sufficient.  Also consider possible expansion of your set-up when choosing a pump.

[fishdance]

Everyone has different ideas for filtration and what works best for them. I have central filtration as well as sponge filters but I consider sponges to be my main filtration. Having a central filter  (sumped) is good to spread water chemistry, mix temperatures and allow automated water change but the sponges are capable of handling all mechanical and biological filtration. During a power outage, I can back up air pumps for a lot longer and easier than water pumps and the air/tank turn over will keep fish alive. 

I use 2 air pumps per central air circuit as a safeguard against equipment failure. This is the safety equivalent of having 2 sponges per tank. I try to use the same make/model air pump everywhere make hot swapping easier and to reduce the amount of spares needed. A dedicated electrical circuit for air pumps is backed up and no other electrical devices are permitted on that circuit to reduce safety fuse tripping. I have quite a few tanks spread over several fish rooms so I clean a quarter of all my sponges each week on a rolling cycle. Each sponge gets cleaned once a month this way as small frequent cleans are easier than one heavy clean. I keep a quarter of sponges spare so I simply swap clean for dirty sponges and throw the dirty sponges into a wash machine to spin and rinse clean. Dropping the newly cleaned sponges into a sump or empty tank to soak until they are needed next week. Sponges are simple so less can go wrong and easy to check visually. 

I use the xy--380 sponge coarse. Buy through alibaba in 500 qty lots quite economically. Again, keeping the same make/model allows for easy changes and parts. No air stones used to reduce my maintenance and the need/ cost of replacement. 

If I require a high powered filter, I use a power head on a sponge filter. Or for very big filters, I custom my own sponge blocks. Wet, freeze then drill (while hard) for circular holes or carve with bread knife or other fine serrated blade. You can also glue -  join sponge blocks together if you need very thick.