Most of the time, I take out the filter tray entirely in my Eclipse tanks and use a sponge filter. I make this choice primarily because I often have fish I hope will spawn in those tanks and I don't want fry sucked into a filter mechanism. I usually have one pump running a number of sponge filters in a number of tanks (grin). Fewer outlets needed! I also do water changes on a regular basis, but that's mostly because I use the water on my house plants. Droopy Hibiscus motivation! Betty Goetz > When I had an Eclipse, I cut a hole in the tray to shake out the carbon, > washed out the filter pad and reused it for a long time. _______________________________________________ GSAS-Member mailing list GSAS-Member@thekrib.com http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-member