Re: [GSAS-Member] In praise of the simple sponge filter

[meredith crichton <bluedooratwork@hotmail.com>]

I've been thinking about what to do to protect my guppy babies

to be honest I've even found white clouds inside my aquaclears (alive)

if I lose a bunch of fish all at once I always go check

 

Since I got the guppies from Heather, I've been using the mesh over the intake 
but it keeps clogging, 

I have one filter with a sponge over the intake 

but I haven't figured out how to clean it without putting all the crud back in 
the tank
any suggestions?

 

I admit I depend on my filters to get the big stuff out too

I have substrate and plants that don't like to be vacuumed

and of course guppies really like to take a trip in the vacuum

 

almost healthy and almost done with this quarter

more than ready to ponder something else

Meredith

 
> Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:01:18 -0800
> From: dave@cheapfishstuff.com
> To: gsas-member@thekrib.com
> Subject: [GSAS-Member] In praise of the simple sponge filter
> 
> Every once in a while I like to take a moment and praise something that
> just plain works well, and at the moment I'm feeling pretty appreciative
> of sponge filters.
> 
> Many years ago, I used them exclusively, and then came the local (San
> Jose) boom in air-driven UG filters and I climbed on board that bandwagon.
> Then powerheads driving the UG filters, then the modern, back-of-tank,
> all-in-one filters, and suddenly I had a high-tech, expensive,
> somewhat-failure-prone gadget hanging off every tank, for which the
> manufacturer would like me to buy new cartridges every month. I will say
> I've avoided going to a sump system, although I've been tempted at times.
> 
> One day I was frantically wrapping fine mesh around the intake of a power
> filter because the tank had a new batch of fry I didn't want sucked in,
> and remembering the good old days when I didn't have to worry about that,
> because... and then the "thank you, Captain Obvious" moment hit, and I
> remembered everything I liked about sponge filters.
> 
> Over the last couple of years, I've moved all my breeding tanks away from
> tank back filters and gone back to air driven sponge filters, and the
> results are cheaper and more reliable. Each single low-end air pump
> drives the filters for 4 tanks (I've added a backup in the event of
> failure), and the darned things just work. Fry don't get sucked in, and
> they even find plenty to nibble on the sponge.
> 
> I suppose the sponges won't support the bio-load that the tank-back
> filters will, but I try to keep my tanks from being heavily loaded anyway.
> Except the guppy tanks.
> 
> Anyway, I wanted to wax enthusiastic for a bit - simple things that work
> well are too rare in life.
> 
> Happy Holidays, everyone!
> 
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