# Is a sponge filter sufficent for a 20 gallon?



## Henri

Hi everyone
I just finally set up my 20 gallon drited, heavily planted tank. I had an internal filter thas I purchased it about 1,5 years ago. Anyways, this filter suddenly decided to stop working . Fortunately, Im still cycling this tank (this is the first day), so there are no fish in it. 
I've ordered this filter from Ebay: 

http://bit.ly/xS13jt

Is it sufficent for my 20 gallon? Or is it about time to save some money to buy a new filter?
Thanks


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## sbarbee54

I would save some money and get a new filter..... 20 with a air pump I do not think will cut it. But it depends on what you are going to put in the tank once cycled as well.


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## acitydweller

that would largely depend on what kind of livestock you plan to keep. for Shrimp, its perfectly fine. Fish would require something with a bit more biological and mechanical filtration


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## Daximus

If you power that with a powerhead you would be ok. I don't think the bubbles would cut it though. I used one of those on my 30 for a month with a 170 g/p/h powerhead...with fish. It worked.


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## Henri

Well this is what I'm planning to stock:
- 6 cardinal tetras
- 6 harlequin rasboras
- a GBR
- 6 cories


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## Henri

Henri said:


> Well this is what I'm planning to stock:
> - 6 cardinal tetras
> - 6 harlequin rasboras
> - a GBR
> - 6 cories


I was hoping it would work since this tank is HEAVILY planted and the plants will feed on the fish waste. I just needed a place for the bacteria to grow. What do you think?


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## chiefroastbeef

I think it will definitely work as long as your definition of HEAVILY is my definition of HEAVILY.


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## Henri

chiefroastbeef said:


> I think it will definitely work as long as your definition of HEAVILY is my definition of HEAVILY.


Yeah it is HEAVILY planted. My main concern is the water circulation, will the filter provide enough circulation to give my plants the nutrients jeeded? I have mostly root feeders and stem plants and they are all planted in my dirtenld suvstrate, but still I think that the nutrients from the water column are essential as well.


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## somewhatshocked

You may want to invest in a powerhead to use for circulation if that's a concern.

Koralia's smaller powerheads are great with small fish and even shrimp, in my opinion.


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## chiefroastbeef

Just get something like this: http://www.aquariumguys.com/rio2100.html










I reckon you can connect your sponge filter straight to the bottom of that powerhead intake.


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## chiefroastbeef

Some of the fish stores here run two sponge filters (5 inch foam ones) with 100+ tetras in the tank. You will definitely be fine.


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## In.a.Box

I run 3 sponge on a 55 and its fine.


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## somewhatshocked

If you're feeling frisky, you could run 3-4 double sponge filters like these in one of my shrimp grow out tanks:










I'm definitely overdoing it for just shrimp.


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## samamorgan

Henri said:


> Yeah it is HEAVILY planted. My main concern is the water circulation, will the filter provide enough circulation to give my plants the nutrients jeeded? I have mostly root feeders and stem plants and they are all planted in my dirtenld suvstrate, but still I think that the nutrients from the water column are essential as well.


Doesn't look heavily planted to me. My idea of heavily planted is a bunch of stems and no more substrate room to plant anything else. I would call yours moderately planted, personally.

My opinion on this whole thing: I wouldn't run a sponge only system with fish. You need more bio than that. I think that sponge setup you posted wouldn't be enough, and overfiltration is always better than under.


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## Shrimpcrazy

People I know who use sponge filters are doing heavy water changes like twice a week 50/50. I don't think it would be a good long term filter.


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## Henri

samamorgan said:


> Doesn't look heavily planted to me. My idea of heavily planted is a bunch of stems and no more substrate room to plant anything else. I would call yours moderately planted, personally.
> 
> My opinion on this whole thing: I wouldn't run a sponge only system with fish. You need more bio than that. I think that sponge setup you posted wouldn't be enough, and overfiltration is always better than under.


I have tons of plants in a bucket, how can you add more in that tank? There will be no room for the fish to swim...
Guys will I be okay if I add an extra internal filter? It's small, about 8".


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## wkndracer

Using powerheads and adding a sponge on the intake works fine.
Air driven sponge filters work great, been around for years.

I have numerous systems running with a single powerhead for circulation and only small sponges for mechanical filteration. Many breeders use only sponges without even having the benefit of plants. Planted aquariums are COMPLETELY different when it comes to filter demands to maintain a healthy system. You have many options. Your bio is all over the tank not just in the filter, every surface.


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## Warlock

how much circulation to you need from a powerhead?!

do you think a 20 long with the sponge filter needs?!


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## Henri

wkndracer said:


> Using powerheads and adding a sponge on the intake works fine.
> Air driven sponge filters work great, been around for years.
> 
> I have numerous systems running with a single powerhead for circulation and only small sponges for mechanical filteration. Many breeders use only sponges without even having the benefit of plants. Planted aquariums are COMPLETELY different when it comes to filter demands to maintain a healthy system. You have many options. Your bio is all over the tank not just in the filter, every surface.


So what is your suggestion? Am I good to go with the sponge filter? At my LFS I heard once that the employee was telling to a customer that they "modificate" the power heads and "make" them a filter. Is this what they do, put a sponge over the intake? Will that work?


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## Henri

Warlock said:


> how much circulation to you need from a powerhead?!
> 
> do you think a 20 long with the sponge filter needs?!


I don't know myself how muh current it needs, I heard from other people that circulation is needed for the plants to absorb the nutrients.
The tank is kind of a regular, not long.


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## Warlock

i see thanks


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## milesm

imo, that filter would be fine for the amount of fish you intend to keep. but for a "heavily" planted tank, you're gonna need more circulation. on my heavily planted 20h, i have an eheim 2213 (116gph), a 50gph powerhead, and a 230gph powerhead driving my co2 reactor (during the photoperiod only).

a hob filter and another small powerhead for circulation should suffice.


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## Henri

milesm said:


> imo, that filter would be fine for the amount of fish you intend to keep. but for a "heavily" planted tank, you're gonna need more circulation. on my heavily planted 20h, i have an eheim 2213 (116gph), a 50gph powerhead, and a 230gph powerhead driving my co2 reactor (during the photoperiod only).
> 
> a hob filter and another small powerhead for circulation should suffice.


I don't think I can spend any money right now, so I cant get a HOB ... Will the sponge filter I ordered and the powerhead or the powerhead with the filter over the intake work?


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## samamorgan

Henri said:


> I have tons of plants in a bucket, how can you add more in that tank? There will be no room for the fish to swim...
> Guys will I be okay if I add an extra internal filter? It's small, about 8".


Plenty of room for fish to swim in my 20 long, and i would call it heavily planted. It's viewable in my signature, it has grown in MUCH more since then. You can no longer see the back glass and the HC has fully carpeted. And my low growing crypt bunch has nearly extended its reach into the front of the tank. There literally isn't a square inch of room left to plant anything, and still a good 2.5 cubic feet of swimming space.

If you look at it in the link, it's the last picture in the post. Imagine that with three times the growth and a fully covered background.


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## Henri

samamorgan said:


> Plenty of room for fish to swim in my 20 long, and i would call it heavily planted. It's viewable in my signature, it has grown in MUCH more since then. You can no longer see the back glass and the HC has fully carpeted. And my low growing crypt bunch has nearly extended its reach into the front of the tank. There literally isn't a square inch of room left to plant anything, and still a good 2.5 cubic feet of swimming space.
> 
> If you look at it in the link, it's the last picture in the post. Imagine that with three times the growth and a fully covered background.


Yes but you can't quite compare your tank to mine, all my plants are stem plants and root feeders, plus you have carpet plants that grow more wider than taller. That's my problem, I have mostly stem plants that need to be planted to the substrate and that's what I meant by being affraid that it'll take up my fish's space, I'm worried about the cories, I know the others will be fine...


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## samamorgan

I think when it comes right down to it though, regardless of how many plants you have in there, a sponge with water running through it just isn't going to be enough unless you do significant water changes. That's the kind of thing a kit from wal-mart would try to call "adequate filtration".


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## Henri

samamorgan said:


> I think when it comes right down to it though, regardless of how many plants you have in there, a sponge with water running through it just isn't going to be enough unless you do significant water changes. That's the kind of thing a kit from wal-mart would try to call "adequate filtration".


That's where I wanted to get you, whether it would work or not.
The is the "modificated" power head an option? If I put a sponge in the powerhead's intake, will it provide enough filtration and water circulation?


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## samamorgan

It doesn't matter how much water is flowing over the sponge, the amount of surface area doesn't change, therefore your biological filter area will be the same.


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## wkndracer

samamorgan said:


> It doesn't matter how much water is flowing over the sponge, the amount of surface area doesn't change, therefore your biological filter area will be the same.


True statement but containing waste in a filter media for bacteria to convert is still retained waste in the system. The biological filter area is every surface within the aquarium. 

Sponge equipped 5watt power heads on all the tanks posted here.
The first has been running for over 3yrs. containing from 6 fish to over 100 growing babies depending on my demands for tank space. 
Water changes are limited.
Tracking log records have water changes ranging from weekly with a huge stocking to several months with adult loads of 6-8 fish.









These two were filled in March 2011










This system was setup December 2010.
The sponge filter was added with >200 pea size baby angels. 


















I know small sponges and plants filter water just fine.
I have more tanks running configured like this but these 55g systems are well established and work maintaining breeding conditions for my fish.


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## m00se

Henri, I think you're going to drive yourself crazy here. Your sponge filter will work fine if you put a powerhead on it to pull water through it, and the output of the powerhead will circulate water through the tank. This would be my recommendation. There is no doubt that sponge filters will work just fine on planted tanks, especially with your planned bioload. You could even go with the powerhead/filter concept like you say your fish store employee talks about. Or something like this:

Aquaclear Quick Filter and Powerhead

You would replace the "polishing" filter material in this unit with filter floss. I've run small tanks with this setup before. However, the sponge filter you bought WOULD WORK JUST FINE on a 20g aquarium. You need circulation, so putting a powerhead on the uptube of the sponge filter would be the best of both worlds, IMO.

Example on amazon.

You are not inventing the wheel here:

If you go through the search here and in Google's vast database you will see this has been done more times than there are grains of sand in plantbrain's butt.

Good luck, and don't get a hernia.roud:


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## Henri

samamorgan said:


> It doesn't matter how much water is flowing over the sponge, the amount of surface area doesn't change, therefore your biological filter area will be the same.


Who said I'd be using the same sponge if I buy a powerhead? I have a big sponge next to me, God...


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## Henri

wkndracer said:


> True statement but containing waste in a filter media for bacteria to convert is still retained waste in the system. The biological filter area is every surface within the aquarium.
> 
> Sponge equipped 5watt power heads on all the tanks posted here.
> The first has been running for over 3yrs. containing from 6 fish to over 100 growing babies depending on my demands for tank space.
> Water changes are limited.
> Tracking log records have water changes ranging from weekly with a huge stocking to several months with adult loads of 6-8 fish.
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> These two were filled in March 2011
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> This system was setup December 2010.
> The sponge filter was added with >200 pea size baby angels.
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> I know small sponges and plants filter water just fine.
> I have more tanks running configured like this but these 55g systems are well established and work maintaining breeding conditions for my fish.


What kind of powerhead driven filter are you using? Is it similiar to this?
http://www.aquariumlife.net/projects/diy-filter/19.asp


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## Henri

m00se said:


> Henri, I think you're going to drive yourself crazy here. Your sponge filter will work fine if you put a powerhead on it to pull water through it, and the output of the powerhead will circulate water through the tank. This would be my recommendation. There is no doubt that sponge filters will work just fine on planted tanks, especially with your planned bioload. You could even go with the powerhead/filter concept like you say your fish store employee talks about. Or something like this:
> 
> Aquaclear Quick Filter and Powerhead
> 
> You would replace the "polishing" filter material in this unit with filter floss. I've run small tanks with this setup before. However, the sponge filter you bought WOULD WORK JUST FINE on a 20g aquarium. You need circulation, so putting a powerhead on the uptube of the sponge filter would be the best of both worlds, IMO.
> 
> Example on amazon.
> 
> You are not inventing the wheel here:
> 
> If you go through the search here and in Google's vast database you will see this has been done more times than there are grains of sand in plantbrain's butt.
> 
> Good luck, and don't get a hernia.roud:


Yes, I'm actually driving myself nuts...
I've done a lot of research but I'm still confused. I've never had a powerhead before because I used to own strong internal filters, but the powerhead should look like this, right? http://site.truaqua.com/yswimages/aquarium-power-head-528-gph.jpg
The bottom part is kinda wierd, is it removable? If not, how do you connect it to the drilled tube just like the guy/girl in the link did? And most importantly how can I connect it to my sponge filter? A filter like that has only the tube that you connect it with the air pump, do you connect it with the powerhead that way too?


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## m00se

Henri said:


> Yes, I'm actually driving myself nuts...
> I've done a lot of research but I'm still confused. I've never had a powerhead before because I used to own strong internal filters, but the powerhead should look like this, right? http://site.truaqua.com/yswimages/aquarium-power-head-528-gph.jpg
> The bottom part is kinda wierd, is it removable? If not, how do you connect it to the drilled tube just like the guy/girl in the link did? And most importantly how can I connect it to my sponge filter? A filter like that has only the tube that you connect it with the air pump, do you connect it with the powerhead that way too?


Some powerheads have removable bottoms. I don''t know if that one does. Most of the popular brands do, like Aquaclear, Marineland, and many others. For a 20 gallon tank, an Aquaclear 20, or a Marineland Pro 400 or 600 would be ideal. If you get either of them they come with lots of different "bottoms" that you can use with their accessory filters (like I showed you last post) or for DIY mods.


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## wkndracer

Henri said:


> What kind of powerhead driven filter are you using? Is it similiar to this?
> http://www.aquariumlife.net/projects/diy-filter/19.asp


Sorry for the late reply Henri as I'm not on the site as much.
I've done DIY with both sponges like the link you added and also floss panels. 
Settled on using the Marineland 660R sponge and adapter rather than DIY long term. Prefer the Max jet power heads.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/g...n/154538-using-powerhead-sponge-1st-time.html

Maxi jets get my vote simply based on the mounting system alone. 
I have used them for years along with a bunch of others but the 3 suction cup mounting plate provided holds the unit in tank better than all the rest. Using the 400 model at only 5w and adding Marineland's Penguin Reverse Flow Pre-filter Sponge adapter I use these as in tank filter systems to good effect.

While nothing looks good to me in the tank other than fish and plants a few tough java ferns allowed to grow on the sponge go a long way on hiding the hardware.









In the tank









Now where did that ugly power head go???

Java fern that we consider a slow growing plant with all the flow through the sponge grows to cover it in just a few months.

Maxi-jet get my thumbs up roud:


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## Schneeball

I'm so going to use that idea, lol, thanks!


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## trini_fella

Just had to resort to running a sponge in my 20g as well since i gave away my AC50. Running on an airpump, albeit a weak one (a 20g airpump), i get barely any circulation. Its an old Aquatop CAF-60 sponge filter


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## SmellsFishy

I ONLY use sponge filters in my tanks (I've had some bad experiences with HOBs). They work great for biological filtration. The only thing is, you want to have good water flow and plant heavily. I clean out the sponges whenever I do water changes. It also helps to have an air pump designed for 10+ gallons than your tank.


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## 1987

Many of my LFS run two sponge filters in each 40 gallon breeder. None of them use a drip system and most of their fish look better than petsmart and petco fish.

I have run nothing but sponge filters for the last 5 years due to having shrimp in every tank. My tanks are very well planted and probably overstocked. 

Make sure you do your water changes.


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## sowNreap

Here's a some good reading on the use of sponge filters: http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/sponge_filtration.html .. he's done a fair amount of testing and I tend to trust his results.


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