Hydro Sponge Filter

[Nenana]

Hello
Just a short question if I have only 1 hydro sponge filter that is for a 20 gal fish tank but is installed into a 10 gal fish tank can I put a second one in there. I am slightly overstocked meaning that I have more than 10 fish in a 10 gal fish tank. All fish are live bearers like molly, guppy etc. I noticed after a water testing that my ammonia was not 0 so I figured it is the poop and overfeeding. I am doing water changes every other day after testing the water and decided to keep my fish hungry for 1 day. I do not want to use outside filters such as those that use carteges with carbon and suck water out of the tank and then drop it back in. I do not like the current they make. My sponge filter in each tank has been doing a great job and i wash them once a month and then use them again. Just wondering should I add another one to keep the ammonia on 0. I have plants in both tanks and I am planning on getting rid of some of the young fish so it is back to normal amount of fish in there, but I need to wait for them to get a little bigger before I drop them at the LFS.
I am thinking by adding 2nd sponge filter there will be more good bacteria to help with the ammonia like I said I have 1 filter in each 10 gal tank that is good for up to 20 gal and I was thinking to add one more lets say for up to 10 gal tank in there so it does not take all the place.

Thanks in advance
Have a Happy New Year

 

[Tuxyu3]

How do you wash the sponges? Adding another will not automatically mean more bacteria, there is only enough food for so much and it should all have enough room on one sponge IMO. Also what is the specific number of Mollies and Guppies you have? Personally I feel that tank is too small for mollies at all, they can be large fish.

 

[Nenana]

Hello fish addict. I have 2 10 gal tanks one has 7 guppies, 1 molly /all adults/ and 5 sword tail fry. The other one has 4 mollies, 2 sword tail and 2 guppies /adults/ plus 5 sword tail fry. So that makes 13 fish in each tank. I know this is overcrowded the sword tails are all gonna go to the store except 3... I am even considering just dropping them over there tomorrow cause I am freaked out that they are too many. I had to wait for the fry to get bigger though so they can put it on display tank otherwise it would of go for feeder fish. I have 2 hydro sponge filters running in each tank +an air stone. I wash the sponges once a month, pretty much the water gets kind of cloudy and I know it is time for a wash. I use fish tank water when I do changes just kinda squeeze the sponge in it and make sure all the stuff is out of it and then I put it back in the tank. The readings were as follow I had 0.50 ammonia in my planted fish tank with the guppies and sword tail fry and ammonia reading of 1 in my molly tank which also has some plants in but I am in a process of planting it right now. The sponges are supposed to be for up to 30 gal tanks so pretty big. with water changes every other day or every 2 days the tank are being OK I think but I just wanna possibly go on 1 time a week change... so I am open for advises. I have a feeling that the sponge filter and air stone I have does not create enough current to move all the debris so I wanted to put one more in the opposite corner and create current like that. The other thing that may work but I am not sure is if I get a better air pump. Right now I am running one with 2 outlets but one is for a 10 gal tank and for the other I am not sure. May be if I put a stronger air pump it will put in more air and do a better current and in that way I dont need to fill up the tank with sponges. I really do not care how beautiful my tank looks as soon as the fish is happy in there and is a good balance between everything... what do you think ?

 

[Tuxyu3]

Yes, the one thing i can think of is that the filters to not have enough flow to deal with all of the ammonia quickly enough. You could try another one. I know you said you do not like external filters but how do you feel about internal box filters? They do not all have extremely high flow and you could even get an adjustable one. Air pumps do no really count towards filtration to be honest, they are more for aesthetic reasons or to break surface tension to allow the water to become oxygenated easier. Do you have pictures of these tanks, i think i get the idea of what they are like but it is always helpful to have visual aid.

 

[Nenana]

I can upload pics in like 1 or 2 hours, right now I am still at work and I have no updated pictures... I was also looking into a filter called aquatop aquarium air driven internal air filter , it looks like its is on the same principal as a sponge filter but has several different filtering materials in it and is completely under water seems smaller and stays on the bottom you can check it out on amazon, there is not that much info of it out there though. I was thinking may be I can combine it with the sponge filters I already have that is one idea I am thinking of also I am kind of in between buying 2 cheap air pumps like tetra whisperer for 10 gal and hooking up the air stone to one and the filter to another one instead of keeping the one with 2 outlets... Or just getting one with 2 outlets but for a lets say 50 gal fish tank, I was looking into one with adjustable flow so I can control it... May be I can try adding stronger air pump to one tank and keeping just one sponge filter in there and then adding this second filter to the other tank and see which does better... I did have an outside filter that came with one of the tanks and worked for 4 months and then broke, I have 1 that currently I do not use cause the guys in the fish store told me to get rid of it haha In general I kind of trust them cause to me it looks like they have only sponge filters in their fish tanks but they also change water every day and they may have an outside filter from these big once that are in a bucket or something... I am not sure what their secret is but i will ask. They just told me to not mess around with carbon filters... Now thinking of it I am pretty sure my problem is that I do not have strong enough air pumps...
Thank you for sharing thoughts with me. I know it is a hobby and it is good to experiment until I figure a way that works for me but also I`d like to do it soon because I am leaving on a vacation next month for 10 days and wont be home to do water changes every other day so I am afraid that if the ammonia levels go up I may loose fish... Otherwise I really don`t mind doing water changes more often than once a week cause it gives me something to do besides work and sleep all the time haha

 

[Nenana]

Ok so I will try to post a pic of my main tank now, it has still some fake plants in it but I am slowly replacing them with real. The sponge filter is on the right side then the air rock is in the middle and I was thinking of either adding another filter on the left back corner or may be just getting an air pump which is stronger. You can see all my mollies on this /not very clear/. Lets see if my upload will work... yay it worked i will do a second post with a picture of my other tank, this one is 10 gal has been running for at least 8 months now with this filter in it almost from the start, The plants on the right are real moss and I am using the fake plant to hold it for now.


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This is my second tank, The first one might of had ammonia spike cause I did a tetra lifeguard treatment 2 weeks ago when I was swopping fish between my tanks just in case cause one of my fish was acting weird.

This is the second tank


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Filter is again on the right this one had an ammonia of 0.25 last time I tested I will test it again today, all plants are live except the red in the left corner where I was thinking to may be add another filter, with this particular tank I may just need to actually put a pump that is stronger because the one I currently use is for 10 gal only and it is pretty much that if I want more bubbles out of the filter I need to stop the air rock or the opposite way... Anyways that one has more fry the adult guppies are 4 plus 1 adult molly there is 2 young pregnant guppy and then the rest is sward tail fry