# Sponge pre filter problem



## BBXB (Oct 7, 2012)

Well I bought a sponge pre filter to prevent baby shrimp from being sucked up by my hob filter. The problem now though, is its restricting my water flow too much. 

It's not because it is clogged but because the sponge becomes too compressed over time. The reason I believe this is because when I use tongs to seperate the inside of the sponge from the filter intake, flow becomes normal again for a few hours. 

Is there any solution to this or another alternative?


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## shrimpzoo (Jan 15, 2012)

Stainless steel prefilter.


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## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

A more course sponge prefilter. Sounds like your current sponge is too fine.

How often to you clean this sponge. I find I have to clean mine once per week on average and mine is course.
--
Paul


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Y2KGT said:


> A more course sponge prefilter. Sounds like your current sponge is too fine.
> 
> How often to you clean this sponge. I find I have to clean mine once per week on average and mine is course.
> --
> Paul


Same here.

Another solution is to use a sponge filter instead of a power filter. Sponge filters will last a lot longer before you have to clean it.


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## Shrimp Daddy (Mar 30, 2013)

How about paying $2 to get a new one when the old one is "too compressed"?


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## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

+1 I've used AQ filter sponges as prefilters without issue.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Riceburner said:


> +1 I've used AQ filter sponges as prefilters without issue.


What kind of sponges are those? Don't most sponge filter sponges have a hole on both ends? How would that work as a prefilter?


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## BBXB (Oct 7, 2012)

Shrimp Daddy said:


> How about paying $2 to get a new one when the old one is "too compressed"?


A new one I don't think will solve the problem, as it's the suction of the filter causing the problem. That is why I am asking for a better alternative.


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## BBXB (Oct 7, 2012)

I clean the sponge about every 5 days, but same thing would happen. I will look into the S.steel prefilters.

Does anyone know where I can find something similar to the ATI sponge pre filters in toronto or markham? Its pretty much a sponge filter with a plastic extension that goes onto the filter intake?

Thanks for all the help and suggestions so far.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

You can get the coarse ATI hydro sponge only. It should fit into the pre-filter. Or you can get the standard large size ATI hydro sponge as well. Both will buy you extra time, but a timely cleaning is require. Both these can be purchase at BigAls.
Or you can wait for surgarglidder to make his run around and get it from him instead. Good price from him.

Your best bet is the steel cage. Which you can get from AI.

I usually throw away the sponge that comes with the pre-filter. Just pure crap. I've used all of them before. Here is how I would rank them:
Best - steel cage
Better - ATI coarse sponge
OK - ATI large sponge
shitty - pre-filter sponge

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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

One thing to note is it's better if you can pick the stainless steel intake guard in person. A lot of them have some very minor defects that wouldn't matter for anything other than baby shrimps.


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

+1 those things are cheaply made and have gaps etc..


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Fwiw, I'm using a Tetra pond prefilter, and it never slows down the flow nor does it clog or become compressed. It's extremely coarse in texture, which allows strong water flow, but still prevents fry from being sucked up.
It does come with a hole all the way through, but it's quite large, and to get it to fit between the intake tube and the tank glass, I had to slice a piece off. I used a chunk of the cut off piece to stuff in the hole.
Because the hole in it is fairly large diameter, it fits my AC70 uptake, but to get it on a smaller diameter tube you'd have to cut a strip or two from the cut off piece to place in the hole, so it would fit a smaller diameter tube. Since I've had them on, results have been excellent, better than with any other pre filter I've tried.
Only problem is they tend to stock them only during pond season, and they are more expensive than a regular prefilter.

I've tried the SS ones, and they're not bad, but the ones I got are not well made and the rubber boot often comes off, so I've had to keep a sponge over it to make sure nothing gets in. But it's not the right size and it gets clogged pretty quickly.

So when BA's put their pond stuff on sale, I got a couple of smaller white sponges, rectangles, same texture as the large one, but with smaller diameter holes. Not sure just what pond filter they're for but they'll work super for smaller intake tubes, and simply need a plug at the open end, as the large Tetra one did. I'll either cut a bit off the white sponge to use, or use a bit of what I cut off the big Tetra one. 

If I couldn't get the pond filter types, which I now prefer due to the very coarse texture, I think my next choice would be the coarsest sponge filter I could find that would fit the uptake tube.


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