Effects of dirty sponge filter

[p1u5h13r4m24]

In hopes to increase my nitrate and phosphate I don’t run filter socks. I have a sponge filter which I figured would collect debris and organics and in return raise nutrients. People do refer to sponge filters as a nitrate factory after all?
However I was wondering if it’s possible that the opposite could be true. My sponge filter is caked with debris and I still can’t seem to get nutrients to climb. I have tons of coral, I’ve dose nutrients. I don’t have gha or any chaeto to consume nutrients other than my loads of corals.
Is it possible that the organics could become a carbon source ? Is that why my nutrients don’t ever climb even with over feeding or dosing?

 

[Nano_Man]

As you have just said you have loads of corals that’s probably why nitrate doesn’t go up . What size tank and how many fish more fish means more poop that means more nitrate but the corals will be consuming it . You could dose . So other members will chime in that do dose in this situation.

 

[dennislagoon]

When I first started my Red Sea Reefer I had a bubble trap sponge in the sump that I forgot to clean for over half a year. My nitrates were 30 ppm at that time and once I removed that sponge (since I didn't run a skimmer at the time anyway) my nitrates dropped to 10 ppm within a couple of days. Changes in my phosphates levels weren't noticable however.

This isn't a broad experiment by any means, but now - from my own personal experience I do think sponges can be nitrate factories. And I'm personally not a fan of letting debris determine my nitrate levels where as a build up of debris could lead to a whole set of other problems.

One way to increase nutrients is cutting down on filtration. For instance, only let your skimmer run at night, shorten the time of your refugium light or partly take out other filter media or filtration systems. The ways of filtration are so well developed nowadays to the point we need to watch out for overfiltering our systems.

Another route could be regularly dosing nitrates and/or phosphates. I personally prefer this method more than things like overfeeding since you can control dosing a lot preciser than overfeeding. I had trouble getting out of 0 nitrates and phosphates as well. It eventually took more than I expected, but if you gradually increase the dosages it will eventually show up on your tests and you can level things out from there. As long as you make sure your testing is not faulty, and if in doubt - try one from another brand.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Is it possible that the organics could become a carbon source ? Is that why my nutrients don’t ever climb even with over feeding or dosing?

Yes, organics are a carbon source, but no, random natural organics are not going to cause nutrient depletion.

In your case the detritus is just not a big enough source to worry about (and is why many folks just ignore detritus).

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

Ok because I really don’t want to clean that sponge. Every time I’ve ever cleaned the sponge it creates a swing some how and I do lose sps. Thanks. Would not having to clean the glass be a sign of low bacteria count? I never have to clean my glass even when I dose n and P

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Hello all, I seen filter socks mentioned here. Are they not a good source of holding the nitrates to populate the water column?

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

Yes, organics are a carbon source, but no, random natural organics are not going to cause nutrient depletion.

In your case the detritus is just not a big enough source to worry about (and is why many folks just ignore detritus).

Randy, do you think a dirty sponge filter could be driving ph levels down ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy, do you think a dirty sponge filter could be driving ph levels down ?

I don’t think it’s a significant contributor to low pH. If all of the detritus on it had instead been consumed and metabolized by fish, the effect would be even lower pH.

 

[jda]

If your tank is mature at all, then the no3 is likely being used by anaerobic bacteria and turned into nitrogen gas. Other types of food might not even make it all the way to no3 and have been gathered when in the form of ammonia or nitrite by some corals, film algae, film bacteria, etc. If you are feeding a lot, then there is next to no chance that your corals are nitrogen limited.

I would guess that there is nothing of metabolic value in that sponge filter. If there were any sugars, carbon or building blocks to be hand, then the bacteria got to all of them. The caked on gunk is probably inert, or on it's way to being inert.

Low pH this time of year is usually due to lots of AC and not enough fresh, outside air. co2 in your home is the largest cause of low pH in tanks. Opening some windows during the cool times of day will help as much as anything. co2 monitors are fairly cheap on Amazon, or the like - once you start to get over 700-800 ppm of co2 in the home, pH can rise pretty sharply.