Filter sponge in sump

How important is the sponge in the sump that is before the actual return. Is it necessary. Mine seems to collect a lot of detrius. How often should it be cleaned or would it be bad to do away with it.

 

I would do away with it, one less thing to worry about.

 

Not sure what you have, but it sounds like it is there for a bubble trap. Depends on how much you like bubbles in your display. Yes it needs to be cleaned regularly.

 

I always found sponges in the sump to be very useful. They harbor a great amount of nitrifying bacteria and can be use to quickly get a hospital tank cycled if you ever needed to. I usually keep one just for that purpose.

 

in terms of filtration i would not depend on it much. it may be preventing bubbles from entering return tho. if your using it as a filter be careful how much you wash it so not to wash out too much of the good bacteria but do wash it enough to prevent detris from clogging and creating other issues. But i do agree with lotzofish that it does harbor good bacteria and i keep small cut outs in my sump as well incase i need to put up a QT tank.

 

I added a white floss to my sump/refugium that I replace every other day. I do this to keep the pods in the fuge and to keep my tank clean. The sponge is a different story I clean it every 3 months and replace it once a year. I have no ich problems or nitrate or phosphate problems so I guess I'm doing it right but then again I have a lot of time on my hands as I'm retired. Check it out.

 

I had mine for 10+ years, but it really needs to be cleaned every 2-3 days. I finally got rid of it as well as my overflow round foam filter.. I do use a tray filter, but it gets cleaned daily.