Agae atracted to sponge

[bobby]

I have had a algae prob as many of you may know, however, I recently added sponges to my power heads and it seems all the algae goes to the sponges instead of the sand. Here is a pic of the sponge I bought.

And here is a pic of the dirty sponge after only running for 12 hours. The one on the left is dirty and the one on right is clean. Does any body know why it does this?

 

[Adrastos]

Sponges are a good.. and a bad thing. Yes, they help act as a pre-filter.. but you can never get them truely clean again (thus keeping all of the bad stuff still in your system). I have one sponge on my tank.. the prefilter for the overflow box.. the only reason that is there is because I don't have a screen to use instead.

If you are going to use a sponge, I'd recommend removing it daily for as good of a cleaning as you can get it.

 

[bobby]

I do clean it every night, I have to use them for a cover over the power heads that way I dont lose anymore fish. I bought two and clean one every night then set it out to dry and replace the dirty one with the cleaned one the was drying. That pic of the dirty one was only in the tank for 12 hours, its all the diatoms I think because there not going to the sand nearly as much.

 

[Bifferwine]

Well, remember that any bad stuff floating in your water will get sucked up and stuck on the sponge, so some of that stuff on it was likely floating around beforehand. Like Adrastos said, sponges are a mixed blessing -- your fish and anemone won't get chopped to bits, but it collects all sorts of nastiness.

 

[yote]

Bobby have you tested to see if your having silicate problems?

 

[bobby]

No I havent been able to find a silicate test anywere around here. I dont know how I would have them though I use ro, arginite sand, and live rock. I dont know how they would get in the tank unless the ro I was buying had it in it.

 

[Bifferwine]

I wouldn't be surprised, with the luck you've been having with water lately...