Contemplating in removing prefilter from the overflow.

[Panagiotakis]

Im fed up wrestling with the light hood in order to get to the prefilter foam in the overflow every few days and cleaning it.
Contemplating in removing it for good.My tank is a 50 gallon mini reef with sump .Filtration is left up to the live rock in the sump.
I`d like your thoughts regarding removing the prefilter sponge.
Thanx for your replys.

 

[tazdevil]

I assume your talking about the prefilter sponge on most overflows? My advice would be to remove it, as it can contribute to nitrates, especially if your doing a reef tank. It would be helpful to know what your entire tank setup is though

 

[Tremelle]

I would say remove it. Any food or detris that makes it to the sump will be consumed by the organisms from the live rock. Some people feed their sumps. This is just another form of providing food for the sump.

 

[Anonymous]

Yank it. I yanked mine 6 months ago. They are such a PITA to take out.

Louey

 

[SteveP]

Mine's been out for about a year now and nitrate levels haven't suffered for it. My LR and DSB take care of it , and any solid matter settles out in the sump. I firmly believe my pod population has benefitted from it too.

Steve
8{I

 

[Chucker]

FWIW, I still use mine, but only for short periods of time. I'll toss in it right before doing a heavy bastering of the tank prior to a water change. This way I can pull out more particulates than I would by just siphoning alone. Once the change is complete, I'll pull it back out.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree that prefilters tend to become not much more than a NO3 factory. Over time they will accumulate more detritus than you can squeeze out of them. Therefore I would either remove it or replace it with a fresh filter every month or so. It's likely not going to cause a crash, but may lead to various nuisances.

I have found in the past that a low flow area of the sump is just as effective at allowing particulates to "settle out". There are also alot of animals in your tank that would love to consume parts of that particulate your prefilter is eliminating.

 

[reefer madness1]

I took mine out. A snail went into the overflow,climbed down the drain tube and got stuck in the ball valve I use to tee the return between the refugium and the sump. the water backed up in my overflow, the tank overflowed, the water shorted out my power strip,lost all power to the tank, and all this while I was on vacation. I now use the prefilters again.

 

[tazdevil]

Did you have some kind of egg-crate in front of the prefilter?? That would be a way of preventing that type of disaster (ugh, coming home from vacation to find that kind of mess).

 

[danmhippo]

Most ReefReady tanks with built-in overflow has the slotted grills to prevent disasters like that.

I removed all bioballs, sponges in the overflow from day one of tank setup. Never have a problem though. The tube connecting from the overflow to the sump is 1.5" diameter, not many things could block it completely.