Prefilter foam vs strainer

[idris]

I've seen some people using foam prefilters over filter inlets and some with strainers.
To me, a foam filter is more lovely to get clogged up, keep filtrate in the tank, reduce flow and take more maintenance, but strainers will be less effective at protecting fry, shrimplets etc.
Any thoughts?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

To me, a foam filter is more lovely to get clogged up, keep filtrate in the tank, reduce flow and take more maintenance,

I think the mistake a lot of people make is to have too small a sponge with too fine a pore size <"Intake Strainer -Positioning? Shrimp Guards? Hacks and all.">.

I like these big sponge blocks <"Filtering the Scape">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Zeus.]

It's a tricky balance which is aesthetics, flow, livestock and ease of cleaning dependant. On my 50l I use a sponge and an easy clean weekly and it keeps all the shrimp in tank. On on 500 litre I used some mesh on the FX6 inlet, so had to catch the shrimp every filter clean, I could of fitted a sponge but the mesh gave better flow. on my 500l I had to clean the filter sponges more often -normally weekly after turkey blasting the carpet, as I used the filter to catch the detritus.

 

[tam]

Depends what you have floating around in the tank, the strainers can get blocked still if you have leaves pressed against them, where as sponges tend to have more surface area. The sponge also keeps more mulm out of the filter, so reduces cleaning frequency as you can just clean the sponge. On the other hand as they suck up more mulm they can get blocked with that.

I just favour little fish and critters and they'll got through a strainer so sponges for me although I think I would even with bigger fish for the easier maintainence.

 

[louis_last]

You can get some very fine mesh strainers. I've used both but these days I prefer the mesh strainers over sponges as I find they're easier to clean and look a little neater- just turn off the filter when you're doing a water change and suck the mulm off. It's much easier because detritus is trapped on the surface whereas it gets sucked into a sponge and I found the sponges got blocked way faster.
Also if you have shrimp, particularly larger shrimp like amanos, and/or biofilm grazing fish like otoccinclus, they will keep the strainers very clear for you but not a sponge which still gets blocked.
The finer grades of mesh prefilter are certainly safe for shrimp and fish fry as I raised literally hundreds of scarlet badis from eggs using these and fry were definitely not sucked into the filter. Even the smallest moina and seed shrimp that I feed will get trapped on the mesh prefilter rather than sucked through it. I've been impressed with the grade of stainless steel in mine too, they weren't expensive and I expected them to rust quickly but they're holding up very well.
I'm only using these on small filters with a maximum advertised flow rate of 500L/hr though. It may be that the finer grades of mesh can't accomodate higher flow rates.

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

I have stainless pipes on both of my Nano’s. I covered the slots with stainless mesh to start but I found the holes got clogged quite easily with loose moss due to the small surface area. I’ve now got foam on both and the flow is better. Obviously though they do need removing and cleaning periodically. I’ve found the tricky part is getting foams of the right size and porosity and cutting a hole in it. If anyone knows of a good source of supply ready to go, let me know.

 

[louis_last]

I'm surprsied others are finding these restrict flow more than sponges. total opposite of my experience. I was using 30ppi filter foam. maybe coarser is the way to go but then the pores in the sponge would be unambiguously larger than the grade of mesh on strainers I use.

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

I'm surprsied others are finding these restrict flow more than sponges. total opposite of my experience. I was using 30ppi filter foam. maybe coarser is the way to go but then the pores in the sponge would be unambiguously larger than the grade of mesh on strainers I use.

The problem with my stainless inlet pipes are that the intake slots are not very large and there are not really enough of them. Once you add stainless mesh over the top the actual surface area is pretty tiny. You can buy ready made stainless mesh covers but I’ve not seen one that fits my pipes very well. Most are too short.

Edit: Since switching to foams the filter itself doesn’t seem to get quite so dirty.

 

[idris]

Thanks all.
Any recommendations on specific mesh size?

 

[Wookii]

Thanks all.
Any recommendations on specific mesh size?

I use this type throughout all my tanks:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07WNPRR31/ref=sspa_dk_detail_8?pf_rd_p=a0b40c59-9466-439e-81b9-233f60bb66bb&pf_rd_r=6EP5R7RNK12XN3D0S5J9&pd_rd_wg=likQf&pd_rd_w=wvu6G&content-id=amzn1.sym.a0b40c59-9466-439e-81b9-233f60bb66bb&pd_rd_r=9b48ad4b-ec10-4bd0-91f9-12bea01a1b9b&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1

Just take the end off your filter inlet tube, so its just an open tube, and push it into the mesh pre-filter. I never have to clean any of mine, as the shrimp love feeding off it and keeping it clean. The mesh is small enough to prevent baby shrimp getting through, but there is enough surface area (relative to size of the pipe inlet hole), that even if a couple of botanical leaves get suctioned onto it, there is no hinderance in flow.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I use this type throughout all my tanks:

I might try these and a sponge, mainly because they work out cheaper than buying the plastic intake strainers <"https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/eheim-intake-strainer-12mm-4731-p.asp">.

cheers Darrel