Advice on Cleaning Bubble Trap Sponges

[Tellie-Vision]

Title is pretty self explanatory, but an additional detail to note is I have copepods and there is a non-zero chance they’re also hanging out in the horrifically clogged sponges. Any advice on how I should go about cleaning them without potentially putting a huge dent in my pod population?

At this point, they *need* to be cleaned as they are BADLY effecting the flow in the sump which is, in turn, screwing up the salinity (flow is so bad that like every couple days the siphon breaks and I have to redo it, which as you can imagine messes with the ATO sensor. It’s also really annoying.)

Any help is appreciated!

 

[Subsea]

Remove sponges from bubble trap and wash off with hot water in the sink. For robust sanitation soak in 10% solution of peroxide for 2 minutes and rinse throughly.

 

[exnisstech]

What type of sponge? have a bubble trap sponge and haven't cleaned it in 15 months but it is very coarse, more like mesh than sponge actually.

 

[Tellie-Vision]

What type of sponge? have a bubble trap sponge and haven't cleaned it in 15 months but it is very coarse, more like mesh than sponge actually.

It’s the ones that come with the Fiji Cube DIY baffle kits. It’s definitely not “fine” but apparently it isn’t course enough either. I ordered something (hopefully) more coarse but until that gets here, I gotta try and clean them before something bad happens

 

[exnisstech]

I'm not familiar with your tank but are you sure you need a bubble trap sponge. I have a 20g AIO and have nothing in the back chamber and no filtration and I have no problem with bubble in the DT. I've never been a fan of using sponges between chambers because they always get plugged.

 

[petcellar]

I had the same problem on my Red Sea 900 G2.

Bubble trap kept clogging - even though it was coarse.

Then it messed up my sump levels which in turn kept messing up the skimmer.

I got rid of it. I'd rather have a few bubbles.

 

[Tellie-Vision]

I'm not familiar with your tank but are you sure you need a bubble trap sponge. I have a 20g AIO and have nothing in the back chamber and no filtration and I have no problem with bubble in the DT. I've never been a fan of using sponges between chambers because they always get plugged.

I have a 40g breeder connected to a sump. I’ve never actually ran it without the sponges, I suppose I could try?