Red sea owners, do i need this in the sump?

[klavmaister]

this sponge is standard between the bubble trap of the return pump, do I need it? I have filter roles. the only thing I notice when I remove it is that the water makes quite a trickle sound? (is there such a thing as that) but it almost disappears when the sponge is there. is that the point or could a comb do the same thing? what have the rest of you done?

 

[OctaviusBrine]

I took mine out a while ago when I was having issues with my valve trying to eliminate problems for varying sump levels. I haven’t had it in since then. Between the roller and skimmer I haven’t noticed any problems. Plus it’s a good spot if you wana throw a bag of carbon or something. To answer your other question it’s also there to stop micro bubbles from entering your display.

 

[MnFish1]

I removed it - but I did not hear any increased 'trickle'. it did catch quite a bit of debris when I used it, wasn't that hard to rinse off and replace.

 

[Pod_01]

I never used it…. seemed like another item to clean and I like to keep things simple.

 

[klavmaister]

the reason why the water made a lot of noise was that the trap was at the highest level, lowered it a little and then the sound disappeared.

thx for the help all!

 

[OctaviusBrine]

Careful adjusting that baffle it will change your water level for your skimmer.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Mine gets filled with pods. When I clean it I do so in my water change bucket. I wait a day for it to settle, then I run it through some sieves.

 

[ze_reef]

I’ve always used it on my reefer 350 before and it helped filter out debris like bits of chaeto and detritus but I had to clean it like once a month to maintain the flow, otherwise water will flow over the baffle and raise the water level on the skimmer chamber. I bought a big piece of sponge from amazon that was exactly the same thickness, same material and just cut it to size so it was exactly like the original one that came with the tank when it was new. I didn’t notice any microbubbles going into the display, with or without the sponge.