Changing the filter sponge?

ruthirons

Hello.

I have a jewel 190L and it has a white, a green, a black and 3 blue sponges. The manufacturer says that the white wool sponge should be changed every week, the black carbon and the green nitrifying sponges should be changed every 6 weeks, the course blue sponge every 3 months and the fine blue sponges every 6 months. My question is, is this really necessary or are they trying to make me spend an unnecessary fortune?

Little-Fizz

It is necessary to replace the carbon unless you're willing to ditch it. Its not overly important, some people like it and others don't. All my fish tanks are perfectly healthy with no carbon. Other then that it is only necessary to wash some gunk off the filter media at least once a month. But don't run it under tap water, just when you doing a water change swish it around in the bucket of old tank water. To remove the carbon just cut a little into the flossy side and shake all the carbon out. You will need to replace them eventually but they will last you long enough.

Oldman47

Your suspicion is correct RuthIrons. They are trying to get you to spend money when all the filters really need is a good rinse in used tank water. If you choose to use the carbon, that should be changed frequently or it will stop working. Everything else gets replaced when it falls apart. In my tanks, the filter media is 4 years old and still going strong. I don't use carbon but I have some in case I need to use it to remove medications some day. That is something that carbon is good for.