Koi Fish Information Centre

1. all kinds of microorganisms will grow on the sponge filter to eat the detritus captured by the filter, along with your nitrifying bacteria. A broken in sponge filter is good for fry, and other small fish with small mouths as a supplemental source of food.
2. It would depend on the type of HOB you got. In any case you can replace or clean the media without stopping the water flow. I’d point you to the ones that take the foam blocks. You can remove a block and rinse it to clean it in your water change waste water, and return the block to the filter. If you use two blocks, you can alternate them so that each is the first to receive the unfiltered water, if you wish. You can remove one block to place carbon in the filter, if and when needed. For additional biological filtration, many allow the addition of a biowheel, and some are specifically designed for it.
You can also change the character of the water flow by raising or lowering the water level slightly. A higher level can give you a good bit of water motion at the surface of the tank, a good way of helping gaseous exchange occur a bit more efficiently. A lower level means that you can directly aerate the water, and cause a quicker, deeper turnover of water at the surface.
Some people like the dispersal bar stretching across the tank. They feel it does a better job of water movement and aeration. Me? It is just another piece of equipment to clean regularly, and I have better things to do .
3. As long as you are still getting a good flow of water through the filter, and it appears to be even, I’d not worry about it, so long as you are sure the flow is relatively even over the bed. With the tank up and running, it will be a tough, messy job to remove it, and not totally destroy the community for the time being.
If you can see the bottom of the tank (an open stand will allow you to view from beneath), you can see the mulm on the bottom of the tank (given, also, a glass bottom). You would need to remove the power head, feed some airline tubing underneath the filter through the upright tube, and start a siphon. The mulm is inert, but will eventually impede the flow of the water. If you can see from under the tank, you will notice the dispersal pattern of the mulm, which will indicate the areas of high flow vs. areas of low or no flow. This is another job that is not much fun, but it only has to be done relatively infrequently.
\Steve//

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