Cleaning Sponge Filters

[Primordius]

I believe my sponge filter is fully cycled however, I'm still getting some ammonia in my tank. Other than food and excrement, there's literally nothing else that can contribute to levels of ammonia in my tank. Does my filter need a good clean?

How do you appropriately clean a sponge filter? If you squeeze it and run it through water, won't you kill all the good bacteria? I'm kind of confused.

[mistakes r crucial]

How big is the tank and what litreage is the sponge filter? It may seem a bit like overkill but I run 3x400 LPH sponges in most of my 4ft growout tanks, just a personal choice.

You can clean sponge filters in a bucket of tank water. Never use it straight out of the tap or you will kill your bio. You can give them a good squeeze but you don't need to go too rough on them or you may well affect your bacteria. HTH
MAC

[Primordius]

Cheers for the help MAC, always appreciated.

It's just a 68L 2 foot tank and the filter is a Bio-Max Bio-sponge filter with carbon cartridges. I have an EHEIM 200 running it from one channel and the other channel runs a little airation pod on the bottom of the tank. I'm at a bit of a loss how this filter works as well. I fail to understand how it actually draws air into the sponge, as the air outlet opens from the same top section the air pump connection is made.

I just need to be sure this thing is working properly and i'm doing the right thing.

[mistakes r crucial]

To be quite frank mate I reckon you can't go past the old style sponge filters. They cost next to nothing, we buy wholesale at about $4 but even in the LFS they would only be about $12. All this fandangled new stuff tends to shy away from the KISS principle.
MAC