What is the Order of Mechanical Filter Media? In what Order can you Setup Coarse, Medium, & Fine Foam / Sponge?

Mechanical filter media is responsible for trapping fish poop & other detritus from the aquarium or pond water. For trapping large particles, coarse foam or sponge is used. For collecting very tiny particles, fine foam or sponge is used.


What is the order of mechanical filtration media?
What is the order of mechanical filtration media?

If fine sponge can trap every particle (large or tiny), then why do we use coarse sponge as well for filtering water? The answer is simple, fine sponge collects even very tiny particles that can pass through the coarse sponge but it clogs up faster when it traps large debris. Therefore, we use coarse sponge for collecting large particles, medium sponge for trapping medium size particles that can pass through the coarse sponge, & fine sponge is used for collecting very tiny particles that can pass through both coarse & medium sponges. Therefore, the order of mechanical filtration media should be Coarse -> Medium -> Fine sponge. If you change the order, then your mechanical filtration media will clog quickly as debris will be trapped in its pores. If a fine sponge is not properly maintained, then detritus will completely block the pores of the fine sponge, & its filtration efficiency will be highly reduced.

Compared to foams, sponges are not very efficient in mechanical filtration. The pores of the fine sponge are larger than fine foam; therefore, fine sponge cannot trap very tiny particles. However, sponges do not clog quickly like foams, & keep filtering water for a long time. If you do not want your fine foam to clog up quickly, then it is recommended to clean your fine foam regularly so that debris stuck in the pores of the fine foam are washed out, & do not completely block its pores. The best way to save your fine foam from clogging up is to setup your filtration media in the following order: Coarse -> Medium -> Fine foam. All large debris will be trapped by coarse foam, while medium size debris will be trapped by medium foam, & very tiny debris will be trapped by fine foam.

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