Sponge filters agian???

Hi everyone, remeber that box of sponge filters I got? They were used, but have dried out and been in storage forever, what would be the best way to clean them before I use them?
Thanks for any help

I would take some water from your tank and soak them in it then give them a good scrub in the water aswell....

what about boiling a pan of water..dropping the sponges in the water and boiling for 30 seconds...turn off the stove...let them sit for about 10 minutes then rinse them in cold tap water....then just drop them into the tank to soak.

If you are afraid they might melt then soak them in water above 160 deg F....or 72 deg C for about 10 or so minutes...rinse them out real good in cold tap water then drop them into the tank.

I wouldn't just soak them in a bucket of tank water because without movement and filtration/circulation it would get stagnant real quick.

Thats what I do when i get new ones. If I'm doing wrong please let me know...but it seems to work for me.

any new filter media i get, regardless of type (unless its an absorbing one) goes through this process.

Bucket of hot water + quick squirt of bleach (not boiling but pure hot from the tap) for 5 mins

Rinced for 2 mins under running warm water (if its a sponge, giving lots of good squeezes)

bucket of hot water for 10 mins

rinced really well for a min

then into a bucket of 26ish degree treated water (i use prime but any dechlorinator is ok) with an airstone and some powered good bacteria (products avaliable from most fish shops) for a day or two

This means that any old nastys are long dead and there is a fresh batch of good bacteria busily making the filter media their new home. The powered stuff i have (cant remember the name) has trillions of bacteria as well as all the nutrition they will need for the first week or so of life (by which stage they are in a tank consuming all the waste in the water or in a tank cycling and i have flake food in there providing the nutrition for them)

Doug wrote:

any new filter media i get, regardless of type (unless its an absorbing one) goes through this process.

Bucket of hot water + quick squirt of bleach (not boiling but pure hot from the tap) for 5 mins

Rinced for 2 mins under running warm water (if its a sponge, giving lots of good squeezes)

bucket of hot water for 10 mins

rinced really well for a min

then into a bucket of 26ish degree treated water (i use prime but any dechlorinator is ok) with an airstone and some powered good bacteria (products avaliable from most fish shops) for a day or two

This means that any old nastys are long dead and there is a fresh batch of good bacteria busily making the filter media their new home. The powered stuff i have (cant remember the name) has trillions of bacteria as well as all the nutrition they will need for the first week or so of life (by which stage they are in a tank consuming all the waste in the water or in a tank cycling and i have flake food in there providing the nutrition for them)

a good technique doug, though I am not too keen on bleach of any type....

I prefer to do most of what you said then place in bucket of warm water (temp above 100) then allow to sit and cool a for a couple of days, then i place a media filter sponge removed from my filter to help beneficial bacteria grow..

this helps the filter aclimatise quicker, and i just have done this with three second hand fluvals and all three are still going strong with no causalties..