20g L for occies

I have a 20g long occie tank with a hob filter and sand for my substrate. I put a small fluval prefilter sponge on the intake of the HOB.

Oh great! Thank you for the response. It actually reminds me that it was your video that sold me on the occies for my 20g L!

Just watched your vid again now. Tank looks awesome! Nice background and plant placement.

How many occies do you have in there?

I have 7 in my tank. I was debating between 6 and 8 and the guy I ordered from convinced me on 8. 7 survived the trip. They started spawning within a little over a week of being in my tank. Lots of fun to watch.

Oh and thanks for the kuddos. It is my favorite tank right now between the two I have.

No problem...thanks for sharing in the first place!

So you prefer the HOB for your tank to the other options....why is that?

Anyone else on sponges or their opinion?

Sponges are easy, I love them for small tanks. They do plenty of bio and I vacuum out the solids when I do water changes, so I don't have another filter to clean. But I have several small tanks, 14 to be exact, so I don't want 14 HOB's to have to clean. If you just have one, it's not a big deal. Might save you some vacuuming of the sand.

Well at the time I was making my decision about HOB vs. sponge for my tank I hadn't dialed in a quiet enough air pump for my liking (I am picky about noise in my office) and the sponges I have were too big for a 20g long. It was really a decision based on what I had on hand.

A sponge would fit better with my background though. As it is I have to kind of tweak the intake tube a little even though I bought a background that sits flush and has a max depth of 1.5" (one of the shallowest 3D backgrounds I could find).

By the way I received a Million Air air pump today. It is quieter than the Rena pump I was using (I use sponges in my 60g).