Bak-Pak 2R w/o sponge?

[amarkham]

I ordered a Bak-Pak 2R from PetWarehouse and it arrived broken. I had them ship me another one and received it before sending the other one back. While attempting to set it up, I discovered there was no sponge in the packaging. When I checked the broken one, it didn't have one either. Am I missing something? (besides a sponge)

Something seems awry that two different orders would both be missing sponges, but unless it's REALLY clear, then neither of mine came with one. :-)

Is my apartment the Bermuda Triangle for skimmer sponges?

- Andy

[FishDaddy]

Hi Andy,
I wouldn't worry about the sponge...many of us remove this detritus trapper anyway. If you run the Bak Pak with the sponge, it needs to be cleaned frequently or it will get stopped up, backing up the outflow from the skimmer. I removed the sponge from my Bak Pak on the 38 FOWLR after this happened.
Any sponge in a tank will need frequent cleaning to avoid buildup of detritus and organics which will break down into Nitrates.

That's one of the things I like about the Remora on the 55....no sponges or other parts to adjust or fiddle with!
HTH,
Dick