Am I the only one who switched from a sponge filter to a tiny HOB and watched my 3 gallon shrimp bowl stop crashing?

Michael Wood · 2026-10-12T07:50:04.631677+00:00

Two shrimp died in my 3 gallon bowl on my desk in Tacoma and I could not figure out why until I checked the sponge filter. The sponge was so gunked up after 5 weeks that water barely moved through it, and my test kit showed nitrates creeping past 40. I swapped in a little AquaClear 20 turned way down and within 4 days the shrimp were grazing again and the nitrates dropped under 10. The sponge was fine in a bigger tank but in a bowl this small it just cannot keep up with the waste. Has anyone else run into this with bowls under 5 gallons, or did I just let the sponge go too long?

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Am I the only one who switched from a sponge filter to a tiny HOB and watched my 3 gallon shrimp bowl stop crashing? | Bus Stop Aquariums - Topic Shares