Lava Rock vs Sponge Filters

[fishysmell]

Hello everyone. Happy 4th of July! Anyway, I'm setting up a 10 gallon and I want to know if the large quantaties of lava rock in the tank will be sufficient for the bacteria to live in or do I need a sponge filter as well. I was originally building a canister filter, but that leaked so now I'm doing an in-tank sort of deal but it only has room for a small carbon. Should I just say heck w/ the carbon and use a sponge or will the lava rock in the tank pick up the load?

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

 

[N©KI]

But... but... It's July 5th!

 

[fishysmell]

So I'm a little late. I was too busy blowing crap up last night to get on and chat. Fireworks are fuuuuuuun! >=) Muhahahahaha! I feel sorry for my neighbors...

 

[Jawz]

You need mechanical filtration, so u can ditch the chemical filtration (carbon). I put lava rock in my filters, it is only effective ur u have water movement around the rock, whether it be in a filter or powerhead pumping water around the rocks in the tank. Lava rock is nice and porous for biofiltration but ultimately, unless u have a lightly lightly stocked tank or a good cleanup crew then u will need the spong for mechanical filtration. HTH