Quality of foam:
Foams used in aquaristics with live animals must always be subjected to a pollutant test, as most plastics release problematic plasticisers into the water. All the plastics used by JBL have passed this test and do NOT release any harmful substances into the water.
Cleaning of plastics:
For many months it is sufficient to rinse the dirty filter sponges under lukewarm running water and then inoculate them with filter bacteria (JBL FilterStart) before using them again. However, as mechanical cleaning NEVER leads to complete cleaning and dirt will remain in the filter sponge, it is recommended you replace the filter sponges about every 6 months.
If you place a freshly cleaned filter sponge in a glass of clean water overnight, you will be able to smell how much dirt is still present in the supposedly clean sponge the next morning!
Inoculating filter material with cleansing bacteria:
Initial colonisation of filter material with cleansing bacteria takes about 1-2 weeks in freshwater and twice as long in seawater. If the filter material was already in use, the time for a "recolonisation" is doubled, as recolonisation does not take place so easily on dead bacterial lawns. The addition of concentrated cleaning bacteria such as in JBL FilterStart shortens the biological start-up time to about 24 hours.
Another reason is to fill the existing settlement space in the filter material with beneficial bacteria so that pathogenic germs find no place to spread. This has now been scientifically proven.