foam block?

[salt01]

i have a big 3" x 3" (10" long)foam block in my sump. its right before the return chamber. basically its like an overflow filter to the return. Is this bad? could this help or hurt my water quality. Do u think its producing phos to my tank? its a pain to clean and it seems to always be dirty. it seems to catch a lot of crud but is it housing beneficial bacteria? I was thinking of removing it and puting ceramic circles in its place. good or bad idea?

 

[marcah]

its not bad to have it . it will help pick up any particles still flowing and also help with any microbubbles coming from the skimmer or such.. drawback is it does have to be cleaned every few days or it will become a problem for the tank. ( nitrates)

 

[salt01]

Foam filter i mean

 

[Smitty]

+1 Marcah...it's probably more beneficial than problematic.