Well, I tried a sponge,... then no sponge, ie unfiltered. And then a big 7" X 16" filter sock. Now I am back to the sponge.
My sump was actually designed for a big sponge between a couple baffles. I stopped using it, because early on I had high nitrates, and people were saying sponges were nitrate factories.
But with no sponge and going unfiltered, I had to clean my skimmer neck more often, and detritus collected in some areas of my sump. And in general my tank water was not as clear.
The filter sock worked really well, but it was a lot of work cleaning them with bleach, etc.
When I finally got my nitrates down to zero, I tried the sponge again. It is certainly the simplest and quickest to clean option. It takes me at most 2 min to rinse and squeeze it out a few times in the sink, and then insert it back in my sump. I do have to clean it more often, every 2 or 3 days, but it is so quick and easy, so I have no problem with that. And if I am away for a while, it just moves up between the baffles a bit to let some water flow by, no worse than no filter at all. And my nitrates still always remain at zero now.
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