Removing sponge from aquaclear question

[Crispie]

Is it safe to remove sponge?

If i remove the sponge and the biomax bag from aquaclear,is my tank going to start a cycle again? My tank got done cycling last week and i've been reading,how bad sponges can be if your going the reef route. So i decide to take both out,but i don't want to start a cycle all over again. By the way i have nothing living i the tank,i was planning getting a couple snails this weekend.
I have around 28lbs of rock and 20 lbs of sand.

Thx*

[Azedenkae]

This is going to be a bit hard to answer.

So the initial cycle is to ensure that the filtration system is able to deal with whatever the bioload you deal with is. So if you take something out that you have cycled will take out whatever bacteria is already on/in there, which depending on the purpose of said media may or may not have a material effect on the tank.

The sponge itself generally won't be a problem, but the biomax would have been to establish a large(ish) population of bacteria. Taking that out may be an issue. If whatever else you have is not up to par, and/or you are not directly replacing the biomax with something equivalent, i.e. A different type of filter media or a established biological filter media.

In short, sponge = no worries, biomax = could be an issue, both in relation to replacing them with something else.

Basically but not quite, but essentially.

[Crispie]

Thank you! I'll leave the biomax pallets and take the sponge out.