Sponge filters are great for shrimp since they catch all sorts of particles that the shrimp can snack on. If you’re looking for a bit more flow and stronger filtration, an HoB filter works as well. Just make sure you put an intake sponge on it to prevent shrimp from being sucked up into it. A benefit of HoB is that you can also customize the media in the filter to suit your needs, such as adding carbon if you need to. Lots of HoB filters these days also have flow regulators so you can make sure it’s not dumping water back in with a strong flow.
As for cons, I’d say the sponge filter setup can be a little noisy due to the air pump while most HoB filters are extremely quiet. Sponge filters are also not the most attractive thing in a tank and can take up valuable space.
It really comes down to personal preference. With the canister filter you should have plenty of medium and flow to keep the water circulating nicely. I’d personally recommend 1 or 2 sponge filters for your tank.
I love my sponge filters in my shrimp tanks. They are great areas for baby shrimp to graze on biofilm. The problem is that they don’t do the best job on floating particles in the water column. What I typically have done is have sponge filters and a back that up with a HOB and sponge intake cover. This does the job of clearing the water of fine particles, and it also gives babies a place to graze. This is on my larger tanks. My small tanks gets a sponge and sometimes I’ll add the HOB to clear the water for a few days and take it off.
CurrentAd5265 
Sponge filters are great for shrimp since they catch all sorts of particles that the shrimp can snack on. If you’re looking for a bit more flow and stronger filtration, an HoB filter works as well. Just make sure you put an intake sponge on it to prevent shrimp from being sucked up into it. A benefit of HoB is that you can also customize the media in the filter to suit your needs, such as adding carbon if you need to. Lots of HoB filters these days also have flow regulators so you can make sure it’s not dumping water back in with a strong flow.
As for cons, I’d say the sponge filter setup can be a little noisy due to the air pump while most HoB filters are extremely quiet. Sponge filters are also not the most attractive thing in a tank and can take up valuable space.
It really comes down to personal preference. With the canister filter you should have plenty of medium and flow to keep the water circulating nicely. I’d personally recommend 1 or 2 sponge filters for your tank.
I love my sponge filters in my shrimp tanks. They are great areas for baby shrimp to graze on biofilm. The problem is that they don’t do the best job on floating particles in the water column. What I typically have done is have sponge filters and a back that up with a HOB and sponge intake cover. This does the job of clearing the water of fine particles, and it also gives babies a place to graze. This is on my larger tanks. My small tanks gets a sponge and sometimes I’ll add the HOB to clear the water for a few days and take it off.