cleaning the tank and filter media?

[ickyfishywishy]

i read on some post here, that u have to use CYCLE to keep the nitrates down after REEEEALY cleaning the tank a good deap clean? i cleaned the filter realy good last night and i set the media in a bucket of tank water as i cleaned the hood and i didnt keep it there for long maybe 15 minutes only,,,, so does that mean that the bacteria gets weak after doing so? and the nitrates goes up?

[starlight]

not really, I do that all the time and things are fine.

[amanichen]

Which post are you talking about?

Nitrate builds up over time as the end product in the nitrogen cycle (excluding plants and algae and anaerobic activity.)

You don't have to use the product called Cycle regularly, and it will only marginally help in establishing your tank.

When you clean your filter media, only clean the mechanical media, and do it as quickly as possible. When cleaning the media, use old tank water and not tap water.

[ickyfishywishy]

i read that towluvcats uses CYCLE to prevent the nitrates from going too high "CYCLE VS. STABILITY" post.
and i did saw this in other forums and i was just wondering if what im doing was harming my tank and killing too much nitrifying bacteria but thanks for telling me this and i do use old tank water to rinse the floss thanx a bunch!

[amanichen]

ickyfishywishy said:

i read that towluvcats uses CYCLE to prevent the nitrates from going too high "CYCLE VS. STABILITY" post.
and i did saw this in other forums and i was just wondering if what im doing was harming my tank and killing too much nitrifying bacteria but thanks for telling me this and i do use old tank water to rinse the floss thanx a bunch!

She said:

I currently use Cycle to stave off ammonia spikes when I change out filter media

...which it does help with. But it doesn't help with nitrate (can't be broken down by aerobic bacteria) or nitrite (Cycle contains the wrong bacteria for nitrite.)

I think you were mistaken

[ickyfishywishy]

hehehehehe thanx for starighting that out for me ;D and for the info as well!

[twoluvcats]

Thanks Brian...I was trying to figure out when I said that LOL

[songcloud]

Now here's a question for you.

If you just decide to toss the old mechanical filter and replace it with a new one, what impact will it have on the tank? This is what I did last time, and I'm aware that there were some bacteria on the media, but the filter setup I have has a bio-wheel, isn't that where the majority of the bacteria are supposed to colonize?

If that is the case, would changing the filter media have any impact on the tank what-so-ever? I mean, other than the obvious ones of better circulation (media not filled with crap), and therefore better water flow to the bio-wheel (bacteria have more stuff getting to them due to increased flow), and the fact that my water is no longer cloudy due to the decreased filtering capacity.

Just wondering since I've been using CYCLE on my tank for 3 weeks now, and I STILL! have no ammonia reading, no nitrite reading, and no nitrate readings!! Where is it all going?? Do I have a magical bad chemical black hole in my tank or what?! I just want to make sure that I'm not going to go up to the tank one day and find ammonia levels through the roof all of a sudden! Thanks for any help!

~SongCloud~

[seanadg]

Ooo, that's a good question, I just posted a similar one about my new tank. No ammonia, nitrite, nitrate readings although the tank is only 3 days old so maybe that's still early. I don't know. I have a bio-wheel too. The directions say to change the filter media every 2-4 weeks but never clean the bio-wheel as that's where the bacteria mainly colonize. So based on that, it seems like changing the filter media, or even other mechanical parts of the filter, should have no impact on the bacteria since they are on the bio-wheel. But I am a total newbie, literally a fish owner for 4 days now, so I don't really know. Would be interested in seeing if others have opinions on this.

[twoluvcats]

because of the bio-wheel, throwing away the filter pad will not affect your bio-colony as bad as someone who does not have one. Bio-wheels are an attractive place for the good bacteria so MOST will congregate there.

But PLEASE do not follow the manufacuteres guidelines on changing your filter pad...they are created for the express purpose of putting more money in the pocket of the company. Just rinse off your filter pad in tank water every couple water changes and put it back in...it can last you months, not just 2 weeks.

you don't 'clean' a bio-wheel...but they can get gunky...i just take mine off and swish it in tank water every couple months to get off the big gunky chunks.

Songcloud - how many fish are in the tank? First cycles on a new tank can take a long time if there's not a lot of fish in the tank to create the waste needed to kickstart the cycle.

seanadg - yes, 3 days is early to see anything showing up on the tests. With a single fish in the tank it can take a LONG time for the levels to start rising.

HTH

[seanadg]

Okay, then, that answered all my questions (in this post anyway ;-) ). Thank you so much! GREAT information about cleaning the filter media!