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Arthropoddi

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Apr 21, 2014
Messages
19
Location
Mid-Michigan
Hey everyone, I'm new, and I mean brand new to the hobby, and these forums, so I'm sorry if I ask something dumb or if I'm way behind on something :ermm:

I do know what I'm supposed to do in terms of maintenance. I've spent probably a total of a few days researching cycling, water chemistry, stocking boundaries, ect.

So here's the deal...

I have a ten gallon, and a five gallon both that I want to cycle. The 5.5 for a betta, and the 10 for a pair of dwarf gouramis.

The five and a half gallon already has a hood and heater, and a basic HOB filter, but that's where my issue stems.

I took a drive today to the pet store, thinking I had my list figured out but as soon as I got there I...stood and stared at everything for about 45 minutes then left.

Here's the thing. I have no idea what's best in terms of filters for cycling.

What I wanted to do was have 2 filters, a dual sponge filter for biofiltering, and a mechanical filter for if/when my fish ever get sick and I need to medicate, I'd have the mechanical filter one to remove the medication once it was done.

Well they had everything for the sponge filter, airline tubes, air pumps, ect., but they didn't have the actual sponge filter. They had a bunch of other filters that claimed to do biofiltration as well as mechanical and chemical, but those just confuse me and I don't know how well they actually work.

Should I stick to my original plan and do sponges for bio, and mechanical for actually filtering out particles? Or are mechanical filters with biofiltering claims just as good?

I'm talking specifically about the tetra whisper 10i i saw, with their bioscrubber thing. Would that work?

I'm beginning fresh cycles on a 5 gallon and a 10 gallon, but my ten gallon doesn't have a hood. It'd be cheaper to buy another Topfin ten gallon set from petsmart than it would to be to buy a hood and a heater, both of which the set comes with. I heard that heaters are what you pay for, so are the Topfin heaters that come in the pack just as good as 35 dollar heaters?

I ended up leaving with nothing but a 35 dollar Aqueon heater, which I was positive I needed, but if it would be better to return it and just get the set I will. The thing is though it bothers me to have so much other stuff I'll never use, like the filter that comes with it. I already have an Aqueon QuietFlow 10, and extra filter cartridges, I don't want another one just sitting around.

Also, I don't mean to make this longer than what it is, but how do you do a fishless cycle without ammonia? I drove all over today and nowhere had it, only lemon scented or something. I heard you can use fish food, but I also heard that adds other stuff to the water you don't want. I have some OmegaOne betta flakes that say they don't cloud up the water, would those work? If so how do I go about doing that?

:thanks::fish1:

Sorry this was so long...
 
So you get pure ammonia at the hardware store I believe. You can also start to cycle with fish food (it will turn into ammonia) until you find a source. Just crush a pinch into your water and let them degrade.

Clarify something for me, you are getting a new filter for which tank? If it's the 5 gallon, why are you getting a new one? What's wrong with the old one?
 
Ace hardware carries it. It's called janitorial strength ammonia. It's in Michigan so hopefully there is one near you
 
Personally I would just use the HOB for your betta tank. If the current is too strong you can always use a bottle baffle to slow it. Also try craigslist when looking for supplies. 10 gallons are on mine all the time, and don't be afraid to ask lower than what they are asking.
 
My betta is doing great with a whisper, I don't know which one. Uses a medium bio bag and comes with the Marineland 3 gallon kit?

I can't say enough good things about The Simple Guide to Freshwater aquariums by Bouchowitz. It's on amazon and comes on Kindle. It recommends HOB for beginners, it's mechanical chemical and biological all in one (once the bacteria grow). My plan for my 29 gallon if I ever had to medicate was to pull the bacteria populated media out and keep it in it's own tank and throw a cut piece of filter media in without carbon.

I got the ammonia at Ace too. They're pretty much everywhere.
 
My betta has an aqua-tech 5-15 on the 10 gallon. It's perfect for him. Before that he had the whisper (?)i internal filter in a 5 gallon, which on medium setting was fine for him. Sorry I don't recall the exact number. :)

It's not the greatest but gets the job done and my fish is healthy so I'm good until it croaks, then I'll get a better one
 
Right now I only have two filters. The Top Fin 10 that came with the 5.5 gallon I've currently got set up (but not cycling or doing anything right now), and an Aqueon 10 for the ten gallon.

There's nothing particularly wrong with the filter(s), I've just been having issues trying to figure out what media to put into it to cycle it and keep it that way. It came with a carbon filter pad (and I even bought extras for the Aqueon), but I heard those need to be swapped every few weeks, disrupting my cycle, that's why I wanted the secondary sponge filter. I heard there's media you can put in the HOBs for bio build up, but that also confuses me. What media can you put in the HOBs for a successful cycle that doesn't need to be swapped?

And can I put two different media's in there, like something for bio, and something to catch the larger particles? Would I even need a separate sponge filter if I did that? And what sort of thing would I use in it for bio? Could I just shove a natural sea sponge in there for that, and put it in front of the carbon filter pad; that way the filter pad would be catching the particles and the sea sponge would keeping the bacteria, would that set up work? Keeping hermit crabs for so many years I've learned that those natural sea sponges are great for holding bacteria..lol

Sorry for all the questions..

There's an Ace Hardware right here in town, thanks for letting me know! :flowers: I can check there without having to make a huge drive.
 
Right now I only have two filters. The Top Fin 10 that came with the 5.5 gallon I've currently got set up (but not cycling or doing anything right now), and an Aqueon 10 for the ten gallon.

There's nothing particularly wrong with the filter(s), I've just been having issues trying to figure out what media to put into it to cycle it and keep it that way. It came with a carbon filter pad (and I even bought extras for the Aqueon), but I heard those need to be swapped every few weeks, disrupting my cycle, that's why I wanted the secondary sponge filter. I heard there's media you can put in the HOBs for bio build up, but that also confuses me. What media can you put in the HOBs for a successful cycle that doesn't need to be swapped?

And can I put two different media's in there, like something for bio, and something to catch the larger particles? Would I even need a separate sponge filter if I did that? And what sort of thing would I use in it for bio? Could I just shove a natural sea sponge in there for that, and put it in front of the carbon filter pad? Would that set up work? Keeping hermit crabs for so many years I've learned that those natural sea sponges are great for holding bacteria..lol

Sorry for all the questions..

There's an Ace Hardware right here in town, thanks for letting me know! :flowers: I can check there without having to make a huge drive.

I use my carbon/polyester figber pads till they fall apart! They don't need to be replaced. Also did they not come with a second filter part? (mine has the cheapo carbon pad and little filterfloss pad too) I am not to savvy on filter media, you'll have to ask someone else. I suppose you could just do two carbon filter since you have them and only change one at a time, and squeeze it before you do? My little internal filter only had the little carbon bag and it's lasted forever for me! Mr.Betta doesn't have a particularly high bio load. lol I suppose when I need to change it I will simply squeeze the heck out of the old one to release as much bacteria as possible and do an extra water change that week to be safe.
 
I use my carbon/polyester figber pads till they fall apart! They don't need to be replaced. Also did they not come with a second filter part? (mine has the cheapo carbon pad and little filterfloss pad too) I am not to savvy on filter media, you'll have to ask someone else. I suppose you could just do two carbon filter since you have them and only change one at a time, and squeeze it before you do? My little internal filter only had the little carbon bag and it's lasted forever for me! Mr.Betta doesn't have a particularly high bio load. lol I suppose when I need to change it I will simply squeeze the heck out of the old one to release as much bacteria as possible and do an extra water change that week to be safe.

Nope, it came with a filter pad type thing that has carbon wrapped in filter floss (or at least I think that's what it's wrapped in). I just heard they weren't the greatest for cycling since they had to be swapped and also that the carbon held back a lot of stuff, and plus if I need to medicate them the carbon would just pull the meds right back out of the water, which was why I was just going to have them on backup in case I needed to remove meds from the tank once I was done with them.

I could do two and swap one at a time though, that would work. I take it the floss around the carbon is what holds all the bacteria then?
 
So after actually taking a look at my Aqueon filter (I had never opened it until now..), I like it. It's got a "bio-holster" for bacteria build up and all that other filter stuff to remove everything else, so I think it'll work.

I still think I'm going to add a sponge filter on the 5.5 though, cause all the filter that it came with's got is a slot for a carbon pad and nothing else really.
 
you can always slit one side of the carbon bad open and remove the carbon, I've heard several people mention doing that here on the forum..
 
You can buy squares of the blue filter floss pads, and slip it in with the charcoal filter. That's what I was given to start my cycle, and I just squeezed it in with the existing carbon cartridge. I bet it works With all the stuff sold for canister filters (I wanted to try "water polishing" so I cut a square and rubber banded it to my charcoal cartridge). Carbon is a great host for the bacteria too I've read, since it has so much surface area.

If you have to medicate I'd pull your bacteria colony out, sequester it, treat the sick fish running the filter with no carbon just filter floss or a cartridge with the carbon pulled out ... Then when you're done put the colonized filter cartridge back in.

You don't have to change the carbon cartridge like they say. Just dip it in your bucket of aquarium water, shake off the crud into the bucket, and keep using it till it falls apart.

I really like my Marineland filter (penguin 200) because it has two slots. Right now I have a cartridge in one and my donated seeded media in the other. Later when the cartridge is falling Apart I'll just stick a second one in and let it run till it's populated, then take out the old one. Since there's a bio wheel, there's plenty of bacteria there too.

If I had to treat with antibiotics I'd likely put the filter in quarantine and treat the tank, bringing the populated filter back when the medicine was gone.

I also have a tiny whisper filter in a 3 gallon, on it I just took a slice of the populated filter floss and tore it to make it thinner and shoved it in with the cartridge. It's not ideal but it works.
 
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