Need lighting help.

[ImACoolguy]

[QUOTEo=Coursair;3136162]Thank you. This 10g was my first "real" planted tank as in using ferts and swapping to better lights.

I joined a local plant club, so many of my plants were free. I did buy a few here and there. The Planted Tank (TPT) sales forum was a great resource as well.

Members here sell some plants as well.


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I'll look into that. I joined this forum and it has been a wealth of information for me reading during lunch break and after work.



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[Brookster123]

How new? Cycled?

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[ImACoolguy]

A week. That's longer than my 45 cycled. I only cycled it a day or two and had no fish loss, disease, and the water is crystal clear now.


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[Brookster123]

A week. That's longer than my 45 cycled. I only cycled it a day or two and had no fish loss, disease, and the water is crystal clear now.


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You got lucky there, I'd suggest a 50% wc and adding some media from your cycled tank to this filter.

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[ImACoolguy]

Question. 45 filter is a MarineLand 350 I believe with the wheel. My 75 is a Cascade 1000 canister filter. That's completely different media. How can I make it work?


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[PerfectDepth]

Question. 45 filter is a MarineLand 350 I believe with the wheel. My 75 is a Cascade 1000 canister filter. That's completely different media. How can I make it work?


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If you're only using the cartridges and the wheel in that Marineland filter, first of all I recommend stuffing the extra space in it with coarse sponges and/or bags of biomax type ceramic media. It never hurts to have lots of extra surface area for beneficial bacteria to utilize.

Just take out one of the cartridges, tear off the pad, discard all the carbon, and put the pad into your canister, preferably next to your bio-media to help colonize it. If you have a mesh media bag to put the carbon in, you can add it also instead of throwing it out. It's probably no longer effective, but it will have lots of bacteria on it as well. Then you can replace with a new cartridge if you have one. If not, don't waste your money. Just re-use the plastic cartridge frame and put an inexpensive cut-to-fit filter pad behind it instead. That's what I do with my marineland filter. The carbon isn't necessary, in my opinion. The carbon will only last a week or two anyway.

 

[PerfectDepth]

A week. That's longer than my 45 cycled. I only cycled it a day or two and had no fish loss, disease, and the water is crystal clear now.


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No, it didn't cycle in a day or two. "Cycling" a tank doesn't refer to just running filtration on an empty tank, it refers to establishing the bacterial colony that processes the fish waste. Read the articles on this site about cycling, and get a liquid test kit so you can test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, etc.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Thanks so much. I got some ceramic media for the canister filter and dispersed it to my other filtered tanks. One question.. How long is the ceramic "good" for?


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[PerfectDepth]

Thanks so much. I got some ceramic media for the canister filter and dispersed it to my other filtered tanks. One question.. How long is the ceramic "good" for?


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Well, that depends. They are good indefinitely, but the outer pores can get clogged, which means less surface area available. Your bio-media will stay cleaner if the water is passing through good mechanical filtration first. Whenever the gunk starts to accumulate, you should rinse the ceramic media in old tank water (never rinse it in tap water) during your weekly water change.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Thanks for the tip! I'll probably have to tear a homemade sponge from a filter and let it accumulate bacteria then switch it over


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