Carbon and Zeolite in new aquarium

[christinacs]

Set up a new aquarium with a few Danios, and then started reading about cycling (turns out that might have been the wrong order *sarcastic*) Luckily though, I read Danios survive cycling very well.

However, Looking at my filter (Internal w/ cartridges) It uses Carbon and Zeolite which I was reading decreased the effectiveness of the cycle, or completely prevented it.

I have a small thank (5.5 gallons, so I know I'd have issues with stability either way) and a few live plants (Which after reading about Zeolite I'm also worried may not get enough nutrients) I was also reading some opinions that you didn't need to worry about filters if you had plants.

Should I remove the filter for the cycling process? or remove it permanently? Opinions?

I'm really kind of on information overload. I killed a betta when I first put up the tank to what I'm pretty sure was stress because I kept changing the water because he looked sick. (Due to Ammonium poisoning I would guess?) So I really want to minimize water changes and stress on the fish. (Not lazy, I would rather change 5% every day than 30% once a week if it means less stress on the fish)

 

[jsoong]

Carbon will not change cycling one way or the other ... some think that it may bind to micro-nutrients & deprive your plants of needed elements ... prob not an issue when you have fish providing the stuff constantly. But carbon is only needed when you are trying to pull out meds or other contaminants. So most of us only use carbon as needed. <Plus carbon loses effectiveness after a week or 2 in the tank, so I keep mine in the cabinet so they will be fresh when I really need it.>

Zeolite binds ammonia, so will slow down your cycle. However, in a small tank with high bioload, where the ammonia can get out of hand, it is not bad to have to moderate the spikes. I would just keep an eye on the levels & act accordingly.

Once your tank is cycled, I would not be using zeolite. Esp. in a planted tank, since it competes with the plants for ammonia. In addition, zeolite that is overloaded may leech ammonia back ... just another headache you don't need.

If you have enough *healthy*, fast growing live plants, and few enough fish, you might go through the cycle without any peaks. This is the so called "silent cycle". I doubt you have that kind of setup, but do read up on it as it might help you in deciphering what is happening in your tank in the next little while.

This will get you started:
Aquarium Cycling

 

[christinacs]

Once it is cycled, then, the entire filter comes in a cartridge. Would you recommend manually removing Zeolite or getting a different filter? It seems to work really well even as a simple mechanical filter, and I plan to add more plants. Would I even need a filter?

 

[jsoong]

You can add enough plants so the plants are doing all the filtration. <This is also called "going Dutch", or "natural aquarium".> This however, requires that you have healthy plants, and careful balancing of bio-load, nutrients, light, etc. <This method is much easier in bigger tank than yours.> Google Dianne Walstad (or buy one of her book) as she is the guru in this method.

The Dutch or Walstad method is fairly advanced, so I would run a filter just to be safe. I would just use a foam filter pad for an internal filter rather than the cartridges. Some internal filters have foam inserts, or you can buy bulk foam (or an appropriately sized foam for an AquaClear filter) and cut to fit. <BTW - never change out all filter pads at once, or you lose removing your bio-filter. Rather you change out 1/2 at a time, 6-8 weeks apart.>

 

[christinacs]

That's probably cheaper than replacing the filters anyways. I think that would require a bit of gheryrigging... but I'm usually quite good with that.

I will look up Dianne Walstad, Thank you for your advice Jsoong.