mini cycle?

[fishboy87]

HOw exactly would you know if you are going through a mini cycle..

 

[Aces11]

You might see spikes in ammonia and nitrite and your tank water may get cloudy.

 

[jlk]

Yep! Spikes in ammonia then nitrite.

 

[fishboy87]

If I do water changes of 60 percent - 75 percent.... Am I in greater risk of having a mini cycle.....

 

[00youknowit00]

Water changes do not put you at risk for a mini cycle at all. You can't change too much water.

 

[ridewithme38]

Can you over gravel vacuum?

 

[fishboy87]

Can you over gravel vacuum?

Don't understand the question....

 

[ridewithme38]

Don't understand the question....

Here's what i was referring to...

You can't change too much water.

Can you over gravel vacuum?

The main Bacteria that develops during a cycle is held both in the Gravel and in the filter media...When most people do water changes, they also do a deep gravel vacuum...

I'm wondering if you can lose a cycle by doing an indepth/thorough gravel vacuum

 

[jlk]

Here's what i was referring to...





The main Bacteria that develops during a cycle is held both in the Gravel and in the filter media...When most people do water changes, they also do a deep gravel vacuum...

I'm wondering if you can lose a cycle by doing an indepth/thorough gravel vacuum

I have never experienced a mini-cycle from deep gravel vacs & i do them every week along with 2x wk 50-70% pwcs. I think if you dont keep up gravel vacs, then a mini-cycle may be possible because of all the accumulated fish poop & rotting debris. Some people only vac 1/2 gravel each wk, then the other 1/2 the next wk. It depends on your setup & how messy your fish are- a single betta in 10 gal tank is not going to have the same degree of messiness as 2 goldfish in a 30gal. Goldfish rule for messiness!

 

[fishboy87]

Cool I understand... I cleaned my filter the other day(fluval 405).... The replaced the carbons with new ones and I dipped the biomax in fresh water coming straight from the tank(no tap water)... I shaked it up a bit to get some debris out.....I rinsed the entire filter with water coming from the tank; and I also washed and ringed out the sponges(using regular running water because of the added pressure)... I then put everything back in and filled It(canister) with tank water before putting the filter back on...... Is that a good method???


Ps Im gonna start doing half deep gravel every week....

 

[librarygirl]

It should be fine as long as you didn't replace too much filter media with new or you didn't rinse it off in fresh tap water without a dechlorinator. If you're worried just test the tank with a test kit for a few days to make sure there aren't any spikes and if there are just do water changes until everything goes back to normal. It should be fine though.