neurotik
Aquarium Advice Freak
I'm running an Eheim Ecco 2236 on my 55 gallon community tank and I just picked up an XP2 to help out with additional filtration last week. I planned on performing my first maintenance/cleaning on my 2236 today, and I have read that I should only replace the fine filter pad (white pad) each month when I do the cleaning, and just lightly rinse off the bio balls if they are dirty. My question is whether or not my bio balls should 'look' dirty after being in an established tank for a couple months? I was expecting them to have a bunch of the thick, brown, gunky stuff on them since that's where the beneficial bacteria are living; however, it seems to be the other way around -- my white pad at the top is completely brown and saturated with that thick, gooey substance and all three trays of my bio balls look just as clean as they did when I first set the filter up about two months ago. Is this normal? I don't want to replace my white filter pad later today and end up throwing away all of my bacteria and sending my tank into a mini cycle or something.
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!