Questions on 55G

[steez]

Right now I'm keeping my Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates UNDER .25 / .25 / 40.

I'm curious about when I'm doing my daily / every other day water changes, if vacuuming the substrate each time is good? I usually just always clean the rocks, move ornaments around and clean under them and such.
1.Should I be leaving ornaments / plants alone and cleaning around them and not disturb under them?
2.Does cleaning your gravel heavily on each water change hurt your BB inside the tank?
3. Should I just be doing my daily PWC's by removing ONLY WATER, and maybe just vacuuming the substrate a couple times a week?
4. my HOB filter ( I have a Nexx canister too) only has the carbon filled pouches. it's a Topfin 60 (cheapo) and does not have that white wire type filtration in front of the actual filter itself. This results in the chunks of food / waste clogging up the filters pretty regularly, and I have to replace them fast. Is that hurting my BB inside the tank by having to use new filters nearly every week?


Thanks.

 

[librarygirl]

Hi Steez, My replies below in blue:

Right now I'm keeping my Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates UNDER .25 / .25 / 40.
I'm assuming you are doing a fish-in cycle, then, right?
I'm curious about when I'm doing my daily / every other day water changes, if vacuuming the substrate each time is good? I usually just always clean the rocks, move ornaments around and clean under them and such.
1.Should I be leaving ornaments / plants alone and cleaning around them and not disturb under them?
Do you have gravel or sand substrate? You should periodically pick up the ornaments and clean under them as a lot of waste and food can build up there (do you have fake plants or real ones? If real ones you might not have to), but you don't have to do it at every water change. I'd say once every week or two.
2.Does cleaning your gravel heavily on each water change hurt your BB inside the tank?
Not really. Most of the BB live in the filter media. But you don't want to vac all of the gravel at once. Do half at one water change, then do the other half at another water change.
3. Should I just be doing my daily PWC's by removing ONLY WATER, and maybe just vacuuming the substrate a couple times a week?
If you're doing a fish-in cycle and have to do daily water changes to keep levels down, you don't have to gravel vac each water change. I'd say vacuuming half the substrate once per week should be good. What kind of fish do you have? If they are very messy and you are overfeeding then it might need more cleaning, but I'd say once per week is fine.
4. my HOB filter ( I have a Nexx canister too) only has the carbon filled pouches. it's a Topfin 60 (cheapo) and does not have that white wire type filtration in front of the actual filter itself. This results in the chunks of food / waste clogging up the filters pretty regularly, and I have to replace them fast. Is that hurting my BB inside the tank by having to use new filters nearly every week?
I do'nt know anything about canister filters but I do know you should NOT replace any filter media. You're throwing away all the BB on those filter pads and your tank will have a hard time cycling. If stuff is building up on them, swish the filter media in old tank water when you're doing a water change. You could also try putting some filter floss at the bottom of the filter to catch the detritus before it gets to your filter media; the floss would need to be changed out every 2-3 weeks b/c it gets dirty fast. I have't done it yet, but many on here do and they say it helps. Click here to read some posts that have been started on this topic to get some further info. Good luck.

Thanks.
You're welcome.

 

[steez]

Yes I'm doing a fish-in.

I'm using a gravel substrate


I have an oscar and pleco, very dirty fish


Hmm.. my problem is that the filter media gets clogged and starts barely flowing through. Then it starts rushing out the middle of the filter, and is not getting filtered. I'm never supposed to change out filters? crazy. I guess that's where the floss would come into play, by grabbing all the big chunks before it hits my filter pad

 

[Ozydego]

You shouldn't replace your filter media, only swish it through old tank water when it gets clogged, do not use tap water, because the chlorine in it will kill the bacteria... The goal is to let the BB grow in the filter media while you keep the levels low to keep the fish safe... It takes a lot longer like this because you cannot let the ammonia levels rise to get the cycle done quickly. A fish in cycle is the same as a fish less just you have to be super careful of the levels to keep the fish safe, the ammonia and nitrites are eaten by the BB and those need to be cared for as well... No chlorine water... And do not swap filter media... You are just starting over from scratch when you do that.

 

[steez]

Great. I talked to the owner of a LFS today, she actually knew what she was talking about. I was definitely messing up my cycle left and right. I was vacuuming my gravel heavily at every water change (once every day / sometimes every other day). So I was totally just setting back my cycle over and over, especially by REPLACING instead of CLEANING filter media. After a couple months of a cycled tank, I will replace the LEFT filter in my HOB and keep the RIGHT one inside. Once the LEFT side has had a month to develop, I'll replace the RIGHT side, and so on. Same process with my canister, because it has 2 medias and 2 filters too.

I am going to leave my gravel alone for about a month to let the cycle run it's course. I will of course test my water every day, and do PWC to make sure my levels never rise too high. I will rinse off my filters once a weekish (using replaced tank water) so my BB can continue to grow.


After my cycle is complete and my ammonia / nitrite levels get to 0, I can start to relax and hopefully only have to do a weekly or twice weekly water changes, and once a week rinse off filters, once or twice a month gravel vacuuming.


Sound good?

 

[TheJT]

Sounds like you are on the right track. I would advise against replacing the filter media at all, unless it's falling apart. I've had my tank up for about 3 months now and I haven't changed the media yet. Keeping your toxicity levels low is probably one of the most important things you can do right now. I would also use Seachem Prime to dechlorinate an temporarily detoxify your tank. I only clean my gravel once every week or two. Managing feeding can also help manage waste and the need for vacuuming.

 

[Ozydego]

Yeah, everyone at LFS say to replace filters... Good money, that is not what is best for the tank, swish the media once a week in your old water after vacuuming for your pwc, and maybe after 6 months or more, the sponges might be starting to decompose, when it's time, change one of the filter media at a time, prolly never have to change biomedia (the ceramic rings or cylinders). Swap out the sponges at least a week or two apart and then just swish until it's time again... I'm thinking I may need to replace sponges once or twice a year... Max...

 

[steez]

I just don't want to wait so long that both of them need to be replaced at once, if I can do each one at a different time, it will help keep a constant cycle
I guess I could just put the two new ones into the back of the fi lter so they start to build BB on them before I switch them?

 

[TheJT]

If you've got room in the filter, then that's a good idea. And make sure when you rinse your filters you use your old tank water to do it. Tap water will kill the bb living in there.

 

[Ozydego]

Thats what most say actually, put the new filter in and stuff the old one somewhere to seed the new one... I have to believe that it won't be as dramatic as one week it looks good and the next week the sponge is disintegrated. I plan to do one when it looks half done, then I will be one a cycle that's about half the lifespan...

Can anyone comment that has had to replace their filter sponge yet? How long did it last?

 

[steez]

not from experience, but the girl at my lfs said she's had her sponge in for like 6 months. cleaning weekly