Seeding filter

[Vienolac]

How long does it take to seed filer media with bacteria so I can throw the old one away.

The bio wheel on my filter is turning slow and a friend suggested I change the filter. It was kinda gunky. But I had 2 in because I was trying to seed. But I guess I left the first one in to long. Because the second one was pretty dirty too.

I threw away the old one put in a new one and kept the other old one so I can seed. When is a good time to throw this away

 

[jlk]

You should never throw away the biowheels. If they are very gunky, just swish them in some used tank water. Same goes for your filter media- you want to keep it until its literally falling apart. When it starts to fall apart, add the new media in with the old for a couple of weeks to seed the new media. For cleaning media, same thing goes- just swish it in some used tank water with water changes.

 

[Vienolac]

Ok. I didn't not mean the bio wheel thrown away lol ^-^.

I meant the blue filter cartridge things.. The ones that say replace every 2-4 weeks

 

[Vienolac]

Also. I just did my water change. And took my filter tubing apart and it had algae grown all inside of it lol! And I rinsed everything off in the water like you said. The biowheel has a big grey spot in the middle now lol!
But that doesn't harm BB right?

 

[tonedogz]

Is this a new setup if it isn't I don't see any reason to keep the old filter pad because there's bacteria growing all over your tank, on rocks in gravel etc.

 

[Vienolac]

Makes since to me