Taking a filter out of my tank?

[AJ_117]

A while ago I decided to upgrade my filtration on both of my tanks - upgrade my aquaclear 30 to a 50 on my 29g and my topfin 10 on my 10 gallon tp aforementioned aquaclear 30. Both the 30 and 50 are running on my 29g (I left the 30 on so the 50 could build up BB before I put the 30 on my 10g). Would taking off the 30 have an adverse effect on my tank? Or would ammonia and everything be okay?

 

[brennae]

Tell us more. What's your stock situation? Depending on how heavily you have your 29 stocked taking off a filter could make a difference.

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[AJ_117]

6 pristella tetras, 1 dwarf gourami, 1 juvenile BN pleco, 1 swordtail, 1 guppy, and 1 mystery snail. I believe I am understocked

 

[brennae]

Yes I would agree you are understocked. So in my opinion you should be fine to remove the Aquaclear 30 filter. Just keep in mind that the bristle nose plecos can get up to 5 inches and are big time waste producers.

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[AJ_117]

Yes I would agree you are understocked. So in my opinion you should be fine to remove the Aquaclear 30 filter. Just keep in mind that the bristle nose plecos can get up to 5 inches and are big time waste producers.

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I should have a new home for her when that time comes, thanks for your help!

 

[candymancan]

Most BB are in the substrate unless you have some serious fish load or a canister filter... You can remove hang on backs completetly from your tank and nothing will happen..


Trust me, ALL of my tanks that do have hang on backs i clean the filter floss in tap water with chloramine in it and i clean it harshly, and often and nothing happens to my tanks and no ammonia shows up.. BUT if i change the substrate to a different substrate which i have done twice.. Ammonia spikes like crazy.


Take my 27g tank for example, had a 30g hang on back filter on it, i changed the substrate completetly to floramax midnight black from the clown puke blue rocks i had.. Ammonia went through the roof to 8ppm.. My filter did nothing to help it. My 44g Pentagon used to house 8 discus and neons and ect.. No ammonia issues and i even had a huge canister filter on it which i do only clean with fish water not tap.. I changed the substrate from brown pebbles to floramax substrate and boom i had ammonia problems in that tank which sucked..


Soo i will say it again BB are more prevalent in the substrate vs the filters


Dont believe me ? Try it youll see, remove the filter and watch nothing will happen if you have an established tank

 

[mikey5290]

Most BB are in the substrate unless you have some serious fish load or a canister filter... You can remove hang on backs completetly from your tank and nothing will happen..


Trust me, ALL of my tanks that do have hang on backs i clean the filter floss in tap water with chloramine in it and i clean it harshly, and often and nothing happens to my tanks and no ammonia shows up.. BUT if i change the substrate to a different substrate which i have done twice.. Ammonia spikes like crazy.


Take my 27g tank for example, had a 30g hang on back filter on it, i changed the substrate completetly to floramax midnight black from the clown puke blue rocks i had.. Ammonia went through the roof to 8ppm.. My filter did nothing to help it. My 44g Pentagon used to house 8 discus and neons and ect.. No ammonia issues and i even had a huge canister filter on it which i do only clean with fish water not tap.. I changed the substrate from brown pebbles to floramax substrate and boom i had ammonia problems in that tank which sucked..


Soo i will say it again BB are more prevalent in the substrate vs the filters


Dont believe me ? Try it youll see, remove the filter and watch nothing will happen if you have an established tank

This seems to be contrary to everything I have ever read, here or otherwise.
Yes the BB will be in you substrate and yes maybe even in larger quantity than your HOB ( I really don't know). But the BB will most definitely also be in your filter media (assuming tank is cycled and filter has been running).
Depending on the media and the type of HOB I would think the quantity of BB loss due to removing a HOB would most definitely be enough to crash a perfectly cycled tank. (assuming no other filters present in the tank)
I know I wouldn't chance it and put my fish at risk. And I definitely would not recommend anyone test it, just to prove it. Why take the chance?

In your particular examples I would hazard a guess that it was more to do with everything that your stirred up in the removal process of your substrate that caused the ammonia spike issue.

 

[RedDevil83]

^^^I agree

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[mikey5290]

A while ago I decided to upgrade my filtration on both of my tanks - upgrade my aquaclear 30 to a 50 on my 29g and my topfin 10 on my 10 gallon tp aforementioned aquaclear 30. Both the 30 and 50 are running on my 29g (I left the 30 on so the 50 could build up BB before I put the 30 on my 10g). Would taking off the 30 have an adverse effect on my tank? Or would ammonia and everything be okay?

How long have they both been running on the tank?
If it has been a few weeks I would think you should be fine.
As always I would test periodically in the first couple of days just to make sure.

 

[candymancan]

Dont believe me i dare ya to try it. im dead serious your filters play a alot less of a role then you think lol.


NONE of my tanks except my discus tank need filters.. I only use them to clean the water collumn.. i clean them aggressivly in tap water every week.. No ammonia in my established tanks..


But hey what do i know I only have 8 fish tanks and been doing this for 20 years

 

[buffalochip]

Very interesting posts here giving room for a lot of thought. I have a aqueon HOB filter and have wondered about the filter pad being big enough to carry enough BB to keep both ammonia and nitrites converted. Has anyone ever tried to cycle a tank with no substrata and a simple HOB filter like my aqueon? If so what kind of load did it carry?

 

[Fresh2o]

Dont believe me i dare ya to try it. im dead serious your filters play a alot less of a role then you think lol.


NONE of my tanks except my discus tank need filters.. I only use them to clean the water collumn.. i clean them aggressivly in tap water every week.. No ammonia in my established tanks..


But hey what do i know I only have 8 fish tanks and been doing this for 20 years

I understand the point you are trying to convey. By regularly cleaning the filter media you are discouraging the growth of BB in the filter. BB has to grow somewhere so it becomes well established in the substrate. There is no reason why this won't work. Unless the setup was bare bottom of course.
In the event you had to treat the tank with medication that is harmful to the BB, then this approach would be less favorable. With the BB in the filter you can simply remove the bio-media or the filter itself during treatment.


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[Delapool]

A while ago I decided to upgrade my filtration on both of my tanks - upgrade my aquaclear 30 to a 50 on my 29g and my topfin 10 on my 10 gallon tp aforementioned aquaclear 30. Both the 30 and 50 are running on my 29g (I left the 30 on so the 50 could build up BB before I put the 30 on my 10g). Would taking off the 30 have an adverse effect on my tank? Or would ammonia and everything be okay?

I think this got mentioned but do you have a water test kit? That will give you peace of mind either way.

 

[Delapool]

Very interesting posts here giving room for a lot of thought. I have a aqueon HOB filter and have wondered about the filter pad being big enough to carry enough BB to keep both ammonia and nitrites converted. Has anyone ever tried to cycle a tank with no substrata and a simple HOB filter like my aqueon? If so what kind of load did it carry?

I do have a 5gal bare bottom with hob (although does have extra biomedia stuffed in there). It is cycled though and when cycling I just pinched media from another tank.

It kind of varies in load from say several fish/large snails to one betta depending on what I'm up to with it.

Stability wise I don't think it is as good as DT (however that has 2 canister filters and is 150gal). Just a suspicion though.

Previously it did have gravel and possibly a bit more stable with it. However the gunk build up in the gravel was incredible and now I find the bare bottom easier to clean (as long as I clean it each week).

 

[AJ_117]

How long have they both been running on the tank?
If it has been a few weeks I would think you should be fine.
As always I would test periodically in the first couple of days just to make sure.

The big one has been running for a month or so, the smaller one since the tank was set up. That's why I don't think it will have too much of an effect.

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[TMRC Exotics]

One thing I often do when changing filters is cut one side of the original (in your case first filter) apart and place it behind the new cartridge for a few weeks, this is really effective IMO for transferring lots of your bb from the old filter to the new without hurting flow rate too much. After a few weeks toss the slice of old media.

 

[Delapool]

Guys and gals,
A reminder to keep this thread on topic and helpful on an informative explanation for the OP.

 

[PNWaquarist]

So, if one were to move the biomedia and a large piece of the sponge from an old filter to a new filter, would there be a loss of BB appreciable enough to cause an ammonia spike? Of course, there's BB coating the walls of the old filter, but I can't imagine that colony size is anywhere near what's in the filter media.

 

[melosu58]

All the flaming posts have been removed. Now lets see if we can help the OP out with some informative posts.

 

[coralbandit]

The big one has been running for a month or so, the smaller one since the tank was set up. That's why I don't think it will have too much of an effect.

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You're all good to remove the ac30 if you have not yet.
It is a good filter though so ask yourself first if you need to remove it?
I run a ac70 &50 on one of my 40g GBR tanks.