alivenwell82 said:
hey. have had my ten-gallon planted up for six weeks. my levels are fine: 0, 0 and 5-10. when should i change my filter cartridge? should i? i'm concerned i'll hurt the biological filter if i just throw a clean one in.
you are FINE !!
you should change the filter BASED ON your readings.
Just keep an eye on your nitrate... and change your filter/water when your nitrate gets a little high, or if you detect ammonia (although this should NEVER happen).
so yes, base your maintenance around your readings.
You mentioned you had a filter cartridge, if its a sponge...NEVER throw it away
ONLY rinse/squeeze/wash it in 'old' aquarium water (the water you remove from the tank during a water change).
Also, NEVER change the water & filter catridge on the same week.
ALTERNATE !!!
if you don't have a sponge...but have filter media e.g. filter floss.
you can throw this away when it gets blocked or your detect ammonia (should NEVER happen) or have too high nitrate !!
but again, do NOT change it on the same week as a water change.
another thing....
I said above you should do tank maintenance based around your readings.
So basically, if after a few weeks, you still have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, a <80 nitrate.
You don't need to do anything !!!
just replace the evaporated water !!
hope that helps