mandy2936
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2010
- Messages
- 1,909
Hello,
My 5 gallon tank that's been cycling for a little over two weeks is finally almost finished cycling. There is a lot of decaying fish food at the bottom of the tank, (My original Ammonia source) and this black debris.
The black debris is from filter media, in which I squeezed the entire contents of into the 5g... the media was from my established 20g.
So, when it comes down to adding the fish, (a Betta) I assume a water change is in need. Before I continue with my question, here are my water parameters:
Ammonia- .25
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate 40
I am just waiting for the last of the Ammonia to convert, and then will do a PWC to bring the Nitrates at least under 20. So, my question is while doing a PWC, can I vacuum up the black debris? It's rather unsightly against my once clean and pretty white gravel... also, should I suck out all of the decaying fish flakes? I don't want to disturb bacteria colonies... but I figured that by the time the cycle ends there should be a sufficient enough amount built up in the filter media, correct?
Thank you!
My 5 gallon tank that's been cycling for a little over two weeks is finally almost finished cycling. There is a lot of decaying fish food at the bottom of the tank, (My original Ammonia source) and this black debris.
The black debris is from filter media, in which I squeezed the entire contents of into the 5g... the media was from my established 20g.
So, when it comes down to adding the fish, (a Betta) I assume a water change is in need. Before I continue with my question, here are my water parameters:
Ammonia- .25
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate 40
I am just waiting for the last of the Ammonia to convert, and then will do a PWC to bring the Nitrates at least under 20. So, my question is while doing a PWC, can I vacuum up the black debris? It's rather unsightly against my once clean and pretty white gravel... also, should I suck out all of the decaying fish flakes? I don't want to disturb bacteria colonies... but I figured that by the time the cycle ends there should be a sufficient enough amount built up in the filter media, correct?
Thank you!