cycling filter

[jeremyblevins]

Hello everyone i recently bought a fluval 305 filter and it's been running for 17 days do you all think it's safe to remove my pos hob filter without risk of a cycle?

 

[Smitty]

IMO I think you should give it some more time if you have it. I like at least a month myself. Can any of the media from your HOB go into the canister? If so then maybe yes.

 

[jeremyblevins]

well the only thing in my hob is the carbon cartridges things. because i was told not to reuse the bio things from the previous tank because it could contain chemicals and stuff because its porous so i just got some filter sponge and cut it to fit but later learned that the sponge doesn't even really do anything for the bacteria.

 

[mgamer20o0]

where are you getting your info from? any surface area in the filter going to have a good amount of bacteria on it. bio media just contains more area for them to grow on. they are on all the surface in the aquarium. if there was chemicals on the bio media it would have been on the carbon too and the plastic of the hob unless you cleaned it out very well. if you just have carbon in there i would give it a few more days and pull it. its not hurting anything from staying on the tank though.

 

[jeremyblevins]

I would recommend disposing of any filter media, or anything highly porous or with a high surface area, such as aquarium gravel and some decorations. You probably also want to dispose of any plastic that may have become brittle over time. All of these items should be replaced with new, because some of them will no longer be usable, and others may have been exposed to harmful to toxic chemicals that will be difficult or impossible to detect and remove.

Used Aquariums - The First Tank Guide - Getting a Used Fish Tank Ready for Use

 

[jeremyblevins]

It has carbon and filter sponge I bought and cut to fit

 

[mgamer20o0]

like i said if its on the bio media its most likely on all the media also i assume you already been running the filter since you are seeding the tank so its something already in a system. if there was something on it you would prob have seen the effects in the other tank.

 

[jeremyblevins]

no i wasn't seeding i got the filter with the tank stand and canopy for free. it had been sitting dry for idk how long, plus the person who gave it too me told me his fish kept dieing and he didn't know why. of couse he had the tank outside in florida so i have a pretty good idea why

 

[jeremyblevins]

oh and i used new carbon from a box so it couldn't have had anything on it and i washed out the filter really good so.

 

[Smitty]

If the filter media had been dry for a while then all the bacteria was dead anyway and I personally would have replaced it all myself. From what I understand you really don't need to run carbon unless you are cleaning up from using medicine (but you should do that in your DT anyway and should have a QT for it).

His fish may have kept dieing if he never cycled the tank correctly...

 

[jeremyblevins]

Yeah that's what I did I used all new media. And also in Florida it gets quite hot so I'm sure oxygen deprivation if not down right burning the fish had something to with it in such a small tank

 

[mudraker]

He may also have never actually cleaned it if the tank was established and then a massive die-off . Or two, or three

 

[Smitty]

I'm in FL myself but I'm keeping my tank inside. I've known of a couple kept outside but they were done correct. There is no way you can keep a small (less than 1000g I would guess) tank outside and not have that water WAY too hot. Inside is a different story!