Fish-in cycling help - emergency?

[Aiken Drum]

K1 is a biological media. You use it the same as ceramic rings, matrix, fishwonder will promote pot scrubbers as a biological filter media. What are you currently using as biomedia?

The coral you were advised to put in your filter was to raise your pH i think. That is doing a different job to the bio media.

Are you sure you want to use K1? It is a good biomedia with great surface area, more normally used as a moving bed in a sump, not as a static media as i think you would be using it. I have some K1 in a canister and it works as a static media fine.

Only problems are.

- It floats. Depending on what type of filter you want to put it in, you may need to put it in a media bag to keep it in place.
- Price. Not sure where you are from, but here in UK it is normally only sold in big 25 or 50 litre bags. Very cheap per litre when buying in bulk, but if you are only needing small quantities then you are buying bulk media to throw most of it in a cupboard. You can buy smaller quantities, but it gets very expensive per litre then. I found 25 litres or 5 litres came to the same price (about £25 to £30 from recollection).

 

[fishwonder]

How do I use K1? Do I remove all components in the filter or just the coral to add K1?

K1 in a canister I would put in mesh bags to keep it in place and it is expensive like mentioned above. But as the author says, simple plastic pot scrubbers will work just as good. Just jam as many as you can into the trays. I can fit 15-16 in each tray of a canister filter. Easy to clean every 6-10 months by just holding the tray under running water for about 10 seconds.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Here in UK you can't buy plastic pot scrubbers. No stores stock them. Presumably due to environmental concerns over plastics. You can get them online though and possibly old stock from those stores that are still carrying 20 year old stock.

K1 in a canister I would put in mesh bags to keep it in place and it is expensive like mentioned above. But as the author says, simple plastic pot scrubbers will work just as good. Just jam as many as you can into the trays. I can fit 15-16 in each tray of a canister filter. Easy to clean every 6-10 months by just holding the tray under running water for about 10 seconds.

 

[fishwonder]

Here in UK you can't buy plastic pot scrubbers. No stores stock them. Presumably due to environmental concerns over plastics. You can get them online though and possibly old stock from those stores that are still carrying 20 year old stock.

Looks like mesh bags would best over there then. That or 10/20 ppi foam.

Edit - However I did find these pot scrubbies over there.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/COM-FOUR%C2%AE-Plastic-Scouring-Abrasive-Assorted/dp/B01LWL64SB/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=plastic+pot+scrubbers&qid=1608724565&sr=8-5

 

[malinpingy]

K1 is a biological media. You use it the same as ceramic rings, matrix, fishwonder will promote pot scrubbers as a biological filter media. What are you currently using as biomedia?

The coral you were advised to put in your filter was to raise your pH i think. That is doing a different job to the bio media.

Are you sure you want to use K1? It is a good biomedia with great surface area, more normally used as a moving bed in a sump, not as a static media as i think you would be using it. I have some K1 in a canister and it works as a static media fine.

Only problems are.

- It floats. Depending on what type of filter you want to put it in, you may need to put it in a media bag to keep it in place.
- Price. Not sure where you are from, but here in UK it is normally only sold in big 25 or 50 litre bags. Very cheap per litre when buying in bulk, but if you are only needing small quantities then you are buying bulk media to throw most of it in a cupboard. You can buy smaller quantities, but it gets very expensive per litre then. I found 25 litres or 5 litres came to the same price (about £25 to £30 from recollection).

So I currently have two AquaClear 70 filters running on my 40 Gallon. One I believe might be overstocked/too many layers but not sure; it has a foam filter, activated carbon layer, two BioMax bags (the original one was too small) and a layer that supposedly is supposed to remove ammonia. The other one has the same media but only one BioMax layer. Ideally, I eventually want to run only one filter at the lowest setting since it's too powerful for Betta; I found one of my Betta's dead and stuck on the filter input tube with its fins missing, however, that Betta looked like the front of the face was turning white which wasn't like that originally and I'm not sure if it was from sickness or the filter itself. Not really sure if I should change the flow of the filter yet or wait until the cycle is 100% over.

Also, a lot of my plants seem to be doing poorly due to algae; would it be good to get more algae eaters to replace the ones that died or again should I be waiting on the cycle to be 100% done?

 

[Aiken Drum]

There are 3 types of filter media. Mechanical, biological and chemical. This is also the normal order to place them in your filter, mechanical > biological > chemical.

Mechanical media is your sponges. This will remove detritus from water. It also is home to beneficial bacteria, which is why you shouldn't clean it out too thoroughly or replace it unless absolutely necessary and its falling apart. A periodic light rinsing is all you need to do.

Biological media is where most of your beneficial bacteria lives. In your case the bio max. This is what you read up on and been advised to use a better type of media, the K1 or pot scrubbers. The vast majority of the hobby will be using media like ceramic rings without issues, but i agree there are better alternatives if you choose to make a change.

Chemical media is there for a specific purpose. If you dont need it, dont use it. Its expensive, doesn't last long and needs to be regularly replaced. Your carbon will remove some chemicals, most commonly tannins from driftwood that cause discolouration until they have all leeched out, and medication. I assume you also have an ammonia removal pad. That's self explanatory. Im not sure that it does anything at all, but getting your tank cycled will remove any need for this.

It looks like your cycle is progressing. 0.25ppm ammonia and 1.0ppm nitrite. Thats still too high but getting better. Your process should be to do water changes sufficient to keep them below 0.5ppm combined. A 50% water change should get them down, then keep on top of your testing and water changes to keep them down until you are cycled and they stay down on their own.

When you remove one of your filters, you will be removing some of the beneficial bacteria and you may notice an ammonia and/or nitrite spike until your single filter catches up.

With regards to your algae on the plants, thats a matter of adjusting your lighting period to get the correct balance between healthy plant growth and managable algae growth. How long are your lights on? Does it get any natural daylight in addition to the artificial light? Dont add any more bioload while you are cycling your tank.

What do you currently have in the tank?

 

[malinpingy]

There are 3 types of filter media. Mechanical, biological and chemical. This is also the normal order to place them in your filter, mechanical > biological > chemical.

Mechanical media is your sponges. This will remove detritus from water. It also is home to beneficial bacteria, which is why you shouldn't clean it out too thoroughly or replace it unless absolutely necessary and its falling apart. A periodic light rinsing is all you need to do.

Biological media is where most of your beneficial bacteria lives. In your case the bio max. This is what you read up on and been advised to use a better type of media, the K1 or pot scrubbers. The vast majority of the hobby will be using media like ceramic rings without issues, but i agree there are better alternatives if you choose to make a change.

Chemical media is there for a specific purpose. If you dont need it, dont use it. Its expensive, doesn't last long and needs to be regularly replaced. Your carbon will remove some chemicals, most commonly tannins from driftwood that cause discolouration until they have all leeched out, and medication. I assume you also have an ammonia removal pad. That's self explanatory. Im not sure that it does anything at all, but getting your tank cycled will remove any need for this.

It looks like your cycle is progressing. 0.25ppm ammonia and 1.0ppm nitrite. Thats still too high but getting better. Your process should be to do water changes sufficient to keep them below 0.5ppm combined. A 50% water change should get them down, then keep on top of your testing and water changes to keep them down until you are cycled and they stay down on their own.

When you remove one of your filters, you will be removing some of the beneficial bacteria and you may notice an ammonia and/or nitrite spike until your single filter catches up.

With regards to your algae on the plants, thats a matter of adjusting your lighting period to get the correct balance between healthy plant growth and managable algae growth. How long are your lights on? Does it get any natural daylight in addition to the artificial light? Dont add any more bioload while you are cycling your tank.

What do you currently have in the tank?

I have 6 cobomba aquatica, 1 amazon sword, 3 anubias and 4 java fern.

I was using 24/7 setting on NICREW RGB plus but recently been doing the lighting to 6-8 hours manually.