"How Long?", asked the newbie.

[Fish Head J]

I'm once again going to the well of knowledge and experience that is the Aquarium Advice Forum.
Facts
Our new 40 gallon freshwater tank was started 1 month ago and all systems appear to be working well. My ammonia levels have been very stable for over 6 days now with now detectable reading (0 ppm). I plan to PWC this evening as my Nitrates are at .7 ppm and Nitrites are at .25 ppm. Fish Inventory: (2) Gianmt Gouramis, (2) Sharks, (2) Mollies, (2) Cory Cats, (2) Swordtails, (1) Sunburst Platy

Today's questions:
1. How long before I should replace my filter cartridges? It has been a month now, should I be looking to replace the bags? (Whisper Power Filter)
2. When should I vacuum the gravel? I don't want to disturb what appears to be (so far) an effective cycling process.
3. Do I need an air stone or some oxygenating device in the tank?

Thanks so much. Without this forum I would have easily taken the advice of the LFS salesperson. In each instance I came home and checked their advice against my web research and found them to be wrong. I have followed the advice on this forum and the whole process and it has helped me enormously.

FHJ

 

[rich311k]

I would wait until the cycle is done before you change your filter pads. There is no reason to change them, just rinse them in water change water and put them back in. Reuse them until they fall a part.

I would wait to do a deep gravel vac until the cycle is done as well. You can skim the surface of the gravel to get the muck out of the tank. I know how you feel, I hate stuff on my gravel.

An airstone is entirely up to you. Unless you fish are at the top gasping, you can have one or not. It is up to you.

 

[brant]

Rich hit the nail on the head I to have a wisper set up on my tank and I do not replace it I just rinse it with aquarium water when I do my pwc. As for the airstone it can't hurt I have one and the fish love to ride the bubbles up and try to swim back down them. The gravel vaccing part well I don't know there I have always done a thurow job every time I clean the gravel but that is just me. Also on my set up I added a second filter a bio wheel 100 so when I do My filter cleanings i rotate one week the wisper the next the other that way I always have filter that I know is funtioning and also that way if i start another tank I can steal the smaller filter to seed the new tank. Well good luck keep us posted.

 

[YuccaPatrol]

I don't even bother rinsing my filters in tank water. I prefer to spray them down with the sprayer in the kitchen sink to get rid of all the crud.

However, all of my aquariums that I do this with have multiple filters and I do not do this to all of the at once.

My experience has shown that cleaning the filters with tap water has not ever affected my water quality. I believe that the beneficial bacteria re-colonize the filter media within hours.

 

[bosk1]

I don't even bother rinsing my filters in tank water. I prefer to spray them down with the sprayer in the kitchen sink to get rid of all the crud.

However, all of my aquariums that I do this with have multiple filters and I do not do this to all of the at once.

My experience has shown that cleaning the filters with tap water has not ever affected my water quality. I believe that the beneficial bacteria re-colonize the filter media within hours.

That probably works only because you have two filters going. Chlorine and chloramines kill beneficial bacteria, so you are likely destroying your bacteria when you rinse with straight tap water, which is fine if you've got colonized filter media in another filter, I suppose.

 

[Rondory]

I don't even bother rinsing my filters in tank water. I prefer to spray them down with the sprayer in the kitchen sink to get rid of all the crud.

However, all of my aquariums that I do this with have multiple filters and I do not do this to all of the at once.

My experience has shown that cleaning the filters with tap water has not ever affected my water quality. I believe that the beneficial bacteria re-colonize the filter media within hours.

That probably works only because you have two filters going. Chlorine and chloramines kill beneficial bacteria, so you are likely destroying your bacteria when you rinse with straight tap water, which is fine if you've got colonized filter media in another filter, I suppose.

What if you have the ceramic biomedia and leave it alone...Can you still rinse the filters pads with tap water?

 

[rich311k]

In that case I would think you would be fine. Unless you had an insane amout of fish in the tank or very little bio meda.

 

[Fish Head J]

That probably works only because you have two filters going. Chlorine and chloramines kill beneficial bacteria, so you are likely destroying your bacteria when you rinse with straight tap water, which is fine if you've got colonized filter media in another filter, I suppose.

I guess the presupposes that your tap water is city water and chlorinated? I have well water but I can easily see the benefits of two filters.
Thanks
FHJ

 

[chelli]

We were smart and just installed a filter for the whole house.. so when we take water from anywhere in the house.. it's prefiltered.. haven't lost a fish to bad water for about 5+ years now.. the chlorine in Greenville, AL was so bad you could smell it 10 feet away from the hose.. ewwwwww.. now.. nothing.. no chlorine registers at all on any test..

 

[StngStr]

We were smart and just installed a filter for the whole house.. so when we take water from anywhere in the house.. it's prefiltered.. haven't lost a fish to bad water for about 5+ years now.. the chlorine in Greenville, AL was so bad you could smell it 10 feet away from the hose.. ewwwwww.. now.. nothing.. no chlorine registers at all on any test..

So..you just installed a filter for the whole house, but you haven't lost fish to bad water for 5+ years? AND the chlorine is so bad you can smell it 10 feet away?

 

[chelli]

The chlorine was this bad PRIOR to the install of the filter for the whole house.. Now when we test it test at zero chlorine.. that impressed me. Didn't mean JUST as just now.. it's just that we had to install one.. fish kept dying.. So 5 years ago we installed a massive filter for the whole house.. man.. semantics