Filter question

[Anne L.]

I have a question about changing the media in my HOB filter. It's a Regal, or something like that, the Walmart equivalent of a small Eclipse filter anyway. This is on a 10 gallon tank.

It came with a disposable carbon filter which I've rinsed out a few times already when changing the tank.

I'd like to change this filter to a sponge so that I don't lose my bacteria. This is what I did. I bought some Fluval foam (this was the best fit for the shape) and cut two pieces to fit. There is room in the filter area to add this foam behind the cartridge that is already there. I put it in there and hope to leave it for a month or two to start the biological filter, then remove the disposable cartridge. The filter is still working as normal, with no loss of water flow.

Am I on the right track here?

[TKOS]

Sounds good to me. I did a similar thing with a whisper filter. But 2 weeks is probably more than enough time. There is significant bacteria in your tank that if things are healthy and you do good water changes you could probably do the change right now. But I would wait a couple of weeks to give the sponges that extra boost.

[Anne L.]

Good, that's what I'll do.

I do about a 10% water change every week. I tested my nitrates this weekend and they were less than 5 ppm or whatever the readings are (I forget, too early in the day for me yet). Looking pretty good for having fake plants.

I haven't lost any other fish except for that one cory that died a week or so ago. The 2 remaining cories are buddies and hang around a lot together.

I did give them an algae tablet yesterday, and after the larger cory nibbled it, he went and sat on the bottom for a while and didn't move much. It kind of scared me, but then later on, when I fed them some shrimp pellets, he was fine.

I think he was ticked off that he didn't get a shrimp pellet, but algae instead. My kids laughed and said, see Mom, the fish don't like their green veggies either, just like us. Yeesh.

Goofy things, these kids and their pets. :rolleyes:

[TKOS]

It took awhile for my cories to start to enjoy an alage tab as well. But I still drop one in once a week. Since fish will survive for days without food I don't give them anything else that day. And eventually they will eat their veggies. I guess you can't do that with kids.


I used to do a 10% water change too but then I found out my hardness was low (kH) and that they 10% wasn't enough to keep the buffer up and I had a pH crash. No one died but now I do bigger changes.

If you have alow kH and GH then I would probably do a 20% weekly to make sure to avoid a pH crash. Otherwise 10% is probably fine.

[Anne L.]

Our water here is very hard and the pH is around 7.4 and has stayed stable since I started the tank.

So from what you're saying, it looks like 10% is fine. I sometimes do more than that, around 20%, but it varies, because I'm still new at doing this.

Heh, maybe I should quit feeding my kids until they eat their green veggies. Wonder what kind of a revolt that would provoke, hmm?

[TKOS]

It seems it should be easier to reason with something that has a bigger brain than a fish but sometimes the opposite is ture. Oh well. ;)

Anyway 10% is just fine with a tank like yours. It isn't heavily stocked and the pH and hardness are all stable.