Dumbest question you ever heard...

staceyanna

staceyanna

Praise is what I do...
Sep 6, 2005
103
0
0
Miami -> Wash, DC
Okay please forgive this sincerely DUMB question, but I have no one else to ask and its eating me up.

I have seen on here multiple times it mentioned NOT to change the filter media when cycling... And even after cycling it shouldnt be necessary other then rinsing it out. Well wonder of wonders when my water started to turn cloudy I CHANGED the blinkin filter media in my Whisper 2 days ago, it was slightly greyish but not full of many large particles at all and in retrospect I should have just rinsed the blasted thing out. Well I have it sitting double bagged in my kitchen and I was about to toss it this morning when it dawned on me, the cloudy water didnt get worse until I changed the filter's Bio-bag. I am afraid I may have restarted my cycle.

Now the dumb question is, how long can this filter media sit outside of water before the bacteria dies or goes stale? Can I just reinsert the same filter media back into the filter and go on regularly? Or should I just continue with the new filter I put in there and hope for the best?

Please help... Times like these I wish I had a hotline of some sort to call somebody to talk to about these fish when I have these issues... :sad:
 
I am not real sure about the lenght of time it can sit, but try a water change and add some biospira, you should have still had some bacteria in your stones plants ect, so maybe what little bacteria birospira will add will help, have you tested the water?..if you keep an extra filter on hand, and wanna change rather than rinse ..i always put the new filter in with the old for about a week, and do water changes opposite any filter change,,,good luck!
 
So should I throw the used bio-bag back in the tank or what? Its sitting in a bag by itself so nothing has contaminated it except air. I cant get to any Biospira right now though, not til the weekend. But when I am able to get to the LFS that has Biospira can I throw that in while the fish are in the tank without harming them?

I have yet to test the tank since I changed the filter, but I checked the day before and the PH was at 7 and the ammonia tested ok (I have test strips for ammonia, i know I will get the test tube kit but its been out of stock at my petsmart for the past month). I just want to figure out the fastest way to get rid of this couldy water, my tetras and silver dollar are not eating, most likely cause they cant see the food going in at the top of the tank and before they would come running when I feed or even when I came near to the tank.
 
Cloudy water is usually a bacterial bloom (not the good kind) brought on by overfeeding and sometimes no reason that we can determine. After a few days of not feeding (so stop feeding) the bacteria die off and get eaten by microscopic organisms that normally keep the population in check.

As for the biobag (not familiar how whispers do bio filtration), as long as the media is at least a little moist, then it should be fine. Our bacteria actually does much better moist, than fully submersed. They benifit from the more oxygen they get when not underwater(one reason why biowheels and trickle filters work so well). I forgot to plug my eclipse filter in once (well actually twice) and left the biowheel high and dry for almost eight hours. The high humidity under the hood kept in moist and when I started it back up everything was fine. No "mini-cycle". The fact that yours is sealed in a bag bodes well. I don't see how putting back in could hurt.
 
Cloudy water is usually a bacterial bloom (not the good kind) brought on by overfeeding and sometimes no reason that we can determine. After a few days of not feeding (so stop feeding) the bacteria die off and get eaten by microscopic organisms that normally keep the population in check.

As for the biobag (not familiar how whispers do bio filtration), as long as the media is at least a little moist, then it should be fine. Our bacteria actually does much better moist, than fully submersed. They benifit from the more oxygen they get when not underwater(one reason why biowheels and trickle filters work so well). I forgot to plug my eclipse filter in once (well actually twice) and left the biowheel high and dry for almost eight hours. The high humidity under the hood kept in moist and when I started it back up everything was fine. No "mini-cycle". The fact that yours is sealed in a bag bodes well. I don't see how putting back in could hurt.

PS is there anything in the whispers that act as a permanant home for bacteria? I know milleniums have a bio card that is little more than a ridged piece of plastic, and aquaclears have ceramic noodles, but what do whispers have. If the answer is nothing, then ditch that POS and go get an aquaclear. You never have to replace any media with those (alright a new sponge every three years maybe). It will pay for itself in a few months.
 
I used to feed every other day as recommended on this site, and even then I fed them on a flake-by-flake method waiting till each flake was consumed before putting another one in there so NOTHING dropped to the bottom of the tank so i know it didnt start cause of overfeeding. I havent fed since the cloudiness started, about 4 days ago.... I did feed a smidgeon this morning and they were hungry as all get out! Even one of my tetras ran to the tank top and they usually never go up there because of the danios...

At any rate I was already thinking of getting a new filter, and when I do I will have to run both on there for now. Aiming for the Aquaclear since they seem to be the most versatile. The whisper has a sponge in there, but the thing looks spotless so I dont know if its holding any bacteria or not. I will wait til the cycle is over before I get the new filter. It seems your saying I could put the old filter back on there without any adverse affects. I just want to hurry the bacteria along so I can get rid of the cloudy water once and for all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom