Filter Pad

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iluvglowfishys

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Dec 7, 2011
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How often do you change the filer pad?? And when you are changing it do you stick the new one in with old to " seed " it with bacteria!?
 

fshfanatic

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Apr 7, 2006
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I replace the floss in my ehiems every 6 months or when needed. No, just add new floss. I have plenty of bio media, I just add new floss.
 

iluvglowfishys

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Dec 7, 2011
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Well I started to see for the first time in almost three months my nitrates go up, and I just did a 25 % change over the weekend. So was wondering if maybe that was it.
 

smitty

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Jul 8, 2004
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On my Eheims 4 to 6 months.
 

mykidsmylife

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Aug 26, 2005
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Do you mean in a canister or hang on back? On my canisters, I just rinse and squeeze them out in a bucket with tank water until I think they are clean. Only replace them when the sponge falls apart. In my hang on back I pull the filter pad out and rinse it with the sprayer on my sink (I have well water so won't hurt BB. If you have city/chlorinated water best to rinse in a bucket of tank water). I never replace a filter pad unless it slows water flow and rinsing doesn't fix it. When I replace one in the HOB I just toss old one and don't worry about bacteria..I figure with my bio-wheels and substrate it will catch up quickly.
 

AbbeysDad

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Nov 7, 2011
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There are many aquariums out there with cartridge filters and cartridges get replaced all the time w/o master disaster. I think sometimes we over think the beneficial bacteria factor. In reality, in an established aquarium, there is bacteria on nearly every surface and especially in the substrate. We 'think' it's all in the filter....well some is, but not all. Replacing a cartridges may cause an every so slight mini-cycle as the BB population increases to balance the load.

For the most part, filter pads and sponges can be rinsed in tank/conditioned water and reused for a very long time. Floss might better be replaced if need be. A filter with bio-media is best so that cleaning/replacing mechanical becomes moot relative to beneficial bacteria.

So we may need to dig deeper to understand your sudden increase in nitrates. You might examine other aspects of tank/filter maintenance and also test your supply water (I recently came to realize that my well water is very high in nitrates). Perhaps there was some over feeding? Is there a missing fish? Always best to look for a root cause.

Good luck.
 

iluvglowfishys

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Dec 7, 2011
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Thank you to everyone for the advise. Abbeysdad, I bet I have been over feeding. Since I added two new fish maybe I have just been putting too much flake food in. I will test tonight and see what it says, maybe skip the feeding tonight.
I have a ten gallon tank. hanging filter, three white skirt tetra, one dwarf blue gourami, and one fancy tail guppy. i also have an airstone in there... lots of snails. three live plants!
 

stevent

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Feb 19, 2010
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I use sponges in my Aquaclear filter so I never have to replace them. I clean them with every water change.
 

iluvglowfishys

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Dec 7, 2011
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Maybe I should get an additional filtration.. I am just using what came with the kit. Water quality had been good.
 

oo7genie

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Nov 18, 2010
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The tank is overstocked. Adding fish = more nitrates, adding food = more nitrates. The upside being that you know your tank is properly cycled (unless ammo or nitrIte are also rising)

As for the filter media, never change the bio-filter (in a kit, usually plastic brillo pad-like). As for the charcoal pad, it really depends on how quickly it gets dirty. If it's not so gunked up that the water is flowing around it rather than through it, or otherwise impeding the flow of the filter, there is no need to change it. For a beginner, it may be best to do it once every month, but after a while you will be able to tell when it actually needs changing, and as a result, usually save some money on cartridges.

My advice, is that if you are thinking about buying a second filter anyway, just replace this filter with one that has a higher capacity, and that uses sponges that can simply be rinsed, as opposed to cartridges that have to be purchased over and over. Rinse your sponges once a month (or whenever you can tell they need it) and you should be golden.
 
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