OK, two questions that are sort of related.
Every time I do filter maintenance, I get an ammonia spike. I have an xP3. I followed procedure for disconnecting the thing. I took the canister to my bathtub with the two buckets of removed water (from the water change).
I swished out the polish pad pretty good, it was dirty, in the removed tank water. I didn't do anything to the two chambers of bio media. I swished the four sponges out gently (they had no dirt at all). I piled everything back in the canister after wiping the inside down with a paper towel. Put it back together and fired it up. Oh, I also wiped down the impeller.
The whole process couldn't have taken more than ten minutes. It was probably less than five. I don't think I got chlorinated water anywhere. I don't even set the buckets down in the tub, only in the large buckets of tank water.
Yet, 36 hours later, my ammonia is .25. I did another water change and will check again in tonight.
Did I kill all my bacteria... or even most of them??!?!?
In a related question, my dominant gourami is starting to build a bubble nest. It's not a very good one and there's no female to impress, but how should I handle a water change when we get our gourami tank going? I'm planning on getting the same filter (or the xP2) for that tank.
Every time I do filter maintenance, I get an ammonia spike. I have an xP3. I followed procedure for disconnecting the thing. I took the canister to my bathtub with the two buckets of removed water (from the water change).
I swished out the polish pad pretty good, it was dirty, in the removed tank water. I didn't do anything to the two chambers of bio media. I swished the four sponges out gently (they had no dirt at all). I piled everything back in the canister after wiping the inside down with a paper towel. Put it back together and fired it up. Oh, I also wiped down the impeller.
The whole process couldn't have taken more than ten minutes. It was probably less than five. I don't think I got chlorinated water anywhere. I don't even set the buckets down in the tub, only in the large buckets of tank water.
Yet, 36 hours later, my ammonia is .25. I did another water change and will check again in tonight.
Did I kill all my bacteria... or even most of them??!?!?
In a related question, my dominant gourami is starting to build a bubble nest. It's not a very good one and there's no female to impress, but how should I handle a water change when we get our gourami tank going? I'm planning on getting the same filter (or the xP2) for that tank.
