Green Filter Squeezings

B

bluegopher

Asst. Jr. Undersec'y of Aquaria
Jul 20, 2004
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RTP, NC
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I urgently need your expert advice!
I just got back from picking up my new tank and ready to get started with cycling - woohooo!
While at the LFS (a fish specialty shop), I asked for and received some fresh filter squeezings to get the bacterial cycle jump-started. What I received was about a cup of extremely turbid green liquid. It must have been from a dozen tanks.
Now what?
I am hesitant to just dump this into my nice clean tank water. Should I pre-soak a filter sponge in it, and then install the filter? Should I just dump into the water? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
BTW, tank info:
46g bowfront tank
AquaClear300 filter
200W heater
everything else is brand new (platic plants, rocks, gravel, etc).
Thanks!!!
 
Green?

I wouldn't have expected green.... OK, if this is from filters, then I say dump it in the tank or the filter housing. But, keep the lights off in the tank. The green stuff will require light so hold back on the light.

I assume you are going to fishlessly cycle this tank? The ammonia will be candy for the green algae, so no lights, even draw the shades or paper over any side that gets light you can't stop.

Did this store have a green water pond out back that this came from? Green fish tanks? It is very unusual. It does worry me, you may be importing a problem, but ammonia plus no light shouldn't allow the algae to grow and survive.

Someone wiser might contradict me on this, RTR? Are you around? Plantbrain? Anybody?
 
I was a bit surprised by the green color. It also appears to have material that is settling out. As I mentioned, the fish shop specializes in fish, and has a great reputation. The tanks appear to be in good shape, certainly not green water.

I have not yet done anything with the green stuff, but I am ready to set up the filter, so any more quick opinions would be fantastic. What does a typical filter squeeze look like? Is the water usually turbid or green?
 
If the LFS has a good rep, I wouldn't worry too much about the green color. The green color could be due to the type of food fed the fish, or it could be from algae growing on the filter media.

In any case, unless you have reason to suspect it came from a diseased tank, I wouldn't worry.

Jim
 
Act fast!

If you ahve this stuff, you need to add it to a tank pronto! It requires oxygen, just like a fish, and you can't just let it sit around. Decide -- act.
 
I finally added the green gunk to tank (within ~3 hrs of squeeze) last night. Looked awful in the water, but was crystal clear this morning. I will be testing the water this evening.

Assuming this works, and I get a nice jump start on cycling, and guesses on how long the fishless cycle might take?

Cheers.
 
Assuming nothing amiss and a decent amount of the green stuff you've probably got 2 or 3 weeks to completetion.

As far as Green filter squeezings go, If their filter media was exposed to light Algea will grow on the media (my Ac's do this all of the time due to their translucent lids. I wouldn't worry much about it, But I definately wouldn't light the tank and might go as far as to black it out for a couple of days as was mentioned.
Dave
 
OK, one week and counting. Nothing noticeably bad has come from the green filter squeeze. I have kept the tank dark and no visible algae growth yet.

However, there has not yet been a decrease in ammonia - initially added to ~5 ppm, still at ~5ppm. No detectable nitrites. pH steady at 7.6. I guess with a healthy dose of filter goo, I expected to have some change by now. Were my expectations unrealistic? When should I expect to see an ammonia drop?
 
As long as there's a source of ammonia, the bacteria WILL move in eventually. I've heard people say it took more than six weeks for their tank to fully cycle. Earlier this year I set up a tank and used filter media from an established tank in the filter. I thought that the tank wouldn't cycle at all, but it still went through a mini-cycle of about two weeks where I had very low levels of ammonia, then very low levels of nitrite until the tank settled.
Cycling can be a real exercise in patience, but it'll be over soon :D
 
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