Keeping the Nitrogen cycle going

[Graywolf74]

I am just starting a 10 gallons tank, and have been reading everything I can get my hands on about aquariums. I just have a concern about keeping the nitrogen cycle going. If you change out the filter, you are loosing the bacteria in there.


Just curious.. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TorturedSOUL]

well a lot of people will keep their filter until it is the nastiest thing alive. I generally just rinse it out in tank water and put the filter pad back in. Sometimes if I have a filter with multiple pads I change one out and leave the other.

Also there should be enough bacteria in the tank anyway to support the fish's bio-load.

 

[asincero]

With my Filstar XP2 filter, I take out some of the aquarium water and rinse out the black foam pads and the ceramic rings out with it. I then replace the activated charcoal and the so-called "polishing pad". The bulk of the bacteria live in the rings, so you don't want to throw that out or rinse it out with tap water.

 

[Graywolf74]

so once it cycles I shouldn't have any problem, I hope.