more cycling question

Good info Chem...

My wife and I are shcool teachers... several of our students work at pet stores... If I hadnt come to this site I'd of just bought into the "cycle fish" thoery. I've a little OCD in me... so I have found out everything I can about fish and tank management, still I have so much to learn. It is amazing to me how much bad information is out there.

OK so what is KH... I do not have a tester for it? I think I remember reading something about hard water issues...

When I am done I can add a full load of fish (full being relative). I do not have to add them a few at a time? That is what I thought from reading... LFS emloyee was trying to tell me otherwise.

Where do I put this sponge? My filter (top fin 60) has to plastic looking filters that are labeled "biologic" (i think) they remind me of an air filter for a house, and then there two pouches that have carbon in them that sit behind the plastic ones... where do I put the sponge??? in the tank, in the filter?

As far as healthy fish go... how do you tell. I have never owned any fish as a pet?

Thanks again for all the help.
 
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Have you read through the articles in the "Top Topics" section? Every one of them is worth reading, even if you don't plan on getting discus or dwarf frogs there's always some knowledge to be gained that can be applied to a more general case.
Here's the link:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39568

There are a lot of myths that refuse to die. The aquarium salt vs. table salt debate is one of my favourites (read: most-frustrating-refusing-to-die-mythinformation).

Yes, once fishless cycling is complete you can, and must, stock fully. Once you're completed fishless cycling, you've built up huge colonies of nitrifying bacteria. The size of these colonies is directly influenced by the size of the ammonia source. When you're dosing the ammonia, you're providing much more that a tank load of fish would, that's the whole point. However, as soon as you add fish, the amount of ammonia supplied to feed the bacteria drops. The bacteria in excess of those necessary to deal with it, or from their perspective, those who don't get food, die off. A couple days after you've added your fish, the colony size will drop to match the bioload.

So, two cases:
First, you stock fully. The colony sizes decrease to a level that can be supported with the amount of ammonia produced by this stocking level. Now all you need to do is give the tank time to settle.

Case 2, you only add a few fish each week, much like you would in a traditional, fishy-cycle situation. First addition, you add 3-4 fish of your choice, the nitrifying colonies reduce in size to match. A week later, you add a few more fish. Uh oh! Now the colonies have to grow to meet this new, bigger supply of (food) ammonia. For a day or two you'll have detectable ammonia, but ammonia nitrifiers grow quickly. Then you'll have detectable nitrite for a few days, these guys get less energy than ammonia nitrifiers and so grow more slowly. In other words, you're back to cycling and water changes. Why bother?

Ah yes, those types of filters. Keep the inserts for now, but find a place in there for the foam. If you need to cut it up, do so. Or, you can cut a whole in the middle of the narrow end (so that the cut runs along the long dimension) and slip it over the filter intake. This also helps keep gunk out of your filter. Do give it a good rinsing in some dechlorinated water though, you can pour this into your filter to help seed the inserts. In time the inserts will start getting ratty, clean them out weekly, biweekly if you have a foam over the intake, but eventually the material will start to fall apart. With these types I've found that they last from 6 months to a year depending on the rigour with which you clean them. When it comes time to replace them, instead of getting more inserts, just get a big filter foam, like for and AC500 and cut it to fit your filter. Stuff the filter with as much foam as you can. This will be cheaper and more effective than the inserts.
 
Looks like everyone answered most of your questions Mrm.

On the link I supplied there is also a brief explanation of what KH is and what it does.

On filters, I will have to recommend the Aquaclear filters. For a 55g I would suggest either 2 Aquaclear 500's or 2 AC 300's. IMO 2 smaller filters on anything bigger than 40g is better than one larger filter. You should look for total ghp #'s to be around 10 times your tanks size. I personally shoot for 15 or better.
 
Ok so youre saying I dont need the $40.00 inserts for the filter (there are two of them and the directions say I need to replace them every month) sounds like a money making scheme to me. *&%$ LFS!

>>> so buy a filer foam for another filter? and put it in my filter where the water comes in... easy enough.

Would I just be better off to buy another filter? In this post there was a reccomndation for getting two smaller filters... ? any feedback on that issue?
 
The Top Fin 60 is rated for tanks up to 60g. If you really like this filter i would suggest getting another and using 2. I cant find anything that can tell me the gph rating of this filter.

I did notice though, that they were $30 at Petsmart online.

Here is a link to petsolutions http://petsolutions.com/search.asp?t=c&c=1018311 listing of aquaclear filters. I would go with 2 AC 70's formerly AC 300. Each is rated at 300gph which would give you almost 12 times water turnover in your tank when used in a pair. I love these filters for their ease of use and maintenance, there ability to customize the media inserts, and their low low price.
 
GSK, that may be the first time I've ever been accused of being brief! ;)

The main reason for 2 filters on a bigger tank is increase circulation. 2 filters in general is a pretty good idea in terms of having a backup, just in case. However, while I do have spare filters, I only run one on my 33g and 2 on my 18g. Why? I like having less surface distruption in the 33 planted. The 18g is planted, but it's a less intense venture.

Powerheads are another way to increase ciculation. Add a filter foam to the intake, and you've got yourself some extra filtration.

Aquaclears are good filters. Fill them with as many sponges as you can fit and just rinse them out. The sponges should be good for a year or more. They only need to be replaced when they start to fall apart. They should be cleaned weekly or biweekly in old tank water though, keeps them from getting gummed up. If you've got foams over your intakes, these must be cleaned every week, they get cruddy fast.

On the note of cleaning filter media, after you've given them a good, thorough rinsing and squeezing (they should return to a yellow-brown colour), let the rinse water sit for a few minutes for the brown mulm to settle in the bucket, decant off some of the top water, voila, instant house plant food!
 
lol@Happy Have you seen my posts??? They are usually stories that go on and on. Comparing your post to mine, its brief. lol

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but if you could Happy, tell me a little more about KH. I constantly run a 3degree KH but am wondering how I can raise it without messing up my Ph. I understand that the two go hand in hand, but why is my tap water so low in Kh? And what can I do to add some more buffering capabilities to it? As far as I know, it has not caused any problems, but now that I know about it and what it does, its driving me a little nuts. I mean, how can I have a tap water Ph of 7.6 and a Kh of 3 and the guy accross town have a tap water Ph of 7.6 and a Kh of 10? What is in his water thats not in mine, and how can I replicate it?
 
Raising KH without changing pH is not trivial. KH or alkalinity is the sum of all the strong bases in your water minus the H+ concentration, so anything that you try to add to increase it, i.e. a strong base, is going to raise pH. It can be done, although it's usually more coincidental than on purpose. You use CO2 or another weak acid in conjunction with your strong base. What you get is a balance between something increasing KH and trying to pull pH with it and something that brings pH down but has no effect on KH. Used in just the right amounts they can achieve the goal of raising KH without affecting pH, however, this has the same underlying problem of comercial buffers.

3dKH isn't bad though! I'd love it if mine came out that way, KH here is between 0-10ppm, less than 1degree.
 
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