The more water changes, the better. Do it every day if you can. It will keep the toxins at a manageable level in your water and keep your fish as comfortable as can be expected.
New tank-Noob-Cycling-Help-Questions
- Thread starter Mantis_22
- Start date
Today I checked my water stats...
Its week 2 and I am starting to see a significant difference in the numbers.
My ammonia is completely gone 0PPM
my Nitrite is Sky high and my nitrate follows.
My PH is starting to lighten up in the blue sector which gives me another clue.
So im guessing stage 1 is done for now.
The barbs i have in this tank have significantly grew in 2 weeks already. I feed them a variety foods and they love all of them.
I did a water change today and added a little project ive been wanting to do for a awhile now. What I did was this...
I have one of those 5-15 Aquatech Powerfilters you can get at Walmart. Well since this is not a biological filter as such everytime you replace the filter/carbon media (Its composed together as one) to throw away because its dirty you lose all that beneficial bacteria that has colonized on it. So I had an Idea, cut a piece of Biological Filter Sponge (Got it at the fish store for cheap). And cut it to fit perfectly to sit on the exit of the water resevoir of my power filter. In my opinion it should work out well since I will be replacing the filter cartride every 3-4 weeks. The sponge I chose is 100% safe for the tank too. I put some Byo-Zyme and some Liquid Bacteria on the sponge then put it in place in the filter. I hope my little Idea works. It should as from what I have seen on other filters designs. All the fresh clean water that exits the filter hits the sponge so it should. Everyone give your idea and opinion, do you think this will actually be beneficial and could there be better ways to work this out?
I have a picture included of it..
-Mantis_22
Its week 2 and I am starting to see a significant difference in the numbers.
My ammonia is completely gone 0PPM
my Nitrite is Sky high and my nitrate follows.
My PH is starting to lighten up in the blue sector which gives me another clue.
So im guessing stage 1 is done for now.
The barbs i have in this tank have significantly grew in 2 weeks already. I feed them a variety foods and they love all of them.
I did a water change today and added a little project ive been wanting to do for a awhile now. What I did was this...
I have one of those 5-15 Aquatech Powerfilters you can get at Walmart. Well since this is not a biological filter as such everytime you replace the filter/carbon media (Its composed together as one) to throw away because its dirty you lose all that beneficial bacteria that has colonized on it. So I had an Idea, cut a piece of Biological Filter Sponge (Got it at the fish store for cheap). And cut it to fit perfectly to sit on the exit of the water resevoir of my power filter. In my opinion it should work out well since I will be replacing the filter cartride every 3-4 weeks. The sponge I chose is 100% safe for the tank too. I put some Byo-Zyme and some Liquid Bacteria on the sponge then put it in place in the filter. I hope my little Idea works. It should as from what I have seen on other filters designs. All the fresh clean water that exits the filter hits the sponge so it should. Everyone give your idea and opinion, do you think this will actually be beneficial and could there be better ways to work this out?
I have a picture included of it..
-Mantis_22
You can use your method, or do without the cartridge entirely and custom cut a sponge to fill the same compartment. Then you just rinse the sponge really well instead. However, depending on the cartridge type, there is no need to replace that often. If you are using a cartridge with carbon, the carbon will cease functioning in 3-5 days and just become another place for bacteria to thrive. If you rinse the whole thing off to remove any large debris, you can keep using the same filter for many moons (think I've used the same one for 6 months in a lightly stocked tank before trashing it and going with just a sponge).
If you are using a cartridge that contains some sort of ammonia treatment, once the tank is cycled there is no need for this stuff, as it can impact the bio-bed.
If you are using a cartridge that contains some sort of ammonia treatment, once the tank is cycled there is no need for this stuff, as it can impact the bio-bed.
I bought a used AquaClear Mini filter and have never had any of the premade filter packs in it as they aren't available around here. And Wal-Mart doesn't have any sponges either so I just put filter floss in and have had the same batch for 3 months that I just rinse out once a week. Water is doing fine.
thats cool, I guess in awhile I may go for the custom made fiter thing. Its not too hard to make.
yesterday i did tests again, no ammonia. High Nitrite and same for Nitrate. Ph hasent changed but its a lighter baby blue around 7.5. As for what I did, I syphoned 25% of the water out and changed it. Next week im gonna change the filter to a sponge.
Today I cleaned the tank, brushed all the excess off the inner walls of the tank and syphoned. Done a 20% water change. Anyways my ammonia is 0PPM and nitrites and nitrates are still medium-high. PH is 7.5 as usual... 
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