when, how to clean new sponges....while treating ich

[gnahc79]

I got ich . I'm using Ridich and doing the daily water changes, daily meds, and tests as well. My ammonia read 50 ppm yesterday, everything else was normal (pH 7.6, 0 ppm nitrite).
I installed an AC 200 in my 20gal with 2 sponges yesterday. Oh yeah, I removed the carbon cartidges from the UGF for the ridich. The tank is about a week old.

When should I clean and replace the sponges? I read that I should just rinse one of the sponges each time. Do I just rinse it in the tank? And when to I replace them? I plan to put some carbon in the AC 200 once I finish running the ridich for a week.

 

[Aquarius0015]

First of all, carbon is unneccessary except for removing medications from the water and for a few other specialized applications. I would never run carbon for more than 3 days.

Secondly, sponges should be rinsed in tank water. A lot of people rinse filters with the water from water changes before dumping it out. If you use treated tap water it might kill the beneficial bacteria in the sponge.

That ammonia reading is too high. Are you sure you didn't misplace a decimal somewhere?

 

[gnahc79]

thanks for the info.

oops, yeah it was 0.50ppm. I just did a test/water change/med and the ammonia was inbetween 0.25ppm and 0.50ppm. pH and nitrite is the same & normal.

 

[gnahc79]

btw, I read online somewhere that one of the components in Ridich becomes ineffective when exposed to sunlight/light. Is there any truth to this? I'm leaning towards no since the website mentions nothing about sunlight (http://www.novalek.com/kpd38.htm). Just checking .

btw, I have an ebojager 100W and some seachem prime in the mail, woot!