AbbeysDad
Fish Gatherer
So in the attached article link I used a large sponge filter from a bare bottom grow out tank:
13 weeks cycling fish in down the drain.....cycle reset
- Thread starter moogie21
- Start date
Correct me if I'm mistaken...but all it took to convert ammonia (from the fish) in the QT tank was a few plants?That's why we always stress to add no more than 3 ppm ammonia
Until a year or two ago, i was always a firm believer that the bacteria lived in the filter. Then two things happened.
My main tank has been running for 7 years, but the filter, substrate and decor came from a smaller tank when I upgraded. I've had slow growing plants for many years, and around 2016 added water sprite, which I've now replaced with frogbit.
A couple of years ago I forgot to turn the filter on after a water change and only found out a week later when I came to do the next water change. My reaction was to grab my test kit - but there was no trace of ammonia or nitrite in the water.
At the end of 2019 I saw some fish that I wanted to buy so I went home and set up my quarantine tank. I took some media from my main tank and to be on the safe side I added 3 ppm ammonia. Before going buying the fish, I tested the QT. 3 ppm ammonia. Next day 3 ppm. And the next day and the day after that. I ended up doing a 7 week fishless cycle by which time all the fish I wanted had been sold
These incidents tell me that I have few, if any, bacteria in my filter media.
When I set up the QT again late last year I didn't bother with any mature media. I took the last bit of water sprite from my main tank then went to the shop and bought fish and 2 bunches of elodea (anacharis) which I left floating in the QT. I tested every day and never saw any ammonia even with 12 kuhli loaches in an overstocked 25 litre/6.6 gallon tank.
But I still don't dare clean the filter media in tap water.
"But I still don't dare clean the filter media in tap water."----the key sentence I was looking for...old habits?
Thank you....I've only kept fish for 8 years now (not even close to 50), and am having difficulty absorbing this new concept, regarding biofiltration and filters, so forgive if I seem a bit skeptical.
Yes, when I set up the QT towards the end of last year for the Kuhli loaches, all I used were fast growing plants. I did have a small internal filter (which I keep in the cupboard when the QT isn't set up) to move the water round, and I filled it with brand new filter floss to catch any bits.
After 25-ish years of believing I had to wash filter media in old tank water, it's very hard to break the conditioning.
But I would never advise anyone with a new tank to use tap water, that would be asking for trouble.
After 25-ish years of believing I had to wash filter media in old tank water, it's very hard to break the conditioning.
But I would never advise anyone with a new tank to use tap water, that would be asking for trouble.
AbbeysDad
Fish Gatherer
Your welcome.
It's not really 'new', just newer for many freshwater fishkeepers. Many have been 'conditioned' to believe that BB only lives in the bio-media in the filter.
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However, for example, my nephew Steven has a SW tank with live rock, deep sand, and a refugium with algae & plants. He rarely does any water changes, just top offs
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I'm not suggesting that we necessarily skimp on routine periodic partial water changes, but believe that with plants and advanced substrate bio-filtration, water quality is significantly enhanced.
AbbeysDad
Fish Gatherer
Neither would I. In a newly setup aquarium, BB almost always develops in a filter first...however it becomes dwarfed and insignificant as the system becomes seasoned and established.
I cannot prove whether it was plants alone or plants plus bacteria in the substrate which saved my main tank from an ammonia or nitrite spike when I forgot to plug the heater filter back in.
But the QT with the kuhlis had no substrate, a filter that had been dry for months and unused media inside the filter, and decor from a box that hadn't been used for years, the only thing that could have removed the ammonia was the plants. OK, the water sprite may have had bacteria on the surface of the plants but I doubt there would have been anything like enough to remove all the ammonia.
When I say the last couple of water sprite plants from my main tank, I mean plants so big that 2 of them filled the entire surface of the QT
Edited for typing the wrong word
But the QT with the kuhlis had no substrate, a filter that had been dry for months and unused media inside the filter, and decor from a box that hadn't been used for years, the only thing that could have removed the ammonia was the plants. OK, the water sprite may have had bacteria on the surface of the plants but I doubt there would have been anything like enough to remove all the ammonia.
When I say the last couple of water sprite plants from my main tank, I mean plants so big that 2 of them filled the entire surface of the QT
Edited for typing the wrong word
Last edited:
I would think it HAD to have been plants + BB in the substrate...the crux of the discussion from the last several posts (?)...and, I think you meant "filter" instead of "heater"...
Quite right
I've edited it.....Similar threads
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