CrustyOnEastCoast
Fish Fanatic
So, I have my 5 gallon Aqueon Minibow aquarium with the two fish in (see my sig.) (yes, they actually do get along .. most of the time 
) and they are very healthy .. active, eating well, etc.. Readings have been wonderful for the last two weeks every time I test:
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Ph 7.2
I do weekly water changes / gravel cleaning
The aquarium has been running with the same filter set up since late December. It was more or less fishless-cycled before I added the fish in about two weeks ago.
The filter sucks water up a tube, the water comes out the top, and flows over a floss pad and then out of a slot under the floss pad. I noticed today that there is great water flow coming out over the top, but it no longer filters through the floss pad and out the slot. Instead, it runs over the floss pad and over to the "escape chute", back into the tank, so the water isn't getting filtered through the floss pad.
I took the floss pad out and rinsed it in aquarium water, and put it back in. It doesn't seem to help. (I noticed the floss pad has a nice brown stain on it -- the healthy bacteria). I think the floss pad is also falling apart, meaning really little bits of it are getting in the water, but hard to tell.
Well, since I knew these floss pads wouldn't last long, several weeks ago I added Seachem Matrix biomedia to cover the top of the floss pad (they are like little pebbles .. not the carbon stuff with a similar name)
So, just verifying my course of action to take. I will put a new floss pad in the filter. I will put the Seachem Matrix pebbles back on top of the floss pad (and hope that some bacteria found their way on them .. so I don't end up having to recycle). I will hope for the best and test water more often, for a while.
I could cut some of the old floss pad out (the part with the nice brown stain and also put it on top of the new floss pad in the filter, but I think it is falling apart, and that will just quickly clog my new floss pad, causing the same problem again.
Am I on the right track here, or is there anything else I ought to be doing?
Thanks!
) and they are very healthy .. active, eating well, etc.. Readings have been wonderful for the last two weeks every time I test:Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Ph 7.2
I do weekly water changes / gravel cleaning
The aquarium has been running with the same filter set up since late December. It was more or less fishless-cycled before I added the fish in about two weeks ago.
The filter sucks water up a tube, the water comes out the top, and flows over a floss pad and then out of a slot under the floss pad. I noticed today that there is great water flow coming out over the top, but it no longer filters through the floss pad and out the slot. Instead, it runs over the floss pad and over to the "escape chute", back into the tank, so the water isn't getting filtered through the floss pad.
I took the floss pad out and rinsed it in aquarium water, and put it back in. It doesn't seem to help. (I noticed the floss pad has a nice brown stain on it -- the healthy bacteria). I think the floss pad is also falling apart, meaning really little bits of it are getting in the water, but hard to tell.
Well, since I knew these floss pads wouldn't last long, several weeks ago I added Seachem Matrix biomedia to cover the top of the floss pad (they are like little pebbles .. not the carbon stuff with a similar name)
So, just verifying my course of action to take. I will put a new floss pad in the filter. I will put the Seachem Matrix pebbles back on top of the floss pad (and hope that some bacteria found their way on them .. so I don't end up having to recycle). I will hope for the best and test water more often, for a while.
I could cut some of the old floss pad out (the part with the nice brown stain and also put it on top of the new floss pad in the filter, but I think it is falling apart, and that will just quickly clog my new floss pad, causing the same problem again.
Am I on the right track here, or is there anything else I ought to be doing?
Thanks!
