Filter Switching Advice

[Mostlydave]

Hello all,

I've had my 55 gallon aquarium set up for about 3 months now with an emperor 400 and I can't stand it anymore so I'm switching to a Fluval 306. I have a few questions about making the transition. I've read alot of forum posts advising to run both filters for a month so the bacteria can transition into the new filter. I don't want to do this because I have a lot of small fish and I think this would be current overkill. My question is this, can I just cut up the biowheels out of the emperor and put them in the new canister. I also have the carbon filled filters out of the old filter should I use part of them too?

My second question is should I use the carbon that comes with the new filter? I see a lot of people don't and I'm wondering why. This is a planted tank and I use seachem fert and excel, will the carbon make a difference?

Any advice on making the transition would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Hermithall]

By all means cut the biowheels out of the emperor and transfer to your new filter, in fact preserve as much of your bacteria colony as possible in this way and there should be no interference with your cycle.
Carbon isn't appropriate for longterm use inside a filter - it's purpose is to remove chemicals from the water (e.g after a course of medication) afterwhich it becomes pretty much defunct, so you're better off using the carbon space inside your canister for extra traditional filter media instead which will harbour more beneficial bacteria.

 

[Mostlydave]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll save the carbon in case I need it at some point and look for some more biological medium to use!