Fresh-Water Newbie

[King]

i have a super porous i guess "sponge" like piece in the filter along with just a filter cartridge. i dont know anything about it. they are whisper filters with a black very porous material against a filter material.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Is it a Hang on the Back power filter?


The super porous sponge is black, correct? That might be a carbon sponge. The filter cartridge would be some sort of "floss" - a cotton like thing that catches detritus as the water passes through. Is there carbon inside the cartridge?


Either way, it doesn't really matter. Neither of these needs to be replaced very often - like ever. The filter will "look" disgusting and full of mulm. As long as the water can flow through it, it will work just fine. If you have any extra space in your filter, you could add a bit of the ceramic media like Spouse and I have. But, this isn't required. Just swish the two around in a bucket of old tank water every now and then (about every month or two - once fully cycled). Also, I would suggest you do the swishing on alternating weeks - sponge one week, the cartridge about 2 weeks later.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Is it a Hang on the Back power filter?


The super porous sponge is black, correct? That might be a carbon sponge. The filter cartridge would be some sort of "floss" - a cotton like thing that catches detritus as the water passes through. Is there carbon inside the cartridge?


Either way, it doesn't really matter. Neither of these needs to be replaced very often - like ever. The filter will "look" disgusting and full of mulm. As long as the water can flow through it, it will work just fine. If you have any extra space in your filter, you could add a bit of the ceramic media like Spouse and I have. But, this isn't required. Just swish the two around in a bucket of old tank water every now and then (about every month or two - once fully cycled). Also, I would suggest you do the swishing on alternating weeks - sponge one week, the cartridge about 2 weeks later.

Sorry to argue, but it does matter. The floss bag will indeed disintegrate after a couple of months. I have the exact filter he has. The black sponge is great, it probably will last forever, but that bag won't. That's the part I would replace with a nylon bag filled with ceramic media, or noodles. There should be room behind the floss bag to insert that now to start getting it cycled. It should be ready to go on its own once the floss bag falls apart.

And as far as the swishing goes, I do it every week with my water change, otherwise it would truly be disgusting.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

No worries about a disagreement. The idea is to only replace any filter media when it disintegrates. You believe that it will disintegrate faster than me, but we actually are saying the same thing. Ultimately, we both are suggesting to only replace if absolutely necessary and to add more media if possible.



I wouldn't recommend swishing a newly cycled filter right away. I would let it settle in a bit first, but yes...it will be disgusting. But, if it weren't, then it probably isn't working properly. As long as the feedings are kept to a minimum and the tank is not underfiltered, it can last two months before a first swishing. (Of course, the gravel vaccing must be very good to remove as much from the substrate as possible without putting it all into the water column.)

 

[King]

i vac the gravel when i do water changes. it is a carbon filled "floss" kind of bag like you said.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

In the future, see if you can find a non-carbon based filter floss to replace it (or a sponge cut to size). The carbon is not necessary for the aquarium normally, just if you have chemicals you want to remove from the tank.

 

[King]

got another massive water change. about to test some levels

 

[King]

getting closer, still having some nitrite issues but still going down though.
ph: 7.6
ammo: 0-.10
trite: .15-.20
trate: 1

 

[eaglesaquarium]

1ppm ammonia processes to 2.7ppm nitrite so that's normal. You are getting closer.


Are you sure about the nitrate number? My API kit only goes down to 5ppm. Also, be sure to seriously shake the living &$(@ out of the reagent bottle #2 and then shake the tube well also for the most accurate reading. (This was the reading after the water change, right? What was the reading before it?)

 

[King]

i have to estimate by the color of the water if its under the 1st graduation (.25, 5, 10) so if it is really light but not 0 i would do .10 it goes down to 5 but it was so light but wasnt quite 0 so i say 1.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Gotcha.

 

[King]

was just examining the tank and saw that one of the small plecos was down at the bottom on the gravel against the back tank wall dead. i dont know if he was like rotting or if one of the fish chewed his tail up but it looked kinda mangled. that sucks.

 

[King]

also theres a neon by itself staying up on top of the water line basically looks like its trying to get air. everthing else seems fine.

 

[This Old Spouse]

That deceased pleco may be keeping the ammonia level up a bit. The neon is likely reacting to the traces of ammonia and nitrite as well. You are certainly getting there with your stats, but until the ammonia and nitrite are reading 0, it's doing harm to your fish.

And like eaglesaquarium said, shake the poop out of that reagent #2 bottle ... I even smack it hard a few times on the tabletop to get everything well mixed. Otherwise you'll get erroneous readings.

Keep up the good work, though. So sorry for your fish, but soon you'll have the cleanest tank in town, with the happiest, healthiest fish. Really!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Spouse is right. Things are improving, but until you are getting zeros, the fish are still slowly being poisoned. It's not the type of news you want to hear, I'm sure, but it's unfortunately true. The dead fish might have been adding even more ammonia than would have been there otherwise.



If I were you, I would do a HUGE water change - regardless of the water stats - complete with as thorough a gravel vacuuming as possible. You are going to want to get rid of every single piece of detritus in the tank as possible. This will also increase the ammonia level of your tank. You are getting closer each day, but a fish-in cycle is very stressful for a beginner and much more hard work. You will get there, and you will be a far more knowledgeable fishkeeper as a result of all this!