Gehh...

[K.J.]

Well, I cycled my tank with the media from the filter and added fish when the levels were good 'n' steady - but the media was carbon. I know, I know, I didn't read the "helpful links" to find out that carbon is not the best. So I guess I should change the media? How?! If I change it all at once, the ammonia will skyrocket... Gah, what should I do? Will carbon be okay? What kind of media should I get if it isn't?

 

[loveyourfish]

carbon is usually for removing water odour and colour. there are alot type of filter media out in the market.

here's my guideline when choosing filter media...
- when choosing a filter media, we need to consider the surface area.

- the higher/more surface area will provide more space for for the the benificial bacteria to grow/bloom

- you also need to consider how porous your filter media, too porous will mean that less water will be filter and likewise, however the least porous will sometimes cause clogging, maybe medium porous??? it depends...

- the media you choose will also depend on the type of filter you use

- before using the filter media (especially those synthetic types) you need to at least soak them for a period of time (say about a week) to get rid of any chemicals. Sometimes we don't know what are the quality of the media sold. Well this is just to prevent chaos...

I guess thats what I can think at the moment

 

[K.J.]

I was thinking just one of those blue sponge types.. would they work? How am I going to get beneficial bacteria in it, run it in a filter side by side the other filter? Like I said, I couldn't really just replace it... bam... or the fish would die through too much ammonia, especially since I'm working out an overstockign problem.

 

[loveyourfish]

well I don't really know what type of blue sponge you are reffering, but anyway, to get those beneficial bacteria in to it is easy.

If you already have a filter media with beneficial bacteria, yes, you can put it side by side with the new media. Ofcourse you can't simply replace it, you will cause chaos.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

there's 3 main types of media

mechanical
chemical
biological

the biological is most important, this is sponges, filter floss, noodles, ceramic tubes, bio balls etc. these are all media's designed to have a very large surface area for the bacteria to live on.

chemical is things like carbon or rowaphos, only use them if you have a specific problem. they just deal with removing one of the chemicals from your water

mechanical, to an extent all the biological media will do this, but in a large filter the first layer is generally a corse sponge or somethng similar to collect most of the muck and waste, this is the mechanical filtration

is there just carbon in your filter now? so long as there's something else in there too then it's fine to just take the carbon out and replace it. very little of the bacteria will be living on the carbon as it's chemical filtration not biological

 

[K.J.]

there's 3 main types of media

mechanical
chemical
biological

the biological is most important, this is sponges, filter floss, noodles, ceramic tubes, bio balls etc. these are all media's designed to have a very large surface area for the bacteria to live on.

chemical is things like carbon or rowaphos, only use them if you have a specific problem. they just deal with removing one of the chemicals from your water

mechanical, to an extent all the biological media will do this, but in a large filter the first layer is generally a corse sponge or somethng similar to collect most of the muck and waste, this is the mechanical filtration

is there just carbon in your filter now? so long as there's something else in there too then it's fine to just take the carbon out and replace it. very little of the bacteria will be living on the carbon as it's chemical filtration not biological

I just read carbon was a media when I bought it, I guess I figured the beneficial bacteria would grow. I guess it did, because I haven't had any losses. But all it is is one of those blue, sort of rough pouches with the carbon inside. Could I replace half with ceramic tubes or something, and after they grow some replace the other?

 

[rdd1952]

I use Matrix by Seachem. It works great. What ever you get, just replace in half at a time. Remove half the carbon and replace with new media. Next time replace the rest of the carbon.

 

[K.J.]

Sure thing. How long should I wait before adding the second half?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

good couple of weeks

 

[rdd1952]

You shouldn't have to wait too long, probably your next water change. If you replace half the media, at most, you are removing half the bacteria (probably not that much as there will be some on the actual filter, not the pack and media, and the walls and decorations of the tank). That means the bacteria will only have to double itself to be back to full strength again.

 

[fozziebear]

i dunno why people are saying carbon is solely a chemical filtration method, activated carbon provides millimetre for millimetre just as much surface area as ceramic tubes/bio balls and the like, if you want to use your carbon as a bio filter instead of chemical, just leave it in for enough time for it to lose its chemical filtering properties and just leave it in, and the bio bacteria will grow on it, its perfectly acceptable to have activated carbon as your bio filter.

 

[Tessla]

i dunno why people are saying carbon is solely a chemical filtration method, activated carbon provides millimetre for millimetre just as much surface area as ceramic tubes/bio balls and the like, if you want to use your carbon as a bio filter instead of chemical, just leave it in for enough time for it to lose its chemical filtering properties and just leave it in, and the bio bacteria will grow on it, its perfectly acceptable to have activated carbon as your bio filter.

This is very true, while not the best filter media, carbon in your filter doesn't really hurt anything. Do you have just carbon in your filter or some filter floss/sponges as well? If it's just the carbon, yours likely has most of your bacteria living on it. Swap out a bit of the carbon for some new media, then swap out the rest of the carbon once the new media has had time to be colonized. I'd suggest keeping a few different types of media in there so that when/if a piece does wear out you can replace it without getting rid of all the media at once.

 

[Maxta]

Im going to by some of that Matrix that RDD recommended me to. I have carbon and zeolite (?) in my filter, and want rid of it sharpish.