eaglesaquarium said:
I'd second the 50% water change recommendation, and the increased aeration via airstones and/or the decreased water level to allow splashing from the filter returns.
Honestly, I don't think you 'killed' the bacteria, but you may have removed more than you intended to with the increased rinsing of the filter media. Since you are using identical filters on tanks, I'd split your media up and spread out the bacteria that you have. I don't know this particular filter, being in the US, but if you have multiple types of media in these filters, leave one and trade the other. (If that's not clear, let me know.... I mean that if there is sponge and ceramics in the filters, leave the sponges in the filter they are in currently but trade the ceramics between the two, in a hope to spread the bacteria more quickly than might happen on its own, and to take out an insurance policy on the rinsing.)
Another note: I use two identical filters on my tanks as well. I only ever rinse ONE filter at a time, once again as an insurance policy on screwing things up. I never intend to cause trouble, but what fishkeeper does? Just best to have one that's undisturbed while the other is disturbed. That way one side can keep up with the bioload while the other rebounds from any damage.
I did do a 50% wc earlier and left the water level low enough to get some really good aeration going. I live in the states as well, i have two aquaclear 70's, i think they used to be called Aquaclear 300. I get what you're saying about switching the media, that's a great idea.
I honestly should have known better than to rinse both sponges at the same time, how careless.
snazy said:
No matter what people say, my personal experience is don't overdo the cleaning of the filter. I never get a reading on the test, but each time I opened the external filter on my bigger tank and clean it "properly" which is just washing in tank water and pouring out the gunk, the fish start flashing for a day which means there's trace levels of ammonia no matter what my tests are saying. It never caused a problem in the long run but there's another trickle filter and I installed a third filter so it seems now they cope themselves as I haven't noticed flashing recently.
On another tank, I caused ammonia spikes several times in the beginning after washing the media too well and I had just one filter. One of the times, the ammonia went sky high, honestly I had never seen such dark green on the test and 90% water change didn't clear the ammonia, it was still green, I was shocked. I did have to move half the fish out to help it. It lasted a week with several massive water changes so I installed a 2nd filter just after that and haven't had a problem since. One of them is bound to be ok if I screw up. So I am careful now and just do the minimum on the filters regardless. I never had dirty water with less filter mainenance to be honest. That's caused by a not coping single filter and wrong media in the filter like that cheap floss that does nothing. I really like sponges instead of floss, not the too fine ones obviously as they'll block the flow.
I also had diatoms in each tank I setup in the beginning and never had a filter go to trickle with them. Are you sure it isn't the filter too bad. What media is inside?
With my first tank, i might have rinsed the filter out maybe once, I never even had to touch the sponge. The past couple weeks have been very confusing and frustrating with this tank. When i say that i had to rinse the sponges, I mean that the baskets were pushing their way out of the filter completely. I was sitting here today and heard a sound and realized it was the lid to my filter, the basket had pushed it off completely, then about 30 minutes later, the other lid went too. I have never seen such a dirty filter sponge in my life, let alone two of them. I think the filters are working fine, one is almost brand new, if it were just one that would be one thing, but i doubt the same thing would go wrong with both at the same time, and it's obvious that it's filtering bc the sponges are filthy. The problem is the diatoms or bio slime or whatever is going on in my tank. Ive been going back and forth with another forum member and I think it's a combination of a bunch of things really, and I think before the heavy handed sponge rinsing, it was all headed in the right direction. Both of the filters each have a sponge and a bag of ceramics in them.
It just seems odd to me bc I understand that not every thing will show in a water test, but Ive had my share of ammonia spikes, from barely anything to forest green as well, and I've never seen such a sudden reaction in my fish like I am today. Maybe it's the fact that it took so long to catch and do a water change (about 24 hrs) but Junky the pictus is not looking well and just seems completely exhausted from the labored breathing. I'm pulling for him, but I will be surprised if he makes it through the night, very very pleasantly surprised, of course.
Thanks for all the help everyone. Ill post an update in the morning, hopefully it's a good one. fingers crossed.
