Changing Filters

[alexvpaq]

My girlfriend received a planted 10gal fishtank from a friend of her and she has a fluval 204 canister, The sponges are good, the white ceramic noodleish things are good too but there are two of the three filter emplacement full of charcoal. 
BUT, the bags that are usually holding these charcoal beads are totally melted and it's a real mess in there. I'm thinking about either changing them for more of the noodle-ish white thing that I know grabs a lot of the needed bacterias. And the other for another charcoal or a third Noodle-ish type filter I don't really know at this point.

So I'm here asking what would be the best way to deal with it. also I bet I can't just take out the charcoal bead like that and hope everything will stay cycled. So how should I replace them and still make sure everything is cycled and what would be the best setup?


Thanks a lot! 

 

[star4]

Carbon does not last very long, replace one basket of carbon for noodles, leave it a few days then replace the other, it doesnt take long the the bacteria to colonise new media, so long as you dont do more than 50% you should be fine.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If stuff was melted that usually means very hot for some reason. Temps over 104 F for any length of time will kill the nitrifying bacteria. Temps of 104 F wont melt things in a tank, it may kill fish and plants, but it wont melt equipment etc.
 
i would be worried about why stuff melted more than anything else here.

 

[alexvpaq]

When I say melted it's more like... it dissolved in the water over time. Currently temperature is around 72-75°F. We're also in the process of making it a lot cleaner, previous owner didn't seem to take much care of it since her boyfriend likely was the one who took care of it and they broke up a month or two ago. 

Thanks both of you

 

[TwoTankAmin]

OM- wanted to be sure. Glad to hear nothing "melted" as from heat.