Since I had no luck with a fishless cycle, I decided to buy a biologically active sponge filter from angels plus. How long should I leave the sponge filter in the tank? It is huge and my tank is only 5 gallons so I don't want to leave it in there indefinitely. Also, does the filter have to have air going to it in order for it to work? It has been running with an air pump for a couple of weeks but it's so loud.
And in the meantime, I have a fluval spec V that has a built in filter with two compartments. It originally had carbon in one compartment and bio tubes in the other. I removed the carbon and ordered more bio tubes to put in. I don't have the 2nd bag of bio tubes yet but hopefully having two in there will keep things going nicely. If we happen to go on vacation this summer I'll have to transfer the fish (one betta) into a 2.5 gallon mini tank to take to the vet for boarding so I'll put one of the bags of bio tubes in the mini tank's filter. Does this sound like it would work?
And in the meantime, I have a fluval spec V that has a built in filter with two compartments. It originally had carbon in one compartment and bio tubes in the other. I removed the carbon and ordered more bio tubes to put in. I don't have the 2nd bag of bio tubes yet but hopefully having two in there will keep things going nicely. If we happen to go on vacation this summer I'll have to transfer the fish (one betta) into a 2.5 gallon mini tank to take to the vet for boarding so I'll put one of the bags of bio tubes in the mini tank's filter. Does this sound like it would work?
