Am I In The Brown Stuff?

[Marto666]

I cleaned out my filter yesterday for the first time washing the sponges etc in tank water.

I foolishly threw the polywool away and replaced it with new stuff not realizing that the bacteria resides there.

The sponges were still fairly dirty - could there bacteria still recolonize the polywool from here?

Or could things rapidly deteriorate from here?

Thanks

 

[micko]

Not too sure as I've never used the poly wool. Hang in there and someone should be able to help.

 

[Marto666]

Thanks anyway micko.

I thought the bacteria lived in the sponges.

 

[simonas]

after 20 yrs of keeping fish I;ve never learnt about the scientific stuff

I think the bacteria lives in any media in the filter so the fact you have replaced the wool shouldn;t make too much difference it will spread to the new wool. I think problems only occur if you clean everything or clean it all under tap water killing the bacteria.

If your worried just feed les next few days etc

 

[mattbleasby]

after 20 yrs of keeping fish I;ve never learnt about the scientific stuff

I think the bacteria lives in any media in the filter so the fact you have replaced the wool shouldn;t make too much difference it will spread to the new wool. I think problems only occur if you clean everything or clean it all under tap water killing the bacteria.

If your worried just feed les next few days etc

+1

 

[Monty-2010]

You should be ok replacing the filter wool, it's main purpose is to trap tiny particles that the other media miss, the sponges should still have plenty of bacteria to keep the filter running well

 

[Marto666]

Thanks guys, I wont panic just yet then but I will certainly be more careful when cleaning the filter in the future!

Cheers