Bacteria

dusty2 · May 22, 2009

Hi all, I'm a bit confused with this cycling of the tank. If you cycle your tank to build up the bacteria in your tank, and most of the bacteria is in the filter system, then why when you clean your filter medium during a water change does it not upset theset up of your tank. I think i'm missing something here.

Any advice welcome.

tom_os · May 22, 2009

you dont actually wash the bacteria away its still there, you just wash awway the dirt that builds up on it

OldMan47 · May 22, 2009

Welcome to the forum Dusty.
The bacteria that you are building up live as a coating on the filter, gravel, tank glass, decor and lots of other things. The film that they end up forming sticks to things fairly well. That means that unless you get very aggressive in cleaning the filter media, you will still have most of the bacteria after you rinse out the media with tank water. People that use brushes or use chlorinated tap water can indeed disturb the bacterial colony and take a step backward in establishing an effective biological filter. It is a good question to ask and you are thinking about it correctly. The only thing that makes the cleaning OK is that we do not scrub media, we just rinse it in used tank water. You really only clean your filter media when it starts to become plugged up, not based on some time schedule. This is true during any cycle and for me it is also true on an established tank.

dusty2 · May 22, 2009

tom_os said:
you dont actually wash the bacteria away its still there, you just wash awway the dirt that builds up on it

Thanks Tom and Old Man 47 that reasures me. I did wash out my fiter in old tank water.
Thanks for quick response.

arobinson1984 · May 22, 2009

Yes good advice there!

There isn't really a time scale on when to clean ur filter cos it will vary depending on filter type, tank size, stocking levels and the amount of waste produced. I clean mine once month.

Always use old tank water and just clean off the excess gunk, you can give the pads a gentle squeeze but try not to squeeze everything out of the sponges.

You only need to replace the sponges when they are physically falling apart, except for if you have White floss in ur filter then u should replace that every 2-3 weeks or clean it if u can.

Andy