Been At This For A Year Now.

[OldMan47]

I never trust it to be enough. I have a couple of the whisper filters that still have the original nasty cartridge in them after several years. The carbon in the whole cartridge is probably less than an ounce so it is a carbon filter in name only. I got a refillable cartridge for one of them so I run it empty of any carbon media. The bioload in that tank is always low so I don't fret not having more media in the filter.

 

[AlphaFish1000]

BTW, If I do go with platy's again, (I really liked them) how many should I put in. It's a 5.5 gallon tank with a filter designed for up to 10 gallons. I had three, as previously mentioned, starting off the first cycle of fish for the tank.

Should I feel rushed in restocking the tank, and doing a test kit, since Im really, really busy this week...?

 

[waterdrop]

lol, I've lost track of the plan here. Is this a mature filter sitting around with no ammonia source? Have you got ammonia to feed the bacteria or did I mistake that the last fish died?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[AlphaFish1000]

no, Ive got ammonia, house stuff, a bit in the water

 

[waterdrop]

oh, you should be fine then, "vamping" for a week, I'd think.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

3 platies is an awful lot of fish for a 5 gallon tank. Platies need room to swim even though the inch per gallon rule might say that 3 is OK. You might want to consider something smaller or something slower swimming like Heterandria formosa or endlers or even a betta. An option that seems to be popular right now is the various varieties of freshwater shrimp in small tanks.

 

[AlphaFish1000]

Update, bought 6 white cloud tetras from a private pet store for all under 10$. A little crowded but it follows the rule and the 6th was free. They seem happy, Im feeding them staple food ground up.

Only problem, one seems to be fat and eats a lot, another one stays away from the school. But other than that, there colours are nice and strong.

If I should post a pic, let me know.

BTW, how much should I be feeding these guys?