cycling

[asparagus]

Hi,
I got a grungy old sponge from my friends tank- it was too big so I cut it in half to fit into my filter. I dont want to "waste" the bacteria from the other half, so should I put the other half just into the water? Can I freeze it or save it somehow?
Thanks!
Asparagus

 

[maestro]

Personally i wouldnt worry about it, youve got as much as you can fit in the filter, you cant do anymore

You could i suppose put it in the aquarium water but it depends how dirty it is

Personally id just clean it up and use it as a spare

 

[sylvia]

I agree. Hopefuly you haven't starved the bacteria by leaving them out of a tank with fish for too long or dried them up by not keeping them in water? If you have, I would put all the sponge in as soon as possible to get as much of the surviving bacteria as possible... you can remove the extra half later.

 

[asparagus]

The sponge was kept wet in some of the original tank water in a baggie, at room temp for about 6 hours. Will that kill the bacteria? Im afraid I might have just mooted the whole thing however, by rushing ahead and putting way way too much ammonia in my tank. Its off the charts after like 30 seconds, even tho the box says to wait 5 min.
Any way to fix this?

 

[sylvia]

Water changes. Just until it's down to about 5 ppm

 

[asparagus]

I emptied the whole darn thing (29 gallons, 35 lbs of gravel, numerous silk plants, a fake rock and a fake reef). Rinsed it all in warm tap water, threw out the old sponge half number one, rinsed charcoal filter w/ warm tap water, put in old grungy sponge half number 2 and filled it back up again. Phew- Im soaking wet and fully clothed but it only took me about an hour. Now Ill wait till tomorrow to see if there's any ammonia left and add it in BY THE DROP, not by the CUP tomorrow to get it to 5ppm. I read it should only go up to 3ppm. Which is the best?