Did I Clean My Filter Too Much?

[Squid]

@Squid
thanks, and i agree with most of what you said, however i don't think i need to change my filter (Fluval 3plus). the fact that the sponge is full of crap is in my opinion a good thing, it just means the filter is doing it's job, wouldn't you say.

Absolutely. As long as you are happy with the maintenance and we get to the bottom of what happenned here, then if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

now, you mentioned the DECHLORINATOR and i think you may have something there.
i actually DID do a massive water change, bigger than ever before, as i was gone for 2 weeks. and the thing about the dechlorinator is, that i'm supoosed to be using 10ml per 40 liters. my bucket is 10 liters, so i should be using 2.5ml per bucket, however 2.5ml is such a tiny amount that i almost always put in an amount closer to like 4-5ml. it never caused any problems, but then again, i never did such a big WC. i actually tried to find something on the potential toxicity of these dechlorinators, but couldn't find anything.

I will see if I can find where I read it. i think it was just a post in here, but the search is not the greatest for finding stuff here. ;-)

I have ready other things to say that water changes with dechlorination can result in ammonia.. ooer, so larger changes can result in even more. But.. i can't ruddy find that one either.


In general though i don't know why people get too het up about arguing about the hows and whys of maintenance, views on filtering volumes per hour, maintencance shedules etc. etc etc. The main thing with fish keeping is happy fish, solid good stats, no fish illness and a nice clean tank with clear water. If you are achieving these without causing yourself problems then surely it's job done!

most of us can tell if their filter is working to it's best or not, and are able to look at sponges and media to see if filtering is being hindered, or if the flow is reduced. each to their own I say, it's the results that count.!!

Squid

 

[erk628]

Question having to do with this thread! Does the bacteria in a filter only produce enoughn bacteria to handle the amount of waste handed to it or does it just keep multipling? I would think it only produces enough and that's why we have to stock slow or there will be a spike.

 

[erk628]

While walking up to the door at work and thinking about the question I just asked I realized how dumb of a question it was. Obviously your filters bacteria is only going to multiple enough to handle the load because any more would die from lack of food. Therefore I think over cleaning could be dangerous because loosing to much bacteria could cause a spike. I'm not saying you can't clean your filters every week I'm just saying watch how much scrubing you do. I would think however that th majority of the bacteria would try to embed itself as deep in the filter pads or media as it could so it wouldn't risk getting swept around by the water flow. Sorry for the dumb question its still early and I'm not fully awake yet.

 

[bitteraspects]

bacteria colonies only grow large enough to handle the bio-load of the tank. (much like what you thought in the second post). also, it is capable of doubling every 24hrs (i still have to find that article i was given on this). so even in the HIGHLY unlikely scenario that you lost 50% of your bacteria in the mechanical transfer of cleaning media, it would right itself in 24hours.

 

[erk628]

bacteria colonies only grow large enough to handle the bio-load of the tank. (much like what you thought in the second post). also, it is capable of doubling every 24hrs (i still have to find that article i was given on this). so even in the HIGHLY unlikely scenario that you lost 50% of your bacteria in the mechanical transfer of cleaning media, it would right itself in 24hours.

Thanks for that info I didn't know about the whole doubling in 24 hours thing. If you find that article could you post it here or pm it to me I'd be interested in reading it. Thanks!