End Of Cycle Water Change

[nitrochicken]

My fishless cycle has been complete for a few days now and I'm going to be getting fish tomorrow.
I know I need to do a 90% water change before getting fish but I'm worried about my newly established filter media.
When I drain the water the sponge will be above the water level. Is it ok to leave it out of the water or should I remove it and place it in a bowl of tank water while I do the water change?
I've only had an undergravel filter before so obviously didn't have this problem.

Thanks

Dale

 

[waterdrop]

Just don't go off to the movies in the middle of the water change

Seriously, it'll be fine. It'll stay wet enough until the new water level comes back up and the colonies can go fine for a few hours until the new fish pee enough to give them some ammonia. I've even had bacteria live 5 hours with no new water coming through their filter during the night part of a power outage and there was no mini-spike even from that.

And Hey explosiveChicken... CONGRATS!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[nitrochicken]

Thanks waterdrop, I did think it'd be ok but wasn't sure.
Plenty of ugly brown algae in my tank now after fishless cycle so hopefully my shrimps will get to work on that when I move some of them over tomorrow.
I already have 7(+2 baby) galaxy rasbora to put in and I'm hoping to get a few pigmy cories tomorrow.
Can you recommend any fish that will be active in mid/high water for me to get too? I know I'm pretty limited with 54L.

Thanks

Dale

 

[OldMan47]

When I clean my filter I leave some of the sponges and such out of water for at least 10 or 15 minutes while I clean other parts of the filter. It is impossible to do all parts at once. Even after letting them sit wet beside the sink while I mess with the impeller section, they are fine when everything goes back together and the filter gets a water refill from the tank. The ingredients for the bacteria are all present, they are getting oxygen from the air, they are wet, the cleaning I give always leaves a bit of muck behind which is bound to still be producing ammonia as food. The bacteria are quite happy to pick up looking after the tank right where they left off.