Filter Media Issues?

[scrage]

Hey, I've had a fish in a bowl for a year or so. Male betta, hardy little bastard.

About a month ago I set up at 25gal tank and he's been doing pretty good with the cycle. I'm to the point where I'm waiting for the bacteria that breaks down nitrites to do its job, but its taking a bit longer than the ammonia drop did. I've been keeping a close eye on the cycle, 25% water change every 2-3 days since the nitrites are spiking pretty fast. Have a bubbler thing in there (Read online that helps?) and no plants yet. I'm pretty patient at this point but I'm having some issues with my filter media.

 It's my first tank that I'm doing on my own and I'm pretty sure you are not supposed to change the media during the cycle at all, and I haven't, but I think it is clogging. I've tried to get it to work for about 3 days now. I keep rinsing it in old tank water, but the water is still not moving freely through it and overflowing along the sides of the... pipe(spout?) back into the tank. I'm not quite sure what to do at this point so I'm hoping some people with more experience could give me some advice, or tell me how they would handle it?

 

[bigcheed]

what type of filter is it. if its an internal filter ie inside the tank itself then it should be fully submerged in the water. well most of them work that way. a picture would help if you could upload one. welcome to the forum by the way. there are some very knowledgable folks here im sure we can get to the bottom of the problem.

 

[scrage]

No it sides outside the tank, sucks the water in, through the filter, then out. Sorry, new to this fish thing and I'm not quite sure what it is called. I currently don't have a picture but It's a Penguin 125 biowheel filter, its missing the wheel right now and I'm in the process of buying one (in other words, once i get paid). I noticed the overflow about 4 days ago, and it was running fine about till then. Hope the name of the filter can help a bit.

And thanks, I hope to make it a habit of askiing for help HERE instead of searching all over the internet.

 

[bigcheed]

ok sounds like you have a hang on the back filter or HOB for short. im sorry to say that they arnt something that im familiar with, but if you hang in there im sure someone will be able to help out. good luck. is that your betta in your profile pic. he looks cool. lovely colour. i have a betta named vader. hes a real grump. hes blue and crimson.

 

[scrage]

Yes, thats my Hannibal, he's a pretty curious little fella and always perked up. Can I see a picture of your betta? He sounds lovely. And thanks for trying to help.

 

[NeonBlueLeon]

The second colony of bacteria (that does NO2- -> NO3-) takes longer to develop than the nitrosomonas colony.  Getting technical here, but the energy yield of changing nitrites to nitrates is less than that of changing ammonia to nitrite.  That's why the second colony of bacteria takes longer to develop.
 
Nitrites bind to fish's blood where oxygen is supposed to go, so with enough nitrite in the water, a fish can become oxygen deprived.  Adding a little salt can counteract nitrite poisoning, but there is controversy with using salt for bettas.  I'll leave that to a betta expert to comment on that.
 
You can also use ammonia/nitrite/nitrate detoxifiers to keep the conditions safe for your betta.  But keep in mind, these detoxifiers may lengthen the time it will take to cycle your tank.

 

[scrage]

The second colony of bacteria (that does NO2- -> NO3-) takes longer to develop than the nitrosomonas colony.  Getting technical here, but the energy yield of changing nitrites to nitrates is less than that of changing ammonia to nitrite.  That's why the second colony of bacteria takes longer to develop.
 
Nitrites bind to fish's blood where oxygen is supposed to go, so with enough nitrite in the water, a fish can become oxygen deprived.  Adding a little salt can counteract nitrite poisoning, but there is controversy with using salt for bettas.  I'll leave that to a betta expert to comment on that.
 
You can also use ammonia/nitrite/nitrate detoxifiers to keep the conditions safe for your betta.  But keep in mind, these detoxifiers may lengthen the time it will take to cycle your tank.

Thanks for the advice, now I know why its taking so long. I'll just continue with water changes and let it run its course.

 

[scrage]

I popped a new filter pad in there, but i have the old one in there aswell just infront of the other, but slightly higher so the water can pass through the new one but the old one is still there. Will this work?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Nitrite is blocked by chloride which is about 2/3 of salt. The amount of chloride it takes is roughly 10 times the concentration of nitrite. The amount of salt involved is minimal and will not harm almost any fish exposed to that level for the amount of time involved. The only thing to watch out for is allowing nitrite to rise above 15 ppm on the API kit. Since that kits only goes up to 5 ppm you will have to do diluted testing to get accurate readings. At over 15 ppm the level is stalling the cyle and possibly killing off bacteria.

 

[scrage]

Thanks for the advice on nitrites, everyone. I was actually more-so concerned about my filter when I started the thread. Any one got anything to say about the overflow?