Filter Media

[inveritas]

Hello,

I'm a newbie at fish rearing, and got my first tank set up with one of these waterfall filters:

I was told by the store owner that I'd have to clean the 2 sponges inside once a week, and have them replaced twice a year. But online searches tell me that these sponges serve as a place for bacteria to live and break down ammonia and nitrite - so how often should I wash / change these sponges, or should I not touch them at all?

At the same time - is there a better filter media for this type of filter/pump other than sponges?

Thanks!

 

[Mikey1]

how often you wash them depends on many different factors, but once a week is a good general guidline,

remove some of the water from the tank into a bucket, put the filter foam in the bucket and gently squeeze all the dirt out, then return it to the filter, do not rinse under tap water

again, how often they are changed depends on many different factors, twice a year is a good genral guideline,

one thing that is VERY IMPORTANT is that you NEVER change them both at the same time, doing this will remove all the bacteria, so you change them alternately,

sponges are fine, they are all you need, you do not need carbon/charcoal although many people will suggest it, its not nessessary

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Hi.

What Mikey said is accurate. I just wanted to stress the need to do as he says regarding the procedure for "cleaning" the filter media. The key is that it is more a rinse to get the gunk off to keep the flow going, rather than really trying to "clean" it. Using chlorinated water (like from your tap) will kill off your biological filtration. (I'm not sure how familiar you are with the nitrogen cycle in the fish tank - so briefly... Fish produce ammonia that they release into the water, primarily through their gills - this is toxic to the fish. Bacteria in the filter can convert the ammonia to nitrite - which is ALSO toxic. Then another batch of bacteria in the filter will convert the nitrite to nitrates, which are far less toxic and can only be removed by regular water changes - although plants can reduce it a little.) These bacteria take time to establish in a new tank, and many here recommend a fishless cycle to build the colony before fish are ever introduced to the tank.

As far as how often to change the sponges, there are different schools of thought on that. Personally, I change my filter media only when it ABSOLUTELY has to be changed. Then, I cut up the old when adding the new to seed the new media with the old bacteria colonies. In general, it is recommended to never change more than 50% of your media at once. My filter has two biowheels, two floss cartridges, and I added extra ceramics into the filter as well in the extra space that came with my filter. The biowheels and ceramics never need to be replaced, just rinsed in old tank water. The cartridges I haven't changed in the last 12 months. If I were you, and I were going to replace the sponges, I'd only change out one at a time, every 6 months. In general, the filter companies want you to buy filter media far more often than you really need. They are in the business of making money. Personally, I'm not interested in spending money unnecessarily. A nice swish in old tank water every week or two and my media is ready to go again.

 

[inveritas]

Thanks for the replies!

Anyway some back story on the question: I made a stupid mistake of putting way too much food in my tank a couple of days ago, and in a fluster did a 100% water change to get rid of the exccess food, filter media cleaning and am now worried about my fish, although it's been two days and they seem fine. I'm trying test the water but it doesn't help that my conditioner's the same color as the nitrite test and is screwing up the results, so I don't really know which part of the cycle I'm at.

As a side question, to speed up the cycle, I'm thinking of doing a 25% water change with Seachem PRIME which supposedly helps control ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels (compared to the brandless conditioner I'm using now that only kills chlorine/chloramines) - would it be safe to mix the water conditioners, assuming the dosages are accurate and adjusted for?