Filter Sponge Question

[seanyt66]

Hello everyone and happy new year.

I was looking at my service kit cartridge for my biorb and i see that the sponge can be removed - after reading a number of other threads my question is, when i do need to change the cartridge (approx 4 weeks from now) should i take the sponge out of the existing cartridge give it a wash in old tank water and put it back into the new cartridge? it seems the wrong thing to do to throw it away!

i would appreciate your thoughts.

thanks

sean

 

[KimA]

Hi Sean,

Best thing to do is to cut both the old sponge and new sponge in half and place them back in together (after washing in old tank water) - can keep the old cartridge too, unless you particularly need to have the new cartridge for the carbon (but you can always just buy a small sachet of activated carbon for future use when needed).

Kim

 

[seanyt66]

Hi Kim

Thanks for the advice ill give it a try. Do you own a biorb yourself?

sean

 

[Miss Wiggle]

your filter sponge shouldn't need changing unless it's v old and falling apart.

the sponge is what houses the beneficial bacteria that keeps your tank alive and healthy, throw this away and your tank will go into turmoil. the manufacturers tell you this needs changing regularly cos it generates more money for them.

what you need to do is every couple of weeks give it a squeeze out in a bucket of water removed from your tank just to get rid of the worst of the gunk. only replace it if it's falling apart, i've got sponges 3/4 years old

 

[KimA]

Hi Kim

Thanks for the advice ill give it a try. Do you own a biorb yourself?

sean

Hi,

One of my first tanks was a Biube, I then moved on to a Biorb 60, then from that to a Juwel Vision 180L (I now have 2 of these, and a 25L Nano tank) - one of my friends now has the Biube, and someone else bought the Biorb when I upgraded yet again! Great tanks I think Have you got any tank pics? Would be nice to see them.

Take Miss Wiggle's advice about the filter sponge, but when you do need to change, I'd just replace half with a new sponge.

Kim

 

[seanyt66]

Thanks Miss Wiggle & Kim

Kim the reason i was asking if you had a biorb was because i was wondering how long it takes for the Nitrite levels to fall

Thanks

Sean

 

[KimA]

Thanks Miss Wiggle & Kim

Kim the reason i was asking if you had a biorb was because i was wondering how long it takes for the Nitrite levels to fall

Thanks

Sean

Hi Sean,

Ahhh - how long have you been cycling the tank for? As with any tank, keep up the regular water changes until both nitrites and ammonia are at 0.

Kim

 

[seanyt66]

ive been cycling since mid december and my nitrites are high! would you suggest a partial water change to lower them? i tested the other day with Tetratest 5 in 1 and the results were

PH - 6.8
KH - 0 - 3 d
GH - <3d
NO2 - 5
NO3 - 5 (ish)

The test results are not the easiest to read on this test kit.

Regards


Sean

 

[Miss Wiggle]

what sort of test kit is that... strips, liquid? some are very unreliable so it's important to get proper readings before you start taking any other action.

what water changes are you doing now, how much and how often?

 

[seanyt66]

Hi Kim

Its a strip test but ive done a liquid test aswell and the readings are high. i havent done a water change of any discription yet but i have got 20 litres treated and ready to go in. i get the feeling from your last reply that i should have been doing this already?!?

advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Sean

 

[Miss Wiggle]

have you got any fish in the tank if so then yup you should have been doing this already.

i would do a 50% water change immediately to get the water levels down.

then do small (10%) water changes every day until your ammonia and nitrite read 0

if your fishless cycling then no you don't need to do any changes until just before you add fish.

 

[seanyt66]

Ill do a water change as soon as i get home from work - yes i have got a couple of guppies in.

thanks for your advice

sean