Fishless Cycle With Biorb 60l

[busterbrit]

I'm starting a fishless cycle with a biorb 60L. In one of the articles on this site (which was very helpful) it mentioned to not change out the filter after doing the cycle since it has the beneficial bacteria.

So on the biorb how long do I wait to change the filter after doing the cycle and adding fish? Or does that not really matter since all the beneficial bacteria is in the tank and rock media at the bottom.

Biorb says to change the filter every 4 weeks but they also recommend adding 1 fish a week instead of the fishless cycle.

Thanks.

 

[Curiosity101]

I don't change ANY filter media unless it's basically falling apart.

 

[busterbrit]

I don't change ANY filter media unless it's basically falling apart.

will this work on the biorb filter as well? It's designed different than most filters.

 

[Curiosity101]

Well bacteria grows on the filter. Until the filter pad/floss stops filtering the big particles from the tank aswell or slows on the filter flow then I would just keep it.
I presume it works the same for the biorb.

 

[busterbrit]

Well bacteria grows on the filter. Until the filter pad/floss stops filtering the big particles from the tank aswell or slows on the filter flow then I would just keep it.
I presume it works the same for the biorb.

ok. Thanks for the help.

 

[OldMan47]

What is done by most of us is to use old tank water, during a water change, to rinse out the old filter media and put it back into the filter until it starts falling apart. Replacing filter media is for profits, not for the fish.

 

[busterbrit]

What is done by most of us is to use old tank water, during a water change, to rinse out the old filter media and put it back into the filter until it starts falling apart. Replacing filter media is for profits, not for the fish.

should I change out the charcoal and the white stuff (what is the white stuff)?

 

[waterdrop]

Charcoal is not needed normally. The space it takes up should be used for a more efficient biomedia material like sponge, ceramic gravel or the like.

Try describing "the white stuff" in more detail to the members here. Its good that you mentioned it as it might be Zeolite (a chemical ammonia remover) in which case it would be important to remove it! If its white sponge though, it could be a good biomedia, or if its white polyfloss or other floss pad type material then its function will just be for what we call "fine mechanical filtration" or "water polishing," in which case its one of the few things we do in fact replace more often (although even in these cases, we can often squeeze it and get a few times of re-use prior to replacing it.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[busterbrit]

Charcoal is not needed normally. The space it takes up should be used for a more efficient biomedia material like sponge, ceramic gravel or the like.

Try describing "the white stuff" in more detail to the members here. Its good that you mentioned it as it might be Zeolite (a chemical ammonia remover) in which case it would be important to remove it! If its white sponge though, it could be a good biomedia, or if its white polyfloss or other floss pad type material then its function will just be for what we call "fine mechanical filtration" or "water polishing," in which case its one of the few things we do in fact replace more often (although even in these cases, we can often squeeze it and get a few times of re-use prior to replacing it.)

~~waterdrop~~

OK. I did some research and found out what is in the biorb filter. It has Carbon and zeolite. So I'm guessing the zeolite is not good to have when doing a fishless cycle mentioned on this site...correct?

Should I also take out the carbon?

What should I put in place of these items during the fishless cycle and after when I add the fish?

Do I never want the zeolite in there even when I have a mature tank with fish?

Thanks for your help.


Below is what someone said to do:

Despite what the Biorb instructions tell you, when you clean your filter (once a month) you SHOULD NOT remove and throw away the entire filter cartridge as doing so will remove all of the good bacteria built up in the cycle you did. Instead, the first time you do this, tip out and throw away the black granules (carbon) and white granules (zeolite). You will not need these again unless you need to add some carbon granules in the future to remove medication. Rinse the cartridge and sponge in a bucket containing old tank water so you don’t kill off any bacteria living there, then replace. Do this every month until the sponge is in danger of falling apart, then replace half one month, half the next.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, it is my opinion that you should remove the carbon and zeolite and not use them again (we can get around to explaining the reasons later.) I am not a person that has ever seen a Biorb, much less used one and I worry that perhaps the filters are "tricky" in some way, causing my advice to miss some important aspect... However, the top contenders for best biomedia (biomedia = media (material) that is optimized for the biological filtration aspect of a filter, the function where microscopic surface area is maximized and the choice of the material makeup is such that the autotrophic species we're after are encouraged to colonize to the greatest extent) currently are sponges, ceramics (rings and gravels), and various high surface area plastic structures such as pot scrubbers and "bioballs." In a smaller filter is may be better to attempt to choose a smaller "grain size" in the media. For instance, only a very few large ceramic rings might fit in a small filter, allowing the water to many easy ways to get by without being filtered, whereas a bed of smaller ceramic gravel material would better expose the water to a greater surface area. Too small though and you will be having to unclog it too often. You'd like to only have to rinse your filter media once every two weeks or once a month at the soonest. Filter media is of course always rinsed in tank water. The chlorine/chloramine in tap water could potentially kill some percentage of your hard-won beneficial bacteria.

So all this is to say that if some biorb filter experts don't happen along with media advice, you may have to be creative in figuring out what materials you can buy at the LFS (sponges, ceramic gravel, seachem matrix) or at the grocery ("Tuffy" plastic pot scrubbers, making sure there is no added soap or chemical) that will fit your biorb filter and replace the zeo/carb but still meet the filter design and not clog the flow rate too much etc. Writing about it makes it sound much harder that it would probably actually be!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Wordy]

I've had expirience with Biorbs(had a 15 ltr one) and would like to offer a bit of advise if I may.

Scrap all the filtration that comes with it, place a couple of none return valves on the plastic pipe that goes to the pump and get a normal filter for it and use a sand substrate.

The problem I had was that when I came to do a water change the fish would panic and dive to the bottom of the, get stuck under the ceramic media and injure themselves and or die.

 

[waterdrop]

That sounds rough Wordy! It occurs to me that perhaps one could use a large net to corral the occupants and then transfer them into a breeding net you kept for water change times. But really, I think you are not the only Biorb owner I've heard say that they simply changed out the filter. What filter did you get? I wonder if an AC mini would fit?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Wordy]

I didn't do anything with the BiOrb, I scrapped it and got a traditional shaped tank. I got the idea form Jennybugs and if I wanted to ressurect the BiOrb I'd do that.

 

[busterbrit]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

The bottom material of the tank is all ceramic media which is different than most tanks. The water passes through the bottom layer of ceramic media then goes through a filter. In this filter it passes the first compartment which is a mix of carbon and zeolite then the next compartment is a sponge.

My question is should I keep using a mix of carbon and zeolite or is there something better I should use? It seems like a waste to have nothing in this compartment.

 

[alchemist]

I am not sure of the exact design of the filter pack in the biorb - but I would also recommend that you replace the carbon / zeolite mix with more traditional media - would the sponge from the last layer go in that compartment? You could then have another sponge or some floss for your last stage.

Leave the ceramic media alone - this is where your bacteria are going to grow.