Have I Killed My Filters Bacteria?

[LilyRose Tank]

Can you tell me whether I have killed my filter? take a look at my thread of the tank.....how long will I have t wait before it SHOULD start doing its thing again?

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/316743-lily-roses-fish-less-cycle/

 

[aly_starh]

Most of it, not all though.
Id say around 25% bacteria is still on the filter media, as it wasnt just a light rinse.

 

[fishyfeet]

i would say prob half, i would do daily water changes and feed sparingly for a few days, do you have some test for ammonia, thats the main one to watch for. It should recover in a few days di

 

[fatheadminnow]

SO the ammonia spike happened after you did the re-design and filter cleaning? If you cleaned the tank properly, then you should not have many, if at all, bacteria loss.

They may just be in a dormant state, and will take a couple days for them to become active again.

-FHM

 

[LilyRose Tank]

i would say prob half, i would do daily water changes and feed sparingly for a few days, do you have some test for ammonia, thats the main one to watch for. It should recover in a few days di

Hi, sorry but maybe you didnt understand....I am still doing my "fishless cycle" no fish in there, so no
feeding required. I was in the part where ammonia was dropping from 2 - 0ppm in 12 hours and nitrites were starting
to drop. then ammonia stopped dropping, and i did a full clean on the tank, plz read last post regarding my cleaning technique. thanks

UPDATE still testing ammonia every 6 hours and its not moving

 

[LilyRose Tank]

SO the ammonia spike happened after you did the re-design and filter cleaning? If you cleaned the tank properly, then you should not have many, if at all, bacteria loss.


-FHM

thanks for that. I hope you are right...my kids have been waiting 28 days already, hope i dont have to start again. I think I did it all right
1...used water from aquarium to clean the filter, as well as dechlorinated tap water to keep the filter in whilst cleaning the tank
2...cleaned all the new gravel and plastic plants to wash away dust etc
3...rinsed the heater in aquarium water to get rid of algae
4...dechlorinated the tap water before adding it to the tank and made sure it waas hand temp matched.
5...added bicarb to slightly increase water pH and added ammonia to 2ppm to match that it was before draining tank

so what could I have done wrong? anyone?

 

[fishyfeet]

on re-reading your post i cant see youve lost any, have you done a test, what makes you think thats youve a problem then, di

 

[LilyRose Tank]

on re-reading your post i cant see youve lost any, have you done a test, what makes you think thats youve a problem then, di

My ammonia levels arn't moving. I expect to get 0 readings on nitrites and nitrates until some ammonia gets moving, it was moving within 12 hours so i should see a drop to 1ppm by now but its still at 2ppm....worried i overlooked something

 

[fishyfeet]

i think you are doing everything properly and its just patience, are the nitrites falling yet, and nitrates still rising, di

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Since I did the full clean, replaced plants/gravel etc, i have 0ppm reading on nitrites and nitrates as the ammoinia i put innstraight after the clean hasnt dropped at all

 

[fatheadminnow]

Don't worry, you have not lost any bacteria...here is what I think has happened.

First off...these Autotrophic bacteria are really sensitive to changes in pH. At 8.4 they thrive, above 9 they go dormant, and below 6.5 they also go dormant.

If you are having pH problems throughout the cycling process, which is not uncommon with fluctuating levels of ammonia and nitrate, and then you sorta got it stable for the cycle to proceed, via bicarb. But now you did a near 100% water change and re-added dechlor water and bicarb; what this did was most likely changed the pH a little too sudden for the bacteria and it "shocked" the bacteria and put them into a dormant state. I have had the same problems IME.

I would expect you to see process in a couple of days once the bacteria start to become active again.

Also, one should try to re frame from cleaning a filter until the cycling is 100% completed.

In my sig I made a video on how to properly clean a filter, check it out!

EDIT: The reason the pH fluctuates so much during a cycle is because of ammonia and nitrate; one is more acidic and one is more alkaline, what this means is that these two will pull the pH up and down all throughout the cycling process. And the softer the water you have, the more your pH is going to move around. When I had my tank at my dorm last semester, the pH out of the tap was around 7.5, but during cycling, one day it was up near 8.8, then the next it was down. It will do this until the cycle has finished.

Once your fishless cycle completes and you have fish and everything going, then this is when everything should stabilize.

-FHM

 

[cybergibbons]

After adding my (now on the whole dead) plants, I realised there would be a demand on the filter to remove plant matter. I didn't want to open the filter again, so I place the intake in a piece of a pair of tights. All the crud sticks to the outside so I can easily remove this periodically and clean it rather than open the filter.

 

[fatheadminnow]

All filters should be cleaned, no matter what. I usually clean mine once a month.

I also run a pre-filter on my filters as well; saves on the impeller.

-FHM

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Thanks guys, I hope my little guys and gals wake up soon, and get things moving again. I will continue to monitor 12 hourly thanks

 

[waterdrop]

Yup, totally normal for the bacteria to be shocked into no action if you clean the filter during a fishless cycle. It often takes two days for them to "wake up." FHM has given a good hypothesis of one of the possible causes. Your "clean" was a good deal more involved than we'd usually like to see but hopefully plenty of those tough guys are still stained in the middle of the sponges and will begin processing some ammonia before long. Good luck.

~~waterdrop~~