How To Seed New Filter

[michaelh]

Hi guys. I just got a new fluval 305 to replace my internals.
Probpem is i cant put any of my old sponge with the fluvals sponge.
Would it be ok to just put a piece in 1 of the media baskets away from he fluvals foam so that water still passes it? Although it wouldnt fit snuggly would it still work or just cause a mini cycle? Any ideas on how to effectivly seed my new filter would be great. Thanks

 

[SteelerLuke]

Hi Michael,

I've been doing some research about the same thing myself just this week & maybe this video can help;

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E21dIdJLbs

You will notice that he takes little bits of residue from the filter & adds it to his uncycled tank, so to answer your question I would say yes

Despite me having Aquariums for over 10 years I'm still new to this type of thing so someone else may be able to aid you better, I just thought I'd try to help seeing as though you haven't got any responses thus far

Luke

 

[ShinySideUp]

Hi guys. I just got a new fluval 305 to replace my internals.
Probpem is i cant put any of my old sponge with the fluvals sponge.
Would it be ok to just put a piece in 1 of the media baskets away from he fluvals foam so that water still passes it? Although it wouldnt fit snuggly would it still work or just cause a mini cycle? Any ideas on how to effectivly seed my new filter would be great. Thanks

Putting old media in one of the baskets is very effective. I did exactly that with my own new Fluval 305. I took one of the foam filters from my Juwel 120 litre and chopped it up so it fit into one of the baskets in the 305 with as few gaps round the sides as possible. My 305 came with carbon bags but I discarded these immediately and used that basket for the old media (I no longer use carbon in any of my tanks).

 

[minnnt]

Hi guys. I just got a new fluval 305 to replace my internals.
Probpem is i cant put any of my old sponge with the fluvals sponge.
Would it be ok to just put a piece in 1 of the media baskets away from he fluvals foam so that water still passes it? Although it wouldnt fit snuggly would it still work or just cause a mini cycle? Any ideas on how to effectivly seed my new filter would be great. Thanks

Putting old media in one of the baskets is very effective. I did exactly that with my own new Fluval 305. I took one of the foam filters from my Juwel 120 litre and chopped it up so it fit into one of the baskets in the 305 with as few gaps round the sides as possible. My 305 came with carbon bags but I discarded these immediately and used that basket for the old media (I no longer use carbon in any of my tanks).

+1. Just cram it in where ever you can. Ideally, the lower the better, but it's not big deal if you can't. You can leave the media for ever if you like, it won't hurt the filter any.

 

[waterdrop]

Right, the principle is to try and put the mature media earlier in the water flow path than the new unpopulated biomedia, rather than later in the flow path.

It is true that doing something to get the mature right against the main biomedia (usually a sponge) is the very best. Sometimes people are scared to damage the nice new sponge that came with their new filter but in fact you can take it out, take scissors and get creative cutting some little plugs out of it on the side where the water will enter it. Then you cut matching plugs of mature media to stuff into these holes. By taking the time to "size" your holes and plugs such that things are firm but not crushed, you will allow better water flow to the biofilms of your existing bacterial colonies and fewer of them will die in the transition process.

But what I think most aquarists have found in practice is that often simply loading some mature media in to one of the trays -preceeding- the main sponge in the water path works out to be just as good in the long run. By far the most important thing is simply that one manages to get mature IN to the new filter rather than elsewhere.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[michaelh]

Thankyou all very much. I added 12 bio balls and 12 ceramic noodles in with the new ones and also added mature sponge into the last basket. Couldnt get it fit with the new and its going back into other filter soon. Altogether ive added about 10 cubic inches of sponge media. Based on that how long untill i can remove to media and leeve to fluval on its own?

 

[michaelh]

Hi Michael,

I've been doing some research about the same thing myself just this week & maybe this video can help;

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E21dIdJLbs

You will notice that he takes little bits of residue from the filter & adds it to his uncycled tank, so to answer your question I would say yes

Despite me having Aquariums for over 10 years I'm still new to this type of thing so someone else may be able to aid you better, I just thought I'd try to help seeing as though you haven't got any responses thus far

Luke

The link-Will definatly give that a go. Cant do any harm and i hadnt thougt of it lol. Thankyou.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I ripped my filter cartridge apart to fit in into my aquaclear filter, which uses sponges rather that cartridges. I ripped the media off and put it in a stocking, the into the filter. Worked great