Inherited A 5 Gallon Tank

[OldMan47]

When you do your next water change, take the filter cartridge right out of the filter, it will work fine without it for a few minutes. Pull up on the green clip that is across the top of your filter cartridge and you will be able to remove the plastic frame from that bag and dump the contents. Once the bag is empty, rinse it out in the used tank water and slip it back over the plastic frame. Put the green clip back on and insert the filter cartridge back into the filter housing. You will now have a rinsed out filter cartridge with a fresh lease on life. If the bag starts to fall apart, get a new filter bag like the ones shown in your picture of a cartridge kit. Stuff the old cartridge bag into the new one and let the bacteria transfer over the next month or two. After that you can remove the old bag that you stuffed inside the new filter bag. It works to keep one of those "miracles of modern filtration" working. The scrap of carbon that they recommend you put inside the bag is not worth having, even if you do need carbon for some reason.
As AFishDude has been trying to tell you, there is a very thin, maybe 1/8 inch thick, black sponge between the filter cartridge and where the water returns to the tank. That is Whisper's feeble excuse for a biofilter. It is probably better than nothing but not by much.

 

[M.G.]

Thanks OM47 and all that contributed advice, it really helped me along.

Have done all the work I can on this little tank. New substrate is in and all tests are good. Well, pH remains a battle and I assume that is due to the cycle. I am having to do daily water changes to keep the pH within an acceptable range for the Goldfish. This week or weekend they are going out to pond with a whole bunch of other Goldfish. The pond is well stocked and well cared for. Lots of vegetation to hide under. I think they will be very pleased.

My daughter wanted a black and white aquarium, so this is what she picked out. I think the Neon will like it, with a better plant arrangement.

Going to let this thread die a peaceful death now. More on the tank when the new victims arrive.

 

[afishdude]

I think that's the tetra 10i.

There should be a black sponge inside a black plastic holder. That is the media. You never want to change that.

There is also the white filter cartridge, you was and replace as needed. Tetra whisper medium is the cartridge you need for replacement.

I believe you are correct on the type of filter. But the type of media I received from the previous owner does not match your description. Here are a couple of picture to clarify.

The media is a gauze like bag containing a plastic frame that is segmented to divide carbon material into like six areas. The carbon material is loose in the bag and any attempt to transfer the old gauze like material to cover the new carbon media would prove a mess, and by association, huge wife agro! (She allows me to live in her tank most of the time, LOL)

Anyway, I had my water tested at a local fish shop after having done several partial water changes. It had been 4 days since the last change. NO3 was 20ppm. The fish shop said I should get the fish out of there, but also said that I was doing a good job on controlling waste apparently. So, I did as suggested and with today's water change took the old filter media out and gave it a vigorous shake in the outgoing tank water. An amazing amount of material came off it. I put it back in and will see how that goes. I am not sure on how to make the decision on when the old media must be replaced.

OMG, I was sooooo close to just buying a nice shiny all included 20 gallon kit when I was at the store.

Thanks for the responses. I hope other newcomers can learn from the thread. I know I have from pouring over other old and new threads....

That is the filter cartridge. There should have been a black sponge in there also, if not you can buy them from your local fish shop.