Replacing Filter Pads

[Kaidonni]

Today I did something that was long overdue - changing the main, long-term filter pads in my Fluval 2-Plus filter. One of the pads is still going quite well after 3 years since I last replaced it, but the other pad I have replaced in a bit of a mish-mash kind of way. I ended up with two halves on the one side, and neither of them have lasted very well (~1 year, getting quite thin and holey).
 
Today, I put in a new half of a pad and removed about half of one of those old halves - so basically I removed about a quarter of the two old halves that are falling apart and kept the remaining quarter and squished it together with the old half that I kept (I was worried about filter flow, but it's as strong as ever). I'm just too nervous to replace a whole half of a pad, and think this way is better because I lose as little filter bacteria as possible while waiting for the new filter media to be seeded. I could probably have kept the entirety of the half I cut up, but thought it best not to squish those two halves together too much (even now I'm still a little nervous in case I've created anaerobic pockets in the filter media in case that causes any issues). I did change the filter floss as well, but most times those pads only last a week and then start to fluff up when I try to clean them (and it probably wouldn't have had much in the way of filter bacteria on it to begin with).
 
Still, it had to be done...it might save me time when cleaning the tank, since I must normally spend 10-20 minutes positioning the two old halves so that they provide enough coverage (which they probably weren't, and I was never ever satisfied anyway, what with my obsessive nature).
 
Should everything be fine without me needing to take any further action, such as additional water changes? I perform a 50% each week on the same day as I clean the filter and mess with the plants - so that was this morning - and the next one is next Sunday. I have been learning to calm down and not to mess about too much with the tank, and to leave things be instead of obsessing and poking about, and my goal is to just leave the tank until next weekend now. With only three White Cloud Mountain Minnows and ~46-50 litres of water in the tank (and live plants), I don't expect (or hope for) there to be any complications or any need for me to do anything else before next weekend. I'm even keeping away from ammonia and nitrite tests since I spent plenty of time earlier in the year doing them almost every other day, worrying all the time about what might cause ammonia/nitrite spikes and jumping at any little thing.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

50% seems like over kill, at least in my opinion. I never do 50% or more water changes unless there's am emergency... Like when I got blood in my 5 gallon. Usually, every week I do about a 10-20% water change and maybe a 30% water change at the end of the month.
And I would say do parameter tests while changing filter media. That's probably the best time to check them. I've gotten the same way, not worrying too much about the parameter becuase every time I check them they're always good.
But what do you use to test the parameters? Test strips or master kits?

 

[Kaidonni]

Master kits.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

I know how time consuming that is, but I would strongly recommend keeping an eye on the parameters during this process.

 

[Kaidonni]

Sorry, mis-posted.

 

[Kaidonni]

50% seems like over kill, at least in my opinion. I never do 50% or more water changes unless there's am emergency... Like when I got blood in my 5 gallon. Usually, every week I do about a 10-20% water change and maybe a 30% water change at the end of the month.
And I would say do parameter tests while changing filter media. That's probably the best time to check them. I've gotten the same way, not worrying too much about the parameter becuase every time I check them they're always good.
But what do you use to test the parameters? Test strips or master kits?

 
 

I know how time consuming that is, but I would strongly recommend keeping an eye on the parameters during this process.

 
You have no idea how time consuming it is for me...I suffer from OCD. That is, unless you've read some of my previous threads on these forums, then you might have an idea. It certainly isn't that I've gotten a certain way not worrying about parameters - far from it.
 
I used to have a more unsuitable denizen in the tank, a Clown Loach. Late last year and earlier this year - prior to rehoming him - I was testing practically every other day. Now, at that point, I was registering an ever-so-slight nitrite reading with the Nutrafin liquid test (far below even 0.1ppm - talking very faint here). I knew the parameters, and that feeding coincided with a slight rise in the nitrite readings (again, very faint, just not as faint as other days), but I still kept redoing the tests. After he was rehomed, and with just five Minnows, I kept testing practically every other day, even when things were fine. I'd jump at any little thing. It was only a stomach bug in March that slowed me down and made me take stock of my OCD, because I was once again testing - and it was while I was starting to feel quite ill; it quite literally put me off doing water tests. I have tested since then, but only once every month or every other month. I lost a couple of Minnows in June, but not due to water quality issues. Since then everything has been fine, and any health issues are decidedly not as a result of water quality.
 
As for ammonia tests, for some reason - now and in the past when that Clown Loach was present - the Nutrafin ammonia liquid test always gives an ever-so-slight reading, so I always run the API ammonia liquid test as back-up whenever I do any tests. The API test reassures me. I use Prime during water changes, so it might impair Nutrafin ammonia tests in the long term (or it might even be ammonium - I've been told in past threads on this forum that the bacteria that metabolises ammonium isn't often found in fish tanks, so possibly any ammonia that is turned to ammonium when the Prime is added isn't being used and only partially removed by water changes, and is appearing on the water tests).
 
The tests themselves can be excrutiating if I think I've done them remotely wrong, such as tilting the droppers incorrectly, or not fully remembering how many drops I've added (even if I count them in my head or aloud), or if a drop goes on the inside of the test tube and not directly into the sample. That's every single time, and I either have to risk intense anxiety and accusations from my brain that I'm neglecting the fish, or I have to redo those particular tests... It isn't every single test, it usually ends up just one of them, but I might end up redoing it two or three times. Then there's looking at the test charts again and again to make sure I've read them correctly.
 
I need to be very careful - I need to avoid guilt tripping myself and over-checking - I can see myself checking every single night just because of my OCD. I'll also be quite tempted to test again and again over the next couple of weeks 'just in case' - not very good at all when dealing with OCD. At some point, I have to take a risk, or I'll forever be giving in to my anxieties (because my brain doesn't know the difference between a legitimate threat and a perceived threat, I need to take charge). It'd be best to either do it in the middle of the week (I should have Thursday morning off), or on the weekend - basically, at very specific points, and not any earlier than those set points in time (to control my anxieties). Fortunately, I've changed only about 16-17% of the filter media, perhaps a little above, what with all those halves (the side I am changing is basically a pad cut into two). In fact, given the state of those two halves, I'd say I probably haven't replaced even 16-17%; I kept about a third of the half that I removed, and squished it against the other half. The single pad remains on the other side of the filter, with the mechanical filter floss in the middle, and untouched, and it's lasted far better than the two halves - and given it's much better state, I'd say it might have more filter bacteria than the two halves combined.
 
I'm also very strict with testing, and only test under daylight as a rule - not artificial lighting. I've had enough trouble interpreting under day light yet alone artificial light, especially with the API ammonia test. A day job somewhat makes this hard in the week in winter, as does the weather.

 

[DrRob]

50% water changes are fairly common in planted set ups, so don't worry too much about them being too big.
 
I can, as can many, sympathise with how annoying test kits are. The reality is that they're a guide, albeit a useful one. Properly accurate kits would, for several tests, cost a fortune, and would be far out of the reach of the average fishkeeper, however the health of the fish you have in your tank is a much better guide once you get used to seeing them acting normally. I tend to not do much testing, but it's worth it every so often if you've changed something important. Once you're a couple of days in you'll be fine without need to retest if you've seen no rises.1
 
With regards to the pads, did you change the floss type pad or the sponge? The reason I ask is that the floss types tend to fall apart more with time, are pretty useless for holding much by way of good bacteria, and block up a lot if you don't change them. If that's what you changed then you have little to worry about, it's the sponges that you need to keep safe.

 

[Kaidonni]

It was the sponge, and if you read my somewhat convoluted description of my set-up, not even 25%. I do replace the floss every week.