Some Advice Please

[stef_uk]

Hi All,
I'm a bit of a newbie to keeping fish so please be gentle with me!

I've just been given a new tank set up for my birthday.Its a Juwel Vision260 and a Tetratec 1200 filter and all the bits that go with it..air pump,plants,gravel,rocks...

I was told to look on here for advice about setting it all up and decided to go with the Fishless cycling method.

So, i added all the water and everything,used the stuff to get rid of the chlorine and added the ammonia.I also managed to get hold of a "dirty" sponge and white filter floss from a juwel filter that had only just come out of my friends tank and were still wet so i threw them in as well to try and help things along.

I thought i'd done everything properly,but then read that i should of taken the carbon out of my filter,but in the filter theres loads of black sponges that hold everything in and two bags of what i think is the carbon.

Do i need to take the filter apart and take out the carbon or will it be ok?

I'm not planning on putting anything in the tank until i come back off holiday and that will be 5 weeks,because i dont want to kill any fish by not being here to keep an eye on the tank.

Any help would be great,and please be gentle!

 

[my fat fish]

im not sure about the carbon part someone else can tell you about that.

but when your away for the 5 weeks you will need someone to keep addining the ammonia incase you tank is cycled because if you dont add ammonia the bacteria will die off and you will be back to square 1

 

[stef_uk]

im not sure about the carbon part someone else can tell you about that.

but when your away for the 5 weeks you will need someone to keep addining the ammonia incase you tank is cycled because if you dont add ammonia the bacteria will die off and you will be back to square 1

I never thought of that, I'd better call around and see if someone can babysit my tank!

 

[archamfr]

make sure u get sumeone that understands what ur doing, none of my friends who have tank get the "bacteria lark", they regularly clean there filter and media in water straight out the hose

 

[vinylman]

The two bags are indeed carbon. I'd take them out and replace each one with a new black biofilter sponge. You're starting with a hell of a good filter there. Don't replace the sponges every month as the manufacturer recommends, use them until they're almost falling apart and replace them basket by basket over several weeks, not all at once. The white filter in the top basket (if it's in the same order as the EX700) does get very ragged; I'd replace that every 4-6 weeks. Don't even think about cleaning the sponges for a couple of months (in old tank water, of course) or unless you see the return flow decreasing.

 

[stef_uk]

The two bags are indeed carbon. I'd take them out and replace each one with a new black biofilter sponge. You're starting with a hell of a good filter there. Don't replace the sponges every month as the manufacturer recommends, use them until they're almost falling apart and replace them basket by basket over several weeks, not all at once. The white filter in the top basket (if it's in the same order as the EX700) does get very ragged; I'd replace that every 4-6 weeks. Don't even think about cleaning the sponges for a couple of months (in old tank water, of course) or unless you see the return flow decreasing.

Thanks i will take them out tonight,should i save them to put back in once the tank has cycled as they've only been in 48 hours or should i throw them and buy new?

 

[vinylman]

I'd bin them and just buy one when/if you ever need to medicate the tank.

 

[Yazan]

but when your away for the 5 weeks you will need someone to keep addining the ammonia incase you tank is cycled because if you dont add ammonia the bacteria will die off and you will be back to square 1

Check this link about ''Fishless Cycle''.

 

[stef_uk]

im not sure about the carbon part someone else can tell you about that.

but when your away for the 5 weeks you will need someone to keep addining the ammonia incase you tank is cycled because if you dont add ammonia the bacteria will die off and you will be back to square 1

Just another thought about the ammonia.

If i cant get anyone to keep adding the ammonia and testing for me while im away, could i just put a large dose in that would last around a week and leave a measured dose in a test kit tube to be added a week later by someone?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

im not sure about the carbon part someone else can tell you about that.

but when your away for the 5 weeks you will need someone to keep addining the ammonia incase you tank is cycled because if you dont add ammonia the bacteria will die off and you will be back to square 1

Just another thought about the ammonia.

If i cant get anyone to keep adding the ammonia and testing for me while im away, could i just put a large dose in that would last around a week and leave a measured dose in a test kit tube to be added a week later by someone?

i'm not sure if that would work. you need to add enough ammonia to keep it at around 5ppm, however at different points in the cycle you'll need to add more/less ammonia for this depending on how fast it's being processed and there's no way to predict how much you'd need at different points in time. I've also heard that too much ammonia can hinder the development of the bacteria so adding weekly would maybe cause problems that way too.

i see 3 options for what you can do really

1 - leave the tank for now and start cycling it when you return from your holiday

2 - give the mature sponges back to whoever you got them from, ask them to leave them in they're tank and not clean them then add them back to your tank when you return and it should give you a good kick start for cycling

3 - if you can find someone with a disease free tank that you trust (and that can be a big if) then hook your filter up to they're tank with strict instructions not to clean it or anything, then when you come back 5 weeks later it'll be cycled and you can add fish straight away

 

[rdd1952]

If you're going to be gone for 5 weeks, I wouldn't even try to cycle the tanks yet. There are only 2 ways to do it that I'm aware of: with ammonia (you won't be there to add it) and with flakes. You could try one of the automatic feeders but I don't even know if that would hold enough for 5 weeks or not and even if it did, they usually malfunction. And as soon as the food source ran out, your bacteria would all die off anyway.

 

[stef_uk]

If you're going to be gone for 5 weeks,

Sorry no, I'm only away for 2 weeks and go in just under 3 weeks. Thats why i've started the cycle now. I'm just worried in case i get almost there with the cycle and then run out of time before i go.

 

[rdd1952]

If you don't get completely finished, you will probably need to find someone that can come over and add ammonia as needed. Even if the tank cycles and you add your fish, you will still need someone to feed them every 2 to 4 days.