Starting Over?

[nike12301]

Hi everyone.

I'm tired of the look of one of my small tanks. All the gravel and stuff inside is just old and dirty looking. I've had it for about 5-6 years. I want to replace it all - basically empty the whole thing out, clean the tank, put in new gravel and aquascaping and then put the fish back in.

Is there any way to do this without causing a new cycle? My best idea is to leave the filter and filter cartridge soaked in water while I'm cleaning everything out and then put it right back in the "new" tank. Do you think this would work?

Also - similiar question - does replacing a filter cartridge cause a cycle? I know many people on here say they don't change their but just rinse it off so they don't lose the bacteria. Mine is getting very dirty and it looks like it's time to put a new one in there. Will this cause a cycle to start over?

THanks.

Any help would be great.

 

[KittyKat]

Yes, replacing the filter media will break the cycle.

The best way to prevent the bacteria from dying while you clean your tank is to put you fish into a bucket with any plants you may have and run the filter on that while you clean. You can also replace the fish and plants with ammonia or a source of ammonia while you clean if the cleaning is going to take over three hours.

Try cleaning it once every other day for a couple of weeks till you get most of the muck out of it? It is possible to replace parts of bacteria at a time in a filter which has a number of pads or sections.

 

[nike12301]

Yes, replacing the filter media will break the cycle.

The best way to prevent the bacteria from dying while you clean your tank is to put you fish into a bucket with any plants you may have and run the filter on that while you clean. You can also replace the fish and plants with ammonia or a source of ammonia while you clean if the cleaning is going to take over three hours.

Try cleaning it once every other day for a couple of weeks till you get most of the muck out of it? It is possible to replace parts of bacteria at a time in a filter which has a number of pads or sections.

So if I empty some water into a bucket and put the filter in there and let it run while I strip the tank and put new gravel and aquascaping in, would it be safe to put the fish and filter right back into the "new" tank? I would assume I wouldn't lose any bacteria from the filter this way.

 

[yasinullah]

the bacteria should survive for at least half day i would've thought as long as they're not left to dry out, so keeping it running in the bucket with old tank water with the fish should be fine. Because its important to have a waterflow running through the media.

As for replacing the media, its recommended you replace 1/3rd at a time, is it possible to cut your media into smaller pieces and replace it bit by bit?

 

[nike12301]

I don't think I can do that since I used filter cartridges. I don't know much about taking them apart and cutting, etc.

I can actually shove a new filter cartridge in behind the current one. If I did that and left the new one in for a couple weeks, do you think I could then remove the old one?

 

[KittyKat]

I can actually shove a new filter cartridge in behind the current one. If I did that and left the new one in for a couple weeks, do you think I could then remove the old one?

Recommended time to wait before removing the old one is 4 weeks if they are in direct contact and the water flows through the old sponge first and then the new one.

 

[OldMan47]

Your tank can be completely cleaned from top to bottom while the fish live in a filtered bucket for as long as it takes. Don't forget that the bucket needs to be big enough for the fish to live in. You will lose from 10 to 30% of the bacterial colony doing things this way because the bacteria do not all live in the filter. There are also bacteria living on the gravel, on the decor and even on the tank's glass. Since the bacteria recover quickly, you should not see any trouble from losing so much of the bacterial colony.
If you can safely place two filter cartridges into the flow path of the filter, place the new one last in the flow path so that the flow will tend to move any loose bacteria from the old filter to the new one. I would still wait at least 4 weeks before removing my old cartridge to leave the new one as the sole filter. If the new one does not do the trick, you are faced with a fish-in cycle to complete preparing the new cartridge to take over unless you have set the old filter aside and kept it moist and the water it is in is oxygenated.