Taking Out Nitrate And Carbon Sponge

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

a little while ago i took out my carbon sponge and since then ive not been able to get my ammonia back to 0 for any length of time could this be because i removed the carbon?

im going to replace it with a blue sponge should it the fine or course one?

ive left the nitrate one in too should i remove this and replace with a fine or cousre blue?

cheers

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

ive just bought a Juwel Cirax Compact media off ebay looks like a good way to go

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

would it be better to put the cirax at the top near the powerhead or the bottom?

 

[MHunt]

Ammonia in a tank suggests an uncycled filter or overstocking. Perhaps the nitrate sponge was absorbing some ammonia too keeping the filter from adapting to the full bio load. Extra bio media would help so the citrax may do the job. How long has your tank been running for?

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

Ammonia in a tank suggests an uncycled filter or overstocking. Perhaps the nitrate sponge was absorbing some ammonia too keeping the filter from adapting to the full bio load. Extra bio media would help so the citrax may do the job. How long has your tank been running for?

a month

where would be the best place for the citrax?

also im going to remove the nitrate sponge and replace with a blue course sponge for even grater surface area

 

[MHunt]

How did you cycle the tank? a month isn't a huga amount of time, what's in the tank, just what's in your sig?

I would place the citrax after the course media, but before the fine. I guess that's in the middle of the filter but I don't know the jewel filters myself.

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

How did you cycle the tank? a month isn't a huga amount of time, what's in the tank, just what's in your sig?

I would place the citrax after the course media, but before the fine. I guess that's in the middle of the filter but I don't know the jewel filters myself.

yeah i was cycling with 3 danios and a cory then i thought it was cycled and i added the gourmai and had a huge ammonia spike

the thing is the spike happened when i took the carbon out, added the gourmai, added live plants and co2 so there is so many factors to take into account as to why i suddenly got the spike

this is why im adding the citrax to give me a bigger surfice area to get the bacteria up enough to deal with the ammonia

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, I had not realized the spike that started all this happened after removal of a carbon pak. Carbon, even though its primary function is chemical filtration, will also serve as a significant biomedia if it is present in a filter, so if you suddenly remove it, you can expect spikes in ammonia and/or nitrite if the carbon represented a significant fraction of the total amount of biomedia.

But regardless, I feel its a good time for DJ to get this media thing worked out, as his overall filtration system will be better as a result.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

Yeah, I had not realized the spike that started all this happened after removal of a carbon pak. Carbon, even though its primary function is chemical filtration, will also serve as a significant biomedia if it is present in a filter, so if you suddenly remove it, you can expect spikes in ammonia and/or nitrite if the carbon represented a significant fraction of the total amount of biomedia.

But regardless, I feel its a good time for DJ to get this media thing worked out, as his overall filtration system will be better as a result.

~~waterdrop~~

just got backfrom my lfs with a fine and course blue sponge because ive got quite a few gaps in my filter that may as well be filled for more serfice area and hopfully tomorrow or friday my citrax will turn up

can anybody see and problems with adding more sponges?

the only one i can think of is it may slow the flow rate?

 

[waterdrop]

I can't see any problems. I think your media choices are better now.

You are correct that a good filter designer will worry about flow rate, so just be observant and try to judge whether you think this has changed much on you, I wouldn't think so.

Another thing to use common sense about is that each media fits its area with reasonble firmness. You don't want gaps where the water can just bypass the media, but also you don't want any media like a sponge to be excessively compressed such that its pores are collapsed and it can't do its job. Probably you'll have purchased sponges made to fit your particular filter so this will all be no problem.

~~waterdrop~~