what is the best way to keep amonia under control?

[Tanked]

this weekend I am replacing an agua clear 200 with a Marineland Emporer 330 with bio wheel to my 65 gallon planted tank which I know will help, I am just curious as to which chemicals or additives to use also or just the amonia filtering rocks on my under gravel. I have 2 feeds on the under gravel I put a carbon head on and the other I have the head with the ammonia filer on it.

 

[wetwetwet]

I'm not familiar with your filters...

...but with a fully cycled tank/filter ammonia should not be a problem as the benificial bacteria should deal with it. When new fish are added there is an increase in the biological load put on the filter but the bacterial colonies increase to cope with it - it is adviseable to cut back a little on the feeding for a few days to help while the colonies adjust.

I'm also not familiar with an ammonia filter and would question its necessity in a properly working set-up

I half remember someone mentioning using an ammonia filter while cycling a tank (don't know if this was you or not) but would again question what effect this would have on the cycling process??

There are occassions where ammonia levels can rise out of the ordinary - eg power cut and filter not working, too much decaying matter, dead fish etc. when products like ammolock can be used which don't actually remove the ammonia but turn it to a less harmful/non toxic form for fish. In this form (not sure) but think benificial bacteria can't process it meaning it will still show up on test kits and will only be removed during water changes...


hth

 

[superman]

So you are wondering how to change the filters without getting a ammonia spike due to lack of bacteria? If this is the case I would rub any removable parts of the aquaclear onto the bio wheel of the marineland's bio wheel, this will transfer some of the bacteria to the bio wheel to start a colony. Ideally I would run both of the filters at the same time for about 2 weeks. If this is not possible, I would do a fishless cycle with a bucket of water with the new filter on it. I hope this helped you out, if this didn't then please give us more information so that we are sure that we understand you.

 

[superman]

after reading your question again I saw that you have an undergravel filtration system as well as the powerfilter (how did I miss that the first time?. In this case I think that you will be fine in just rubbing any filters and parts from the aquaclear filter onto the bio wheel of the marineland powerfilter and do the change. I still think that it would be a good idea (if possible) to have both filters on the tank for a while if possible, before relying on the marineland to do most of the filtering.

 

[wetwetwet]

I've merged two of the copies of this thread as there were replies in both to try and keep thing simple

.....these pesci gremlins - william!

 

[Tanked]

running both filters sounds liek a good idea. is there any such thing as overfiltration? if not I will get the Emp. 400 rather than the 330.

thx

 

[wetwetwet]

You can not be overfiltered but you you can have excessive flow - which some inhabitants may not like and your plants definately wont like.

As far as chemicals and additives go - what for? imho the less the better

 

[Tanked]

thank wet, I will adjust both filters all the way down to restrict flow as much as possible.

 

[wetwetwet]

Maybe not restrict flow as much as possible.....

For a planted tank I think a flow rate of no more than 3 changes an hour? I'm sure someone will confirm or not ...

 

[Tanked]

I saw that in another post before I joined this forum. 2-3 time for a planted tank I believe.

you guys are great.

thx again