Hi all, I have a 4x2x2 tank with 2 oscars, a plec and 3 small clown loaches (yes a bit overstocked but massive filtration)... I have a very large internal filter, and also a fluval 405 external canister filter on this tank...

I recently decided to seed a new filter to get it ready for my new tank which should be up in about 2-3 weeks...

how long will it take to seed this filter??

T

if you set it up now and run it in your current tank along with your other filter... by the time you get the other tank ready, it should be ready! they say it takes like 40 days to cycle a tank, but you can run a filter in conjunction with another filter in an already cycled tank, and it will cycle faster! if possible, put some of the media from an established filter in the new one and it will get ready even faster, squeeze some of that sludge off your sponges into the new one, and if possible introduce some of the biobacteria from the older filter, that should have you set tony. hope that helps some.

cheers mate, I've pretty much done that so good to know i did the right thing...

its a eheim 2028 which is good for about 150G and my new tank in the wall is about 100G so just the one filter should be enough to keep it clear.. plus I think i'm going to go small and colourful so wont be a lot of bioload...

cant wait to get this done now, i also have another project on the go for something to compliment the tank, but more on this when its all done..

T

Hi OFL's,
I am getting my head around this subject of filtration and I believe with what i have read that the filter is the MOST.... important piece of equipment in the tank. I think everybody will agree we me in this.
I have looked into all the things that are involved with filtration for an aquarium, Ammonia, Nitrite, nitrate, etc etc.
When I set up my tank and get a good filter installed, say the FX5 or the Ehiem 2028 which people say are the best filters for their aquariums.
I want to try and understand all about 'cycling' my tank before I put fish into it. Knowing more on the subject of water testing too.
I will set the tank up and have it running for a good few weeks before 'ANY...' fish are added. So I need to know about getting this healthy bacteria running. And how to best clean the filter without taking away all the healthy stuff from it and just taking out the bad stuff. What should you add to a new filter right at the start of the set up to get it running properly?
I dont want to set the tank up and get it running until i know a good deal on this subject.
Any advice will be very grateful.

Jamie

Hi Jamie, I'll give u MY ideas, but these are ny no means THE answers to your questions, just how I would do it..

firstly the bacterial side, your fish produce waste (ammonia and poisonous).. this is eaten by little ammonia eating bacteria and they then excrete Nitrites (less poinsonos, but still not good)... this nitrite is then eaten by little nitrite eating bacteria, which give excrete nitrates... not harmful to fish in small amounts..

the nitrate level in a tank is kept down (waste foods and other factors can add to the nitrate level) by water changes.. how much waste ur fish produce (the bio-load) will determine the size of your partial water change (from say 20% - 50%) and also how often you need to do them, i do a 50% water change every 10 - 14 days usually...

the key to all this is getting the beneficial bacteria in your filter... to do this you MUST feed the ammonia eating bacteria, this can be done with inexpensive fish like goldfish, or i think can be doen with chemicals, personally i hate chemicals so would always use fish...

also, if you have a friend with a fish tank, ask him/her for a bucket of old tank water, this will help you, better still ask them if you can borrow one of their sponges from their establised filter, this will be packed with bacteria and can be squeezed out into your filter before starting it up, this in my opinion is THE best way to get theings started...

the bacteria live on the filter media, wether it be sponge (altho this is mostly used for mechanical filtration, ie getting the big bits of crap out) or the little ceramic balls/tubes that are readily available for filter media.. these balls/tubes have a large surface area the bacteria live on...

the filter media and sponges should ONLY be washed in old tank water, if u wash them in tap water you WILL kill all the bacteria and your tank and fish will be in danger of dying...

hope this helps, i am sure there will be other ideas, but this is how i do mine, and so far (touch wood) no problems..

Tony

Thats a good explanation from tonyt

A couple of points to add, if you have a friend with a filter ask to borrow some of the bio media (the rocks or tubes etc in the filter). This can cycle your filter straight away

Also the ammonia and nitrite eating bacteria take a while to build up so you need some disposable fish (like gold fish)in your tank until you have a cycled filter- this is when you have no ammonia or nitrite and some nitrate present. Max for nitrate is 40 for healthy fish

Hey Guys and Gals, this is the kinda stuff that I am after.
As I said, knowledge for the aquarium has come a long way since I done the fish keeping. especially on the filtration side of things.
When I kept my tank I would have powerful heads on the top of the two pipes from the UGF's and it was set to a high aeroation ie, plenty of bubbles. Do a water change with a gravel vacuum pipe sucking up all the muck from the bottom once a week and I also had an internal filter but every week I would take it out and give the sponges a real good clean under the tap and make sure they were all spotless.

HOW WRONG COULD I HAVE BEEN? with the filtration thing........

So basically you are not cleaning out and taking away the stuff in the filter just making sure it is not clogged? Only the large pieces of debris in the filters u r taking out. As all the rest is the cycled bacteria that has built up and is the best thing for the tank.
Sponges u squeeze out in the tank itself, leaving them in there for the health of the fish?

I could'nt sacrifice another fish in there for the sake of another fish (when I get them) so I will ask and look around and see if anybody has an internal filter that has been running. I dare say that nothing is perfect in life. I hope that there is nothing bad in the filter aswell as the bacteria, or is this not the case?

Jamie

jamesmillar wrote:


Thats about it!!!