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Gravel cleaning and nitrates
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TOPIC: Gravel cleaning and nitrates

Gravel cleaning and nitrates 2 years, 3 months ago #76837

  • shannon
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I switched filters 1 week ago and even with putting old media in new filter I am still havind a slight ammonia problems(.25-.5 ppm) I am treating this as a mini cycle and doing 30% water changes daily. Question is should I vaccum gravel everyday also? My nitrates are 10ppm. Am I gettig rid of some good bacteria in my gravel that might help me cycle quicker? Ph is 6.4 and nitrites are 0.

Re:Gravel cleaning and nitrates 2 years, 3 months ago #76840

  • OFL
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It is probably just a case of the bacteria colony catching up a little bit. You really don't have anything to worry about. Just carry on as normal, no need for any extra tank maintenance, everything will settle down.
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Re:Gravel cleaning and nitrates 2 years, 3 months ago #76847

  • shannon
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Thanks, I was a little bit nervous because I think that my bio was hurt a bit from meds. I battled ich several times before I switched filter systems.

Re:Gravel cleaning and nitrates 2 years, 3 months ago #76848

  • OFL
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I don't think so, if you did seriously damage your biological filter then you would have very high ammonia levels. Whenever you clean or turn off your filtration system you are always going to get a little bits of bacteria die off. They need oxygen to survive so if your filter isn't running the oxygen slowly dissipates from the water and they start dying off, but it does take quite a while before they all completely die
I may not always be right, but I am always the boss
If you can't ignore an insult, top it; if you can't top it, laugh it off; and if you can't laugh it off, it's probably deserved

Re:Gravel cleaning and nitrates 2 years, 3 months ago #77097

  • delboybully
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OFL has you covered. I would continue with the daily water changes if i were just to make sure that your levels stay low
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