Changing Filter FLoss without losing microfauna

[Starganderfish]

I run a 20G Waterbox AIO tank, with a small handful of filter floss in the first chamber, chaeto in the middle chamber and return pump in the 3rd chamber. I ran biological and chemi-pure media for a while, but I found it clogged up with gunk and was more problem than help, so I've removed that and just run the floss and chaeto. I don't run a Protein Skimmer (too hard to manage water level and salinity on such a small tank) and use an AWC to do daily 2% water changes.
Tank is pretty happy and stable, aside from recurring Gelidium outbreaks (hoping my new Tuxedo Urchin will help with that) and the filter floss serves nicely to prevent protein scum floating on the surface. I usually get 3 - 5 days out of the floss before it get's gunky and I swap it out (I use generic Polyester Quilt wadding from the craft store - the pure stuff without anti-bacterial additives etc).
The one thing that bugs me is that I'm sure my tank has a decent population of microfauna - pods and little crawlies and such, and a certain proportion of them no doubt end up in the floss. I hate the thought that I'm chucking them out when I dump the floss, so how can I get at least some of them to leave the floss when changing?
I've toyed with pulling the old floss out and sitting it on the mesh lid over the tank for ten minutes to drain, but not sure if the crawlies will abandon ship or just dry and out die.
I can't really soak or squeeze it into the tank or I return all that organic waste.
Is there any obvious "of course, why didn't I think of that" ways to lure them out? I know it's probably not a huge percentage of the population in the long run, but in a small tank, every bit helps

 

[blaxsun]

Just chuck the floss and don't worry about it.

 

[homer1475]

Just chuck the floss and don't worry about it.

+1

 

[Starganderfish]

Just chuck the floss and don't worry about it.

I know it's not a huge quantity but if there's a way to recover at least some of the critters I'd like to.

 

[blaxsun]

I know it's not a huge quantity but if there's a way to recover at least some of the critters I'd like to.

There's not, no. Lots of critters still in the rest of the tank...

 

[c4haskett]

Lol I feel the same way you do. I have the exact same rear chamber set up in a 13.5 evo. My fuge is crawling with cool little things. I usually set on top of the lid netting for a little bit and I do squeeze the water out of mine before replacing. Like you mentioned, salinity is tricky in these little tanks so I put all the saltwater back in as just a little bit of extra RO can throw my salinity off.

 

[homer1475]

Lol I feel the same way you do. I have the exact same rear chamber set up in a 13.5 evo. My fuge is crawling with cool little things. I usually set on top of the lid netting for a little bit and I do squeeze the water out of mine before replacing. Like you mentioned, salinity is tricky in these little tanks so I put all the saltwater back in as just a little bit of extra RO can throw my salinity off.

Whats the point of runnuing floss if your just going to squeeze all the carp is just collected back into the tank? Might as well just not run any at that point.

 

[c4haskett]

Whats the point of runnuing floss if your just going to squeeze all the carp is just collected back into the tank? Might as well just not run any at that point.

All the gunk is already in the floss. I'm just squeezing out water. The gunk isn't getting squeezed back into the tank. Seems to work well for me so I think I'll continue to use it

 

[GARRIGA]

If you have a screen too then place the floss over it and some or most of that fauna will crawl down into the water. I know amphipods do. They might be small but not stupid

 

[homer1475]

Worrying about something that is a complete non issue. At the rate the micro fauna reproduces, what you wash away in the floss, will be replaced in a day or less.

 

[Starganderfish]

If you have a screen too then place the floss over it and some or most of that fauna will crawl down into the water. I know amphipods do. They might be small but not stupid

Thanks. I'm thinking I might do that and maybe pour a cup of tank water over it to wash some into the tank, Not squeezing because I worry about extra gunk coming out, but just washing it out.

Worrying about something that is a complete non issue. At the rate the micro fauna reproduces, what you wash away in the floss, will be replaced in a day or less.

"Worrying about something that is a complete non issue"
He he. It's like you're new to the hobby or something!
Worrying about non-issues is the bread and butter of keeping an aquarium!! If we stopped worrying about non-issues, half the companies making aquarium gadgets and equipment would go out of business.

But in seriousness, I know it's a small thing but a 20gal tank is tiny and with the floss being the primary method of filtration, the amount of microfauna being lost is measurable. And why not try and recover it if I can?
Considering the lengths people go to with massaging the most minuscule of parameters to get practically invisible changes in the tank, wanting to return some valuable critters to the tank is a LONG way from being the most unnecessary suggestion I've seen on here.
I do appreciate everyones comments but this is very much - "Why wouldn't you if you can?"

 

[Starganderfish]

For anyone who's interested, I've spent the last week doing the "drip and rinse process" where I take the used floss out, put it on the mesh net over the tank and then pour a couple of cups of tank water over it.
I've noticed all sorts of teeny tiny little pod-life washing out into the tank, as well as larger critters like Amphipods and such which would have been caught up in the old floss and thrown out.
I couldn't say how much it's helping but it's not hurting, takes no real effort and I'm definitely recovering some critters.

The downsides?
1) I suspect that over time this will result in some discolouration or algae growth on that small patch of the mesh net. Not a huge issue and I can rinse it in different spots to spread it out
2) I would be washing a little bit of the built-up gunk out of the floss when doing the rinse - not that much more than with the ordinary water flow through it, but probably a bit
3) The biggest thing, which isn't really a negative, is that most of the critters being washed out of the floss are going back into the display tank and being gobbled up almost immediately by the fish. Not a big problem and provides a nice little snack for the fishies, but a bit of a pain if the aim is to avoid diminishing the tanks critter population. ON the flipside, I'd rather those go in my fish's tummy than into the trash.

I might have just skipped doing this altogether but this morning I saw at least 4 or 5 little crawlies the size of a small grain of rice being washed back into the tank. Amphipods of that size are really useful for the tanks clean-up crew and take some time to grow to that size, so losing them would have been unfortunate, especially in a tank this small, that depends heavily on biological cleanup crew over manual maintenance.