Filter Media During Cycling

Dustinryan2010 · Sep 1, 2018

Starting my very first salt water tank this upcoming week, have wanted to get into this hobby for years but was always too intimidated, I’ve done tons of research and now feel ready to take it on. I just purchased the Fluval Evo 13.5 as well as dry life rock from Caribsea, and live Fiji Pink sand. I will be cycyling with Dr Tim’s One and Only as well as his ammonium chloride solution. My question is, should I be running the filter sponge as well as filter media during my cycle? Or should I just remove the entire sponge brick for the first few days at least? All help is very much appreciated

ndrwater · Sep 1, 2018

Feel free to run it with the sponge. The sponge will help pick up any loose floating debris from when you put things together, and, have the added benefit of being a surface which your benificial bacteria can grow.
I would suggest for the first little while, you rinse the sponge (if necessary) in tank water as to not destroy the hard earned bacteria

Dustinryan2010 · Sep 1, 2018

ndrwater said:
Feel free to run it with the sponge. The sponge will help pick up any loose floating debris from when you put things together, and, have the added benefit of being a surface which your benificial bacteria can grow.
I would suggest for the first little while, you rinse the sponge (if necessary) in tank water as to not destroy the hard earned bacteria

Should I also use the bag of carbon and Fluval biomax rings it comes with right from the get go?

ndrwater · Sep 1, 2018

Dustinryan2010 said:
Should I also use the bag of carbon and Fluval biomax rings it comes with right from the get go?

Rings yes, carbon is optional.
If it were me, I would leave the carbon it for the 1st month or so.
Rings are a definite as they are intended to be a surface for beneficial bacteria to grow on.
FWIW, the rings and sponge should only be rinsed in old tank water as I mentioned above. The carbon will need to be rinsed prior to installing to get the dust off. Tap water is fine for this. Most likely, the carbon pack that came with your filter should be replaced monthly.

Dustinryan2010 · Sep 1, 2018

ndrwater said:
Rings yes, carbon is optional.
If it were me, I would leave the carbon it for the 1st month or so.
Rings are a definite as they are intended to be a surface for beneficial bacteria to grow on.
FWIW, the rings and sponge should only be rinsed in old tank water as I mentioned above. The carbon will need to be rinsed prior to installing to get the dust off. Tap water is fine for this. Most likely, the carbon pack that came with your filter should be replaced monthly.

Thank you for your help!