Should I Clean Filter With A Weekly Water Change On A Quarantine Tank

[albertski]

When I cycled my tank I added two clownfish to my 10 Gallon Quarantine tank. After a week, I did a 50% water change. After the change, I noticed my ammonia and nitrate/nitrites are slightly up (Ammonia: .2 ppm, Nitrite: .5 ppm, Nitrate: 1 ppm). Someone pointed out that I should clean the filter. Perhaps that is the reason. Should I rinse out the sponge, bio-media? I was scared that my bacteria would go down if I cleaned it. I'm using the Fluval Aquaclear 20 Filter

 

[i cant think]

When I cycled my tank I added two clownfish to my 10 Gallon Quarantine tank. After a week, I did a 50% water change. After the change, I noticed my ammonia and nitrate/nitrites are slightly up (Ammonia: .2 ppm, Nitrite: .5 ppm, Nitrate: 1 ppm). Someone pointed out that I should clean the filter. Perhaps that is the reason. Should I rinse out the sponge, bio-media? I was scared that my bacteria would go down if I cleaned it. I'm using the Fluval Aquaclear 20 Filter

I wouldn’t clean the biomedia but I would just quickly wash the sponge in the salt water from the water change - I would also only do a 10% water change instead of 50%

 

[Reef.]

Yes clean it, just rinse in some of the water you remove, you can’t wash off the bacteria.

 

[albertski]

I did a 10% - 20% water change yesterday and now (the next day) my Nitrate / Nitrite spiked:

Ammonia: .2ppm
Nitrite: 10 mg/L
Nitrate: 20 mg/L
Alkalinity: 6dKH
Salinity: 1.027 d SG
PH: 8.2

When I siphoned out the water I was moving the marbles to get anything around them. Could I be removing the bacteria by doing this?

Any recommendations on what to do about the super high nitrite/nitrate?

 

[Harold999]

Ammonia always rises after a waterchange. Reason: freshly mixed saltwater contains .5-1 ppm ammonia! Not many people are aware of that.
So after a waterchange it can take a day before ammonia is zero again.

Leave your bio filter alone, it would make things worse if you clean that.
By the way, if you ever clean it, do it in your siphoned tank water after a waterchange, never rinse it under the tap, you would kill all your bacteria.

 

[brandon429]

The reason zoo aquarium exhibits clean their filters is because uncleaned biomedia loses surface area daily due to accumulation, it’s not true that uncleaned filters are better, filters that have no retained detritus to cause channeling run better.

you would indeed clean the filters moreso than if in a display. This is your sole surface area, keep channels open. You can use tank water, but the tap water thing hasn’t been tested to be confirmed accurate

you can drink it or make a baby bottle with it but it‘ll instantly sterilize everything in reefing


someone with a seneye needs to test that

 

[Harold999]

The reason zoo aquarium exhibits clean their filters is because uncleaned biomedia loses surface area daily due to accumulation, it’s not true that uncleaned filters are better, filters that have no retained detritus to cause channeling run better.

you would indeed clean the filters moreso than if in a display. This is your sole surface area, keep channels open. You can use tank water, but the tap water thing hasn’t been tested to be confirmed accurate

you can drink it or make a baby bottle with it but it‘ll instantly sterilize everything in reefing


someone with a seneye needs to test that

Fresh water killing marine bacteria seems logic to me though, all cells have an osmotic balance and suddenly disruption could damage them. Fish don't like a fresh water dip either.
Why take the risk if you can rinse your filter in old tankwater.

I have a Seneye but not gonna test it on my tank.

 

[brandon429]

really we need it tested. anyone with a seneye that calibrates out to running .002-.009 on a known working display can make valuable x10 insights for the hobby I had no idea you had one.

if you ever get time we need this data as well:

make a paint bucket reef with all dry rocks stacked in and common mix water, heated and cheap circulation set in the garage. add nothing, zero, just the setup.

in 30 days wait time (keep topped off) add in the calculated dose for the system by volume of ammonium chloride to make the water become ~a quarter ppm nh3 and chart the rise on the seneye.

give it 48 hours to see if it can markedly drop, unassisted cycle data is vastly needed to define the limits in cycling where free wait times are a counter to having to pay for bottle bac or make purchase and all the delicate adjustments we're trained to make in cycle ramp ups.

nobody has any data for 30 days unassisted study, nobody from reef circles. Its truly uncharted.

we already have data at month 4 wait and it passes/want to know how fast its passing (the first ammonia test ruins the wait time as the bac are hyperfed)

 

[albertski]

Tested the next day and I got the same thing. Ammonia and Nitrite/Nitrate not going down:


Ammonia: .2ppm
Nitrite: 10 mg/L
Nitrate: 20 mg/L
Alkalinity: 6dKH
Salinity: 1.027 d SG
PH: 8.2

 

[brandon429]

=.02, thats the form of ammonia we care about.

and for a qt, that's exactly in spec. take concern / action when it rises from that base.

water changes etc.
*MnFish pointed out recently the reminder that low salinity quarantines benefit from nitrite measure to prevent harm. if you are keeping normal salinity its not the same risk, its one less concern to manage.

to make the qt strong, bioload carry stronger, simply insert more surface area in a different flow zone/add one more hob cheap from wal mart packed full of floss for example...cheap surface area in a new flow zone.

the way to carry more bioload isn't by dosing anything, its more surface area in a different flow zone in addition to current.

 

[albertski]

=.02, thats the form of ammonia we care about.

and for a qt, that's exactly in spec. take concern / action when it rises from that base.

water changes etc.
*MnFish pointed out recently the reminder that low salinity quarantines benefit from nitrite measure to prevent harm. if you are keeping normal salinity its not the same risk, its one less concern to manage.

to make the qt strong, bioload carry stronger, simply insert more surface area in a different flow zone/add one more hob cheap from wal mart packed full of floss for example...cheap surface area in a new flow zone.

the way to carry more bioload isn't by dosing anything, its more surface area in a different flow zone in addition to current.

Thanks. When I syphon out the water during a water change, I move the marbles around to get anything that got stuck around it. Should I not do that? I'm worried that I may be removing the bacteria.