Brain Teaser, Sort of

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Kaliedoscope

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jan 14, 2010
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Oklahoma City Oklahoma USA
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If I only have money for one, which is more important to get Now, for my tanks...

Filter media
or
water purifiers (to do water changes)


I.e. Is it better to change the filters and not do water changes, or leave the filters dirty and just do water changes?

(plz assume that I will be buying the other thing as well, only, later.)
 
wat

you have to do WC
and in general you should not mess
with a filter that is still flowing
not everybody uses carbon anymoar

do nothing until you are ready to do it rite
you got meh brain all excited for nothing
 
Have you tested your water parameters?
 
Why do you need a water purifier to do water changes?

If you replace your filter media you'll be throwing out your good bacteria and be back to an uncycled tank. Assuming it's cycled now.
 
in general you should not mess
with a filter that is still flowing

rinse mech sponges in tank water
do not change out media today or tomorrow
 
If you're using a filter that tells you to replace the cartridges every X number of days, they're ripping you off. Get something like an Aquaclear sponge and some ceramic bio media and just rinse the sponge occasionally.

I'm assuming by water purifier, you mean some sort of water conditioner for chlorine/chloramine, so I would get that. Do a water change today. When you have some more money, get some media that doesn't need to be replaced, keep it in your tank for a couple weeks to let it grow some bacteria, and then you can get rid of that disposable media
 
The few filters I have left that use the filter pad cartridges, I cut a slit in the bottom of it, and dump out all of the carbon. You can save it for later, if you ever need it (i.e. to remove medications or tannins.)

I use the same filter pad cartridge, rinsing it in tank water, and banging it against the side of a bucket once every 2 weeks. I use this same filter pad, until the floss starts to disintegrate and fall apart.

If you need a water conditioner, buy Prime or Safe (Safe is the same as Prime, but in powder form.) It's pretty inexpensive (even if you don't buy it in bulk) because it is so concentrated, a very small amount goes a very long way.
 
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