I'm a blithering idiot...

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NCStateFisher

Polypterus
MFK Member
Sep 27, 2010
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NC
Today I was doing some tank cleaning work and it was about that time to change out the sponges in my AC110s. Well, I was up pretty late last night and not really thinking about it, so I didn't turn them off first. Instead, I just lifted up the basket, and a couple weeks worth of waste shot out. SWEET. I did about a 25% WC, hauled it to petsmart, picked up an ammonia extraction insert, and some more regular ceramics, along with another big bottle of prime (had run out). I went ahead and replaced the sponge from the filter I messed up with, and also added another pack of ceramics, I put the ammonia insert in my other filter, did another 25% WC, and went to town with some seachem stability to try and make sure my bacteria all don't get overwhelmed and die. My water params yesterday were 0 ammo 0 nitrite and about 10ppm nitrate, well, i did a test right before i left, .25ppm ammo 0 nitrite and like 40-60ppm nitrate, other than the WCs, stability, and ammonia insert I added is there anything else I can do? I plan to test the water again in another 30 minutes or so to see if there is any change, I feel bad for my fish and now im paranoid to change the sponges out on the AC 50s on my 45 gallon :(
 
well....im sure you'll not do that again lol a good lesson learned
i would say dont over chemical your tank..stick to water changes with what you've already done.
my 2 cents. ^_^
 
Heres some ideas for you to think about:

1. Releasing debris back into the tank from the filter pad will have no negative affect on the nitrogen cycle. The debris is still in the tank/ filter regardless if it is trapped in the foam, or at the bottom of the tank.

2. The ammonia insert is not necessary as long as your nitrogen cycle is complete or you have the correct amount of biological media to support your bio load.

3. Your small spike in ammonia came from you replacing foam pads with new ones, and probably means you need more bio media (which you added so great)

4. What is up with prime? It seems like everyone here uses it and talks about it. I never have and my opinion is that if your tank is corrctly maintained and cycled, you don't need to add anything but dechlorinated/demineralized water.

Just my .02. I think you made this more complicated than you needed to. Good luck.
 
You know what your doing.. I leave my HOB filters running.. I just do the filters first.. then do my water changes.. so anything that escapes the filters gets syphoned out for the most part. May be worth getting into that habit as well. And why change out the sponges? other 'n to give 'em a good squeeze to get a majority of solids out of them? which you wanna be doing with your weekly water changes anyways?

if your nitrates are over 20ppm water changes are best in helping maintain your water until the ammonia comes down. Which is will, high ammonia will kill BB, high nitrates will hurt fish. So as long as your ammonia stays within' reason just keeping the nitrates managed is all you'll need to do to maintain a quick recovery.

I'm sure you've probably rationalized soemthign along those lines by now.. just don't freak-out and dump chems all over the place.

Oh.. and Heres your Sign.. :bling: ... It happens to us all...

PS- not often I agree w/ creepyoldguy.. he summed it up pretty much on par w/ what I said. I've never used prime either.. don't understand the hype.. 'nore the insane price tag i see on it.
 
creepyoldguy;4722628; said:
Heres some ideas for you to think about

4. What is up with prime? It seems like everyone here uses it and talks about it. I never have and my opinion is that if your tank is corrctly maintained and cycled, you don't need to add anything but dechlorinated/demineralized water.

Just my .02. I think you made this more complicated than you needed to. Good luck.
Click to expand...

I've calmed down now and I think it's all good lol, seems to be clearing up a little bit and i'll retest to see if there's been a reduction in a minute, as far as prime I just find it to be the best brand of dechlorinator because it does have the added benefits, so that if something like this happens it supposedly detoxes excess nitrates and also helps keep slime coats healthy, idk if it actually does all that but i'm willing to pay an extra buck just in case :P
 
MonsterMinis;4722643; said:
I'm sure you've probably rationalized soemthign along those lines by now.. just don't freak-out and dump chems all over the place.

Oh.. and Heres your Sign.. :bling: ... It happens to us all...
Click to expand...

Haha yeah, the only extra chem i used was the stability which is just extra bacteria anyways, now that i've relaxed it seems much more trivial, its not like my ammonia was 5 or something :nilly:

As far as changing out the sponge, the one that was in the filter was a softer sponge that the guy I bought my setup from had leftover, it wasn't quite as porous and didn't really grab the particles very well so i replaced it with a regular AC brand sponge :)
 
creepyoldguy;4722628; said:
4. What is up with prime? It seems like everyone here uses it and talks about it. I never have and my opinion is that if your tank is corrctly maintained and cycled, you don't need to add anything but dechlorinated/demineralized water.

Just my .02. I think you made this more complicated than you needed to. Good luck.
Click to expand...


prime is to declorinate water.
 
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