new FOAM

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
M

marscortes

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 4, 2006
192
0
0
Fiji
I have a cascade canister filter, and just changed all the media and foam inside. i went to the dollar store and got a bunch of sponges and foam for cheap, then stacked it evenly in the segments given.

Now the problem is that the water is cloudy. When i had the old dirty foam, the water was prestine and crystal clear. Whats up with the cloudyness? Shouldnt the water be fore clear after i put the new foam in? I think its bad for the fish? should i just do water change?

Thanks in advance.
 
i have a small whisper filter with a single foam just to catch the other debries on the other side of the tank.
 
marscortes;579781; said:
how long does it take to cycle again . Also is there anyway to speed up the process?
Click to expand...


A week or two. It depends on the amount of biofilter you lost and the bioload in the tank. Do a 50% water change and keep testing your water.
 
never change all ur media out at once... if you have another tank running or know someone that does, get the old media and put it in the filter. it will speed up the cycle.
 
marscortes;579523; said:
I have a cascade canister filter, and just changed all the media and foam inside. i went to the dollar store and got a bunch of sponges and foam for cheap, then stacked it evenly in the segments given.

Now the problem is that the water is cloudy. When i had the old dirty foam, the water was prestine and crystal clear. Whats up with the cloudyness? Shouldnt the water be fore clear after i put the new foam in? I think its bad for the fish? should i just do water change?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


All good suggestions...But my first question is were these "cheap sponges" soft, almost moist? Did the package say anything about "anti-bacterial" . Some of these companies put diferent things in the sponges so the sponges are more appealing to the eye , hence the soft sponge... then they have to treat this moisturizer with an anti-bacterial to stop mold from forming in the package.

I hope this is not your case, otherwise you've just wiped out all the bacteria in your tank and that's what the white stuff is. It will in turn kill your fish and any plants you may have.

I have rescued fish from this predicament twice so far.

If this is the case get the fish in new treated water in another tank or tub, empty the tank
and clean everything out. Get new untreated filter medium (poly-fil is cheap @ wallyworld) and some bacteria in a bottle to get a quick start. If you have a friend with a healthy tank get some of their old filter material (yeah, if they don't understand they WILL think your crazy but who cares right) to egt things going too.

If the sponges are ok and nothing has died yet, use the bacteria in a bottle (put in the filter and let it set for an hour before restarting) to restart your filter, do your W/Cs to keep up with ammonia and nitrates and it should be ok in a week or so.

Keep us posted.

Dr Joe

.
 
Hey Doc, They were infact cheap sponges and are soft. but no anti-bacterial angents. All fish are live and i jsut added some bacteria starter this morning. I will see the results when i return home after work. Would more feeding speed up the bacteria process, or should i add more fish into the bioload? ( Meaning feeder guppies )
 
If all bacteria was removed (ie new filter media) then just adding the bacteria should be enough to start it with the bio-load in the tank already, w/o adding more fish or increasing feedings.

Keep us posted.

Dr. Joe

.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom