New HOD filter killed over during cycle

[bloodlucky]

I'm doing a fish-in cycle with my new 40 gallon tank, it's currently housing 1 shy juvenile blood parrot, he's doing alright I had him for almost 3 days. Since I have sand at the bottom and the setup is brand new, a lot of the sand isn't broken up and dense yet so the first few minutes a lot floated into the filter and stopped the propeller from working. I cleared out the sand, no big deal, but it killed over last night again and I realized it wasn't working this morning. I fixed it again, but my concern is the BB colony I've been establishing. I've dosed a good amount of BB from SafeStart (about half the bottle) as instructed by the company, and I've dosed a little extra over the days as well, but I'm afraid I lost all of it because the filter was paralyzed for god knows how long. It's an Aqueon QuietFlow, so it has this pocket of water stored in it so at least some of the insides stayed wet. Do you think I should dose more SafeStart, or maybe check water param? Thing is it's only been 2.5 days and one fish can only create so much waste in a 40 so idk. I'm worried about that BB colony though.


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[xraycer]

First and foremost, check ammonia level. Do at least a 25% water change if there's a small amount of ammonia present, and 50% if there is quite a bit. Do w/c based on these level everyday or 2 until tank is fully cycled.

 

[bloodlucky]

First and foremost, check ammonia level. Do at least a 25% water change if there's a small amount of ammonia present, and 50% if there is quite a bit. Do w/c based on these level everyday or 2 until tank is fully cycled.

Yes I believe QuickSafe instructions state than when ammonia is past .5ppm, do a 50% wc, and this .25 would be 25%. Of course, I would be dosing the appropriate amount of QuickSafe with the quantity of new water. Good advice


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[MarineMike]

You should look into getting one of those prefilter sponges that fits over the intake before the sand destroys the pump.