Preferential growth of BB

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Spiritofthesoul

Spiritofthesoul

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Dec 3, 2010
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Lets say you have an overfiltered tank. Like an FX5 on a 70g. And you fill up all 3 media basket with biomedia (3L of matrix in my case, which adds up to a total of 3000cm3 of surface area for BB to grow) and your tank is understocked.

We all know that the 6 foam pads of FX5 provides both mechanical and biological filtration with the former being the main purpose. So it's advisable to use aquarium water to wash the foam pads.

However over time, the pads do get so dirty that high pressured water is require to completely clean it, freeing it from all the gunks trapped deep in the foam.

So my question is, with already more than sufficient bio media in the 3 chambers of the FX5 media baskets, could I somehow force the bacteria to grow onto the bio media instead of the foam pads so that I can throughly clean the foam pads without causing wipe off of BB which leads to a small ammonia spike?

I plan on doing this by nuking the foam pads weekly with pressurized water while leaving the matrix alone to make the matrix a more prefereble place for the BB to colonize on. Do you think it is possible?
 
I think it will still continue to grow on the foam pads. When you clean all of your pads you get an ammonia spike in your tank? If that's the case I would just alternate cleaning half the pads one week and clean the other half 2 weeks later and so on..
 
No, i have yet to put this to the test yet, but im assuming bacteria die off would lead to an ammonia spike

But if almost all the BB colonize on the bio media, theoritically, I can use tap water to blast the foams without have any die off
 
I see no problem with it, assuming your BB in the baskets is already well established.

I have never had a spike cleaning the sponge pads, but those account for a small % of my bio filtration....
 
Yeah, When ever I clean my filters I always blast the sponges clean with tap water, I don't see it being a problem, I have a Fluval 404 and 2 AC 110s on my 72G and my tank never spikes when I clean the sponges. But I haven't ever cleaned my canister and my HOBs at the same time.. As far as your question about keeping the BB from populating the sponges after it's been cleaned, eventually more BB will populate the sponges again..
 
Ok thats it!

"Blasting FX5 foam pads with tap water" has been added to your To-Do monthly list
 
Yep. I always rinse my filter pads in the sick or in the washing machine. I let the bio media do its job.
 
Generally how often are you guys washing those foam pads on the sides?

(I know this can sway and alter if you have other equipment and size of tank and stock)
 
Once a month is acceptable. But if you have high bioload and your filter is always clogging, go for 2~3weeks
 
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