My tank has completed cycle, Now i'm not sure if i can remove the media i used to seed the tank with? the media is in a basket.
my filtration is a canister eheim 2250 filled with sintered glass and filter floss.
inhabitants are 1 arowana, and 3 bichirs.
I'm a little hesitant, shoud i remove the basket ? as it does not look nice? or just leave it inside>?
If your tank has completed cycling AND the canister filter has been on the tank for the same amount of time, you can remove the basket of media that is inside the tank.
Just keep an eye on your water parameters to verify you don't get a spike in ammonia or nitrite.
If your tank has completed cycling AND the canister filter has been on the tank for the same amount of time, you can remove the basket of media that is inside the tank.
Just keep an eye on your water parameters to verify you don't get a spike in ammonia or nitrite.
Disagree, I'm positive removing it all would give a spike. You should remove slowly. A bit every other day. There are still BB on the media. You want to give the BB in the canister time to multiply and make up for the BB lost when you remove the BB in the basket. That way even if there is a spike, it would just be a small one which last for a short duration. I rather have multiple small spikes than one huge spike.
My reasoning is this. The denitrifying bacteria will always find the most ideal spot in the tank to colonise. And the current best spot in the tank now is the seeding media. I mean it is directly in the tank, where your aro and bichirs are releasing ammonia (food source) directly onto it every second.
Disagree, I'm positive removing it all would give a spike. You should remove slowly. A bit every other day. There are still BB on the media. You want to give the BB in the canister time to multiply and make up for the BB lost when you remove the BB in the basket. That way even if there is a spike, it would just be a small one which last for a short duration. I rather have multiple small spikes than one huge spike.
thanks My eheim 2250 is alreadu full of sintered glass. the contents of the basket won't fit anymore mmmm maybe i can find a better looking basket and just leave the media in the tank?
The filter has been up and running for a month now.
but before that, the media inside the filter were from my old tank which also house the same aro.I upgraded the tank and transferred all the media into the canister.
I went through a mini cycle. I had to add some medias from my other sump tanks to speed up the cycle.
Well, there's a definite disadvantage to ceramic media. I'd never thought about not being able to squeeze it. Sponges are so convenient, I'd never realized there would be a situation where they'd actually be preferable over hard media. I mean, you could swoosh the heck out of those rings and add the cloud back into the tank, but I'm with the cautious one. Remove that bag of red media first and wait about three days, then perhaps remove half the basketfull. All the while testing for ammonia. Should be fine if you go the 'gradual change' route and do it in steps.
