Questions in the region of a baggy power filter...?
1.) Does the activated carbon in my filter take out ammonia or any of the other compounds involved contained by cycling my tank?
2.) Will changing my filter media mete out me to have to cycle my tank again?
I have hear various answers to these questions both on the internet and from the guy at my local pet shop. I would appreciate some clarification.
1. No. Carbon will not effect your cistern cycling.
2. In an HOB It may. It will at least mini-cycle. Activated carbon is not needed for a healthy reservoir. I don't use it. Many people never change it after it is used up, others take the carbon out of the sack and only use the bag. Rinsing your media surrounded by tank water when it gets gunky is satisfactory. No need to change it every few weeks or whatever they relate you.
I've had tanks for years I've never changed the carbon on, and they were a short time ago fine. I only rinse my filter media, never change it.
Don't listen to the empire that say the carbon will release the baddies back into your container if you don't change it. Carbon has to be heated to a smooth you can't achieve in a fish tank, or within most homes even with an oven to release it's compound materials.
Yes the activated carbon does filch out ammonia well as other impurities in your sea, however it does not affect the rate in which your tank cycles. As for changing the filter medium, you won't have to cycle your tank again but you will be taking a few steps backwards. Because your filter media have beneficial bacteria on it as well as your gravel, whether you take it out then you are taking away those germs colonies.Instead of changing the filter for a few weeks just do 50% water change once a week using a water conditioner and you should be fine. And reguardless of what people say it is cruel to your fish not to hold activated carbon or zeolite, it takes out impurities within your tank, they will be much happier and healthier if you spend the few bucks every 4-6 weeks. Most populace use water filters in our domestic for a reason right? So your fish deserve the same.
Answers: 1) The activated charcoal will not remove ammonia, but in attendance is little reason to use it when cycling.
2) In a newly cycling tank removing the filter medium can create a problem,the best solution is to use filters that allow cleaning and re-using the media. Like the sponges in Aqua-clear filter. Rinsing the sponges of an Aqua-clear filter removes most of the solid waste, and doing it gently in marine just siphoned from the tank allows most (or enough) of the bacteria to outlive to continue the cycle. If you have some other type of filter,consider finding some sponge "pre-filters" that will offer an flowing to clean method of keeping the solid waste out of the filter media.Thus allowing much longer service by the non-rinsable medium.
3) As your tank becomes "more cycled" (the bacteria grow on adjectives of the well oxygenated surfaces of the tank) this will become less of an issue.
4) The best way to avoid problems within this area is to provide some redundancy, like an underneath gravel system,or a separate sponge filter (which can be used to move cycled bacteria to a new tank) or pre-filters as mentioned above.
The carbon in your filter will not remove ammonia or any other compounds in the cycle process.
When cleaning/changing the filter media, switch it between water changes and rinse in container water to clean/rinse it. If you change the water and the filter at like peas in a pod time, you may go into a mini cycle, but probably nothing major.=
to an extent; waste, excess food feed and poor tank maintenance is the culprit; there should be weekly partial river changes, small and consistent better than large amounts infrequently; that will cause a cycle tuning more ; you need to change the media if not it is a moot point to even have it ; once saturated the filter media quits doing it opening and just pours what you are trying to rid back into the tank; within the wild , water is changing constantly , within the tank , the fish will swim in a cess pool if you don't complete proper maintenance; you don't shake the media to let the dirt etc put money on into the tank; the good bacteria is already surrounded by the tank and will do its job as long as you do yours, limit excess , proper dampen change and good maintenance is push button .
