Too much change too soon???

[SkarloeysMom]

When you changed out gravel do you have a big drop in your Nitrate levels?

I'm concerned about my 10g community. Maybe I did a little too much to it in a short period. I started up a new AquaClear 50 filter around the 1st week of July. Then last weekend I changed out my gravel. I figured that the bio max had been in there for 2 weeks and probably would have enough bacteria it would not be a problem. Plus when I change the gravel the filter sucked up all the yuck in the water so a lot of the bacteria from gravel is now in the filter, right? I also decided to treat the tank 5 days ago because a couple of my pandas look like they have fin rot. One had it I guess when I got him and now another one looks like he has it too. ARRRGH! Why are my favorite fish sick and my zebra danios are just a swimming away, just as healthy as can be??!! The treatment is over but they still don't look like their fins are growing back. But that's another thread.

So anyway, here's the problem I'm really worried about. I have NO nitrates and its been a week since I changed the gravel. I also have no ammonia or nitrites. I checked that too. Where'd my nitrates go??

[Lady Hobbs]

I clean my gravel completely (in all my tanks other than for my planted tank) every week. Uncase you haven't seen this in my posts before, I never have nitrates unless my tanks are dirty. My fish are just fine.

This is probably not the best thing for the planted tank but I really struggle to have nitrates in that one. That one stays at 0-5 as well.

[RobbieG]

I would keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrites - if you don't see a spike in the next couple of days you are probably fine

You are probably fine now - but testing will just make sure

[gm72]

Stay on top of your water parameters and you should be fine. I don't believe you have anything to worry about.

I also clean my gravel every week. Zero problems in any of my tanks.

Also, your zebra dannios are okay because they are one of the most hardy fish available. Tough to kill them, NOT that you should try, mind you!

[SkarloeysMom]

I would keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrites - if you don't see a spike in the next couple of days you are probably fine
I've been testing every other day hoping I'm not gonna see a mini-cycle. I'll keep testing but today I need to do a 25% water change anyway because its the end of the Maracyn-2 treatment. I guess the AC 50 is really doing its job!


Also, your zebra dannios are okay because they are one of the most hardy fish available. Tough to kill them, NOT that you should try, mind you!

Well what I meant was I'm bummed that the corys I love so much are not doing well and the zebras that I don't really have an attachment to are just fine as can be. I fret and fret and fret over the little corys and they don't seem to be getting better. Sigh. I'm I just not going to be able to help these little guys?

[Lady Hobbs]

Oh pewy. I thought your post was in concern of nitrates dropping too fast but now I see you did a gravel change and are concerned with all of it.

Some claim that most of your bacteria lives on the filter media and not much in the gravel. Personally, this to me doesn't make sense. Naturally bacteria lives on both but: If you have established gravel and clean the blazes out of your filter media you do not get a set back. Now try to do just the opposite...........leave your filter dirty and change out all that gravel and what do you get? The gravel certainly takes up a much larger space so has got to hold more bacteria IMO.

This is just an area where I very well could be wrong but I've done this both ways many times and the only time there has ever been a set back for me is with a gravel change.

I take my filters to the kitchen sink about every 6 weeks and scrub them out totally, clean the uplift tubes, clean the propeller, add new floss and away they go again. I don't use the bio wheels, either. I've removed them.

[MeganL3985]

How do you all clean your gravel each week? Like do you take it all out and clean it or just vac it really good?

[gm72]

Vacuum thoroughly.

Lady has a good point. I figure there must be a fairly significant concentration of bacteria in the gravel as well as in the filter. I can see where the filter might hold more of it because of the media and increased water flow.

I personally don't clean my filters as does Lady. About once every 2 months I just squeeze out the sponges and examine the Ehfisynth for large chunks of debris. If the lift tubes get gunked up then I do clean them, but I haven't had any trouble with that since I added sponge prefilters to all of my HOBs.

[Lady Hobbs]

I think they get rather nasty smelling and I can't stand that crap in there. Gross! The manuals that come with my filters recommend cleaning them, cleaning the propeller, etc, now and then so I always have but not for newly established tanks everyone. Do not confuse this with a new setup folks because it would be the last thing you'd want to do.

I think I have wayyyyy too much time on my hands. LOL

[dev]

How do you all clean your gravel each week? Like do you take it all out and clean it or just vac it really good?

I only vacuum the top inch of the gravel every other week.

It's been said that a good filter will hold as much as 95% of all the nitrogen bacteria in the tank, not counting tanks with an undergravel filter. Keep in mind that good media such as Eheim Ehfi Substrat provides more than 450 square meters of surface per liter of media.

[gm72]

They can indeed get pretty gross. Lady, I recommend you (and everyone else for that matter) try a sponge prefilter. I swear by these things now. I had no idea it would make that big of a difference, but it really does. I use and love these:

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[Lady Hobbs]

Good idea looks to me. My tubes are square not round. Does that matter? And is this used in place of the bottom strainer.

[gm72]

Well the square tubes will disallow you to use these. They come with a variety of attachments, but none are square. It can replace the strainer, but again, the whole square thing kind of kills it. Shoot, Lady, guess you'll just have to get some new filters! :ezpi_wink1: