Confused where I am in my 15g fish-in cycle.

[jsat420]

I actually did my first filter cleaning a couple of weeks ago. Wrung out the sponges / biomax in tank water and scrubbed out the box / intake tube as well. How often would you suggest doing it? Also, can I use the same sponges/ biomax until they won't clean up anymore, or should I replace 1 part every so often?

I doubt that the eggs will be on the bottom, as whenever they would float under the filter waterfall they would immidiately shoot back up to the surface. They also clung to the glass and dried up as the water level got lower.

Do you really think I'm that close to capacity already with only 5 hatchets and two frogs? I was hoping I'd be able to do maybe 2-3 more frogs.. They have definitely become my favorite since adding the 2nd one

I thought a 50g filter would enable me to do a lot more than that. Lately I've had both the hatchets and frogs on bloodworms, and there has been very little leftover to rot on the bottom now that the frogs know the food comes to the right front corner. :P

I have been considering buying a large salt shaker to put the worms in for the frogs in order to avoid rotting ones on the bottom at all.

Also: BEen about 12 hours since the WC, hard to differentiate between the shades of oranges on the API test but my interpretation is that it's somewhere between 20-30

[Stlouisfish]

I actually did my first filter cleaning a couple of weeks ago. Wrung out the sponges / biomax in tank water and scrubbed out the box / intake tube as well. How often would you suggest doing it? Also, can I use the same sponges/ biomax until they won't clean up anymore, or should I replace 1 part every so often?

Do you really think I'm that close to capacity already with only 5 hatchets and two frogs? I was hoping I'd be able to do maybe 2-3 more frogs.. They have definitely become my favorite since adding the 2nd one

I thought a 50g filter would enable me to do a lot more than that. Lately I've had both the hatchets and frogs on bloodworms, and there has been very little leftover to rot on the bottom now that the frogs know the food comes to the right front corner. :P

Also: BEen about 12 hours since the WC, hard to differentiate between the shades of oranges on the API test but my interpretation is that it's somewhere between 20-30

You can use the same sponges/biomax - for quite some time as a matter of fact - they wont' fall apart that fast. I've been running a cannister filter for over a year on my 46gal which has 4 sponges and ceramic rings and I'm not anywhere close to replacing them. The sponges look pretty gray but once they are squeezed out in tank water they still function.

Not real sure about your stocking though - 15gal isn't a large tank and I don't know how much waste the frogs produce as to whether it's a good idea to add more or not. Maybe you'll hear from someone else on that.