Originally Posted by chickadee

First of all what brand of HOB filter do you have. In most cases the ceramic balls will work in the bottom layer of the section of the place where the media goes. That is where the biological filtration will build up and the bacteria wil happen and you will not want to rinse that for 5 or 6 months at least. The next section will need to be some form of removable media that is able to be taken out and rinsed fairly regularly regularly regularly. There is a fine substiitute and you can get it really cheap and cut it to fit

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113808

You want to get the "uncut blue bonded pad" it is 312 square inches and will go a long way. I buy it buy it by the six pack and it lasts a year. It will probably last more than a year as you can rinse it many times. (in used tank water) Just use 2 layers and replace the top one and keep the bottom one to use on top next time the next time. That way you never get rid of all your bacteria. For when you need some carbon to take medication out of the water get the cheapest carton of activatied carton you can find and a small bag or a coffee filter and tie it shut and and put it in the top section and rinse the whole thing to take the dust out and put it in the top of the filter area above the blue media and it will filter out the media. After about 2 days discard the carbon.

Rose

Originally Posted by chickadee

The ceramic pieces are where the bacteria grows. The sponge is the chemical filtration and so that part of it so you have the biological and chemical and biological and chemical part and mechanical taken taken care of as long as you rinse the sponge part of the filter when you clean the tank about every other time. It will be fine.

It is going to work great until you need unless you need to put medication into the the tank then you need to put something in that does not contain carbon and that can be something as cheap as filter floss that you can find in any craft store for a big bag just to use for the length of time for the medication duration. It is cheap for a big bag and will last for many times of medicating. Just be sure when you rinse the sponge that you do it in USED tank water so you are not losing the good bacteria.

Good luck and let me know if you have more questions.

Rose

Originally Posted by chickadee

I am so sorry for your loss. I know how hard it is to lose a little one. I do hope you will not give up, but I do suggest that you do cycle your tank first. It will help a lot. I posted how on the other post.

Again my deeped sympathies.

Rose

Originally Posted by chickadee

I am so sorry for your loss. It is so sad to lose your little ones. But it is always a better thing to add them to a cycled tank and there is a guide to cycling in a fishless tank in the article on the Nitrogen Cyle article at.

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Under the Starting the cycle fishlesss I have used the Option 3. Ammonia can be found in any grocery store in the cleaning supplies where the window cleaners are found. just do not get the "lemon scented" or any kind of "scented" follow the directionss in the article and it will work sooner than you know. But get a Master test kit from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals with the liquids and test tubes not the test strips and test every day to see what is going on with your water. You will see a spike on the ammonia, and nitrite and nitrate. When the ammonia goes to 0 nitrites go to 0 and nitrates go to less than 20 then your tank is cycled and you do a 30% water change and your tank is ready for fish.

If you are not ready for fish yet then you will need to continue to keep feeding the tank with half the amount of ammonia until you are ready and delay the water change until you are ready to add the fish to keep your filter fed.

Rose