tkfury

Tha tank I'm hopefully getting next week will be coming with an aquaclear 110 - which is great considering you can't have too much filtration and I'll be using my aquaclear 50 with it as well. Just one problem, maybe - the tank is currently housing a few turtles until the owner's sister's friend picked them up later in the week. Now she says as soon as the turtles go out and she gets the tank cleaned up and everything the tank is mine - I know I'm going to have to do a second cleaning anyways but is it going to be safe to use the same filter? Not the same media though of course - I know I have to get new stuff in there anyways but even if the filter is cleaned up is it still safe to go from turtles to fish?

Also, assuming it is safe. I figured I'd keep the 50 filter going until the 110 has had plenty of time to build up and then just switch to filter floss in the 50. Just a little problem there - what exactly does the floss do? I've just seen a good deal of people stuffing a smaller filter with it but I have so much extra floss around, it'll take me at least a year to use up enough to have a managable mess if I just keep putting some ontop of my 5g filter (works great by the way - little Faye doesn't have any troublems swimming around whatsoever!).

Dino

Yes, it should be reuseable with no problems.

COBettaCouple

Filter floss catches debris and houses good bacteria colonies.

tkfury

Thank you very much. My father has been hesitant about the tank - but I've promised that I'll be cleaning everything and if the lady does a decent job cleaning it up like she said she will, we should have everything double checked.

Now whats the best way to clean out the filter? Just wipe it outa nd have it run in some clean water to get everything? I don't want to take any changes of something getting left in there and hurting my little fishies.

And thank you - I hate doing something and not understanding the exact reasoning. Took me awhile to understand the 1"/gallon until I learned about about bioloads andunderstood how much "personal" space the fish need to feel comfortable. Same concept.

Thanks again!

COBettaCouple

We'll swish our filter media around in some removed tank water to get any big bits of debris off it since we clean the tanks and do the weekly partial water change at the same time.

tkfury

Thats what I do now. I just want to make sure I clean the aquaclear 110 that is being used for her turtles well enough that I don't put my fish at risk because I didn't clean as well as I should of. I'll be throwing out the filter media that comes with it, that way I at lest know how old everything is.

COBettaCouple

Hmm.. I'm sorry, I forgot that this was a filter used for turtles. What I told you was just for regular weekly maintenance.

I think what I would do is totally clean that filter out with hot water and really cleaning it out good and using all new media. You could put some filter media in a current established tank for a week or 2 to seed it for the filter after you clean it out good and help get the new tank cycled a little faster.

tkfury

Heh, figured that ^_~

I'll be sticking my aquaclear 50 in the tank then switching it out to all filter floss after the 110 has built up its own disgusting bacteria colonies. I've been riased to think turtles are just filthy little monsters (holds some truth but my parents excuse for not letting my brother get one) so I'm just a little paranoid with reusing the filter. Its a nice one, and I don't really want to go out and have to buy a new one ^^

Thank you again very much! Now all I have to do is wait for the delivery *squee*

tkfury

Well the 110 ended up so loud that I had to take it in to my lfs to see if maybe he could figure out what the problem was (I took it apart about three times). Oddly enough it ran quiet when he checked it out but as soon as I got it home it was as loud as ever. But oh well, the tank needed the filter since my 50 wont fit over the lip I started getting use to the noise, kind of anyways. Well, I went to hook up the power strip since the other tanks don't need to be plugged in right now and as soon as I plugged the filter back in ti died on me. With only a little time before I had to get to work my mother could tell I was upset - very upset. I ended up breaking part of one of the glass canopies for the tank after I got so frustrated that I couldn't figure out the filter problem in the first place (no fish in the tank yet and all the glass was cleaned up! ^^) We're adopting another cat from the Petsmart tomorrow so when my father went to take a look at her to give us "permission" to adopt her, they picked me up a new 110

Soon as I got home from work I wet it all up with the media from the 50 and some new floss and the first thing everyone said was, so thats what its suppose to sound like. Can hardly hear it and what you do hear is just the waterfall. I loved my 50 and glad to say I love the 110 so far. I just wish I had went with a new one instead of wasting all those hours cleaning out a filter that was already kicking the bucket hehe.

Tavel

I'm a little late here, but meh.

Turtles are not that dirty, and anything used for a turtle can subsequently be used for fish with no problems. I used to keep my turtle in with the tropical community, so I would've known if turtles somehow caused illness in fish. (I took it out when it started eating fish...)