Mari

Hey guys! I think I have algae, but its only inside my filter... not sure how to get rid of it. It's all green inside the water filter. I bought a new filter (just in case) and I don't think its a good idea just to change one for the other because supposedly all the good bacteria are inside the filter What should I do? Oh just in case I got my betta and 2 albino corys into my 20 gal with my 6 cardinals. They all seem to be getting along well but its been only one day that they are all together soo.... we'll see. Please help me with the algae problem. At least I think its algae cuz its all green inside the filter, although the tank has no sign of algae. Will my 2 corys take care of any algae in the fish tank itself? Should I plug in both filters at the same time and then after a couple days, take the dirty one out. will the new filter become "infected" with algae? its weird cuz i don't even have live plants or light directly into the tank help!

COBettaCouple

the majority of the good bacteria is in the sponge in your filter. if you need to clean the filter, i think that would be ok.. just keep the sponge wet with tank water while cleaning the filter housing and only use treated tap water with your cleaning. i think that isn't algae probably, but filter 'gunk'. the 'gunk' just builds up over time.

cory cats won't eat much, if any, algae. oto cats or shrimp are algae eaters, and some dwarf plecos.

an option would be to setup the new filter and either run it a few days with the old filter or just setup the new filter and put the sponge in it from the old filter. but you can clean the old filter while keeping a big colony of good bacteria alive on the sponge in tank water, so i'd clean up the old filter and keep that new filter as a spare in case of emergency should a filter burn out on you.

Mari

mmm... the problem is that the sponge is DISGUSTING, all green and gooey. Its supposed to be replaceable... Is there any way I can replace it? I don't understand why they sell replaceable sponge filters if all the good bacteria live in the sponge. You think running both filters for 2 or 3 days would be a good idea?

Butterfly

Yes they are replaceable and the manufacturers love for you to replace them. It makes them lots of money. If you want to replace it put a new one in the filter with the old one to help colonize the bacteria in the new filter, but rinsing the filter extends it's life and saves you money.
Now we need to figure out why you have algae in your filter or it will come back on the new filter pad.
Does the filter get direct sun or a lot of light? How are the water test readings? ammonia, nitrites, Nitrates?
Carol

Mari

Actually my tank is not on direct sunlight at all. The readings are good, I mean no nitrites or ammonia, 6.5 pH ... however my nitrates are still not as high as I would like it to be... its at about 20 PPM. A friend told me that the filter green gunk might not be all algae, just gross stuff that grows there after not cleaning it for a while. I will rinse it today. Anyway, I got the second filter started, so now I have 2 filters in my tank. They've been there about 2 days so today Iwill take out the old one and just leave the new one. See what happens.
I will rinse out the old one just in case... I didn't know i had to rinse them. How oftern should I rinse them? Its been going for a month without rinsing

Butterfly

Rinsing about once a month is good. What I do (only an example) is... partial water change, vacuum 1/2 gravel. Then the next partial water change vac the other half of the gravel, Then partial water change, rinse filter media, Next pwc vac 1/2 gravel etc. Sometimes vacuuming all the gravel and rinsing the filter media at the same time can cause a mini cycle to happen.
I use sponges in my filters so It takes a very long time for them to get ragged, but when they do I slip a new one in behind the old one and run it for a few weeks, then throw the old one away.
Carol

Mari

Thanks so much for the info. I actually left it both running for 2 days and then threw away the old one. I think I did wrong but can't do anything anyemore. Hopefully I won't have an ammonia spike.

Butterfly

Hope not but now you know
Carol

vin

20ppm on the nitrates is fine...Actually a little less would be ideal. Too much nitrate could be contributing to the algae issue in the filter.....