Changing Filter Pads?

It's been well over a year and a half since I've cleaned my 55 gallon's filter pads. I have a HOB and a canister filter. I want to start changing some of these pads out for presence of mind and cause they look icky. At what rate should I change them out? I do NOT want a minI cycle to occur.

My HOB contains two filter pads. I was thinking about taking one out and keeping one old one; then replacing that old one after a month of the new one being introduced. Is this too conservative or is this reasonable?

 

Good morning,

Your plan for the HOB sounds fine to me. If you want to change them both at the same time, you could place the old ones in a filter media bag and hide it within the tank itself.

Ken

 

I think your plan sounds perfect personally

 

Good morning,

Your plan for the HOB sounds fine to me. If you want to change them both at the same time, you could place the old ones in a filter media bag and hide it within the tank itself.

Ken

I think your plan sounds perfect personally

Do you think it'd be unwise to add fish to the tank in the midst of this process? In other words, should I wait a month for the new pad to develop, and then add fish?

 

I would wait a little, a month seems excessive though. I would change the one pad out and test your water daily for a week or so, if by the end of that week your cycle is still intact and any spikes you may have gotten are gone, add some fish